As this video shows, Walmart workers have different explanations for the effects of cutting staff time in stores than do Walmart executives; these workers and a United Food and Commercial Workers analyst
gave their take to 26 investors and analysts Tuesday:
The report and testimonies focused on what the group characterizes as Walmart's "vicious circle:" as Walmart executives respond to slumping U.S. sales numbers, they cut labor costs, "setting in motion a 'vicious circle' of understaffing, operational miscues, and lost sales that is diminishing the company’s long-term value."
The company disputes this theory, and claims that understaffing is not a problem at stores, or the reason behind slumping U.S. sales.
Huffington Post interviewed some of the investors who attended the event, though, and found that they weren't convinced that there was a causal relationship between poorly stocked stores and long checkout lines due to understaffing and a sales slump, but that a few were bringing questions back from the meeting with workers to an annual meeting with Walmart executives.
The workers also tried to get a meeting with Walmart CEO Mike Duke, but he refused to talk to them.