It’s been a rough few weeks for Sam’s Club employees. First came the announcement that ten Sam’s Club stores would close and the 1,500 employees who worked there could lose their jobs. Then, yesterday, Walmart announced they would be laying off 11,200 workers. Most of those being laid off demonstrate products in the stores. Walmart’s spokesperson made it clear that this wasn’t about the economy, or the employees performance, rather, they were outsourcing the jobs to Shopper Events a company who’s only purpose is to demonstrate products in Walmart stores.

Walmart has suggested that the 10,000 employees they are firing can apply for a job with Shopper Events, who will be hiring roughly 10,000 employees to fill the gap left by the lay off. It sure sounds a lot like Walmart is asking 10,000 of their employees to reapply for their own jobs.

Here’s our official statement:

For Immediate Release: January 25, 2010

Walmart Sam’s Club Lowering Worker and Community Standards

Layoffs Raise Important Questions About Commitment to its Workforce

(Washington, DC) – The following is a statement from Wake Up Walmart: 

Walmart launched another assault on living and working standards in communities across the country yesterday, by laying off more than ten thousand Sam’s Club employees.  The company is outsourcing jobs, many of them part-time, to a company based in Arkansas.

Workers report that Walmart called them into mass meetings where they were offered boxes of tissues and told they were no longer needed by the nation’s largest private employer.

The mass layoffs raise serious questions such as whether or not older and more senior workers were targeted for lay off.  Why hasn’t Walmart made a clearer path to employment with Shopper Events for these 11,000 associates – which they clearly have the power to do?  And for workers hired by the outsourced company, what kind of jobs will Shoppers Events provide to the new applicants?  Why is Walmart telling workers they must agree not to pursue age discrimination claims in order to qualify for severance pay?

Walmart and Sams Club workers seeking additional assistance and answers are encouraged to contact Walmart Workers for Change at 866-587-2299 or log on to http://www.walmartworkersforchange.org/.

While Wal-Mart has announced more retail jobs for the United States, the company continues to draw nearer to an agreement that would send IT tech jobs to India.

From Citizen Economists:

In 2009 it (Wal-Mart) now predicts it will add another 22,000 positions nationwide. In fact in some hard hit states like California, Florida and Michigan, Wal-Mart plans to add over 1,000 jobs in each.

More jobs are great, but the majority of them are going to be of the lower-paying, sales associate variety. Meanwhile, however, Wal-Mart is drawing nearing to awarding multiple outsourcing contracts for managing its business applications and other back office activities to firms in India. The contracts could be worth $500 million.

According to BusinessWeek, Wal-Mart is doing so under the guise of “globalizing its information technology sourcing initiatives,” which is certainly its prerogative. But you would think that a U.S. company that has sought to build its standing as the very embodiment of American ideals would, during times of economic struggle, take an opportunity like this to find domestic firms to fulfill its IT needs. Provide hard working Americans with higher paying jobs. You would think that. But you’d be wrong.

“Wal-Mart has been testing the waters by outsourcing smaller projects to companies such as Infosys, TCS and Wipro. Now, the retailer wants to flesh out a more comprehensive outsourcing strategy and has shortlisted these tech vendors,” said a senior executive of one of the tech firms exploring business opportunities with Wal-Mart. He requested anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to media.

Wal-Mart, despite enjoying growth during the current economic climate, continues to show that while saving customers money is nice, saving its own money is paramount. BusinessWeek points out that UK retailer Tesco saves over $60 million every year by outsourcing its IT projects to India.

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Al Norman takes a good look at the Wal-Mart saga in Marion County, South Carolina. Originally posted on Battlemart.

The night sky will soon be returning to Mullins, South Carolina. Actually, the stars might not be visible, but the lights should be turned down lower at midnight, now that Wal-Mart has announced that superstore #1869 will close from midnight to 6 am. The decision takes effect on March 13th, and Wal-Mart’s website still lists the store at 305 Commerce Drive in Mullins as open 24 hours. According to a company spokesperson, the overnight shift of workers will be absorbed into the store’s other shifts during its new operating hours. No one will lose their job, but store Manager Willie Holland refused o answer any questions from South Carolina News about the why the hours were cutback as his supercenter. A sign posted on the doors to the store tell customers that the new hours will change in mid-March.

In October of 2007, the Mullins store was reopened as a superstore. The location for 15 years had been a Wal-Mart discount store with few groceries. When Wal-Mart expanded the store, it said 100 jobs were added, making the grand total 250 jobs. The superstore opened on October 24, 2007. In announcing the new store, Wal-Mart said: “After more than 15 years of serving the community as a discount store, residents will now find groceries, general merchandise and time-saving services in one convenient location. Located at 305 Commerce Drive, the new store was painted in a color palette complementary to the area. “This is an exciting time for our associates,” said Store Manager Jason Eudy, who is no longer the store manager. “We’ve all been working hard to prepare the store for
opening and are looking forward to serving our customers in Marion County with the conveniences, savings, selection and services that a Supercenter
provides.” The 153,430-square-foot Supercenter features a full line of groceries including bakery goods, frozen foods, meat and dairy products, fresh produce and a variety of organic offerings. Additional store features include a Tire & Lube Express, a family fun center, a one-hour photo lab, pharmacy and a Wal-Mart Connect Center for wireless phone sales. Leased areas and services include a SmartStyle Family Hair Salon, a branch of Woodforest National Bank and a Subway restaurant. “The store will be open to customers 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Wal-Mart boasted.

Now, less than a year and a half later, Wal-Mart is shutting down its overnight hours. There is only one reason why Wal-Mart would close down at night: business has not been as robust as the company expected. But corporate headquarters is not about to shed any light on why this Wal-Mart went dark.

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Wal-Mart spokesman David Tovar on the company’s rationale for the home office layoffs yesterday:

“The changes are designed to align our staffing and organizational structure, to increase operational efficiencies, support our strategic growth plans and help reduce our overall costs.”

Apparently.

On the same day that Wal-Mart gutted its Bentonville workforce, the company announced it will seek to outsource up to $500 million of IT functions to India. How many more layoffs might that mean? While Wal-Mart might not be the only one sending U.S. jobs overseas, the timing of the move is pretty crass, even for Wal-Mart. Even decades-long salaried employees in Bentonville belonging to “core” business functions are no longer safe from the retailer’s cost-cutting ruthlessness.

As we said yesterday, we would have hoped that during these tough times, some of the obscene wealth amassed by Wal-Mart Executives and the Walton family could have been invested in the company’s workforce. Unfortunately, they decided to go another direction.

We’re curious, though, about something else that didn’t show up in any of the stories we read. Has anyone heard anything about which employees were laid off yesterday? Possibly more full-time workers to make way for part-time? We’ve long heard rumors that home office has been “reclassifying” workers and moving to more part-time employees. Cost-cutting, for sure - but possibly bracing themselves for a union drive if EFCA passes?

Wal-Mart mulls IT outsourcing [Economic Times (India)]:

WAL-Mart, the world’s biggest retailer, which until now has been dependent on its inhouse information technology division, is
evaluating a business process outsourcing (BPO) contract worth around $300- $500 million, as it seeks to outsource non-core processes of procurement, merchandising , finance, accounting and payroll.

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20 pairs of socks for $11.98. Is it worth it?

From MarketWatch: (emphasis added)

Seeking to lower costs in an increasingly competitive landscape and answering to the demands of retailers such as No. 1 discounter Wal-Mart Stores Inc., U.S. apparel companies from denim maker Levi Strauss & Co. to VF Corp., maker of Wrangler jeans, have moved their production in the past decade overseas to Asia and Latin America, analysts said.

From the Gaston Gazette in North Carolina, where Hanes is laying of 1,400 workers:

Gastonia resident Patrice Fredell showed up for the first shift at the Hanesbrands Inc. plant Wednesday morning like she has for 19 years, but this time she found the plant closed..."We were going full blast for a long time and then all of the sudden,” Fredell said as she walked into the plant’s main office to get unemployment paperwork Wednesday. “One of my friends just started crying ... It’s going to hurt a lot of people.”

From Al Norman:

The sudden announcement caught Eden City Manager Brad Corcoran by surprise. “I have no idea what’s going on” Corcoran told the Winston-Salem Journal. “There was no courtesy call, no e-mail, no nothing. Obviously that wasn’t a concern for them.”...Despite all these closings, Hanesbrands will not have ‘migrated’ completely. The company will still have close to 10,000 jobs left in America, scattered across 11 plants. So there is some work still left for Wal-Mart to do.