I realize that the most important story since 9/11 is unfolding in New Orleans, but something REALLY big on the Wal-Mart front happened yesterday. A rebellion began. Here's the set-up from
the St. Petersburg Times:
Belva Whitt liked her cashier's job at a Brandon Wal-Mart, even though she still needed food stamps and Medicaid for health insurance.
That is until the discount store in June switched to a central computer at corporate headquarters in Arkansas to create store work schedules. Her bosses gave her fewer hours to work unless she made herself available for night shifts and odd hours on weekends. The only other option: quit.
"I dropped from a full-time employee to part-time. Some weeks I haven't been able to get scheduled to work at all," said the single mother with a 12-year-old at home who relies on a vehicle shared with relatives to get around. "It's difficult enough making ends meet on $7.40 an hour. Now it's choosing between paying the rent or having food on the table."
Meanwhile, her store continues hiring a stream of new workers who earn less than she does.
Here's the real news:
Whitt was one of a handful of Central Florida Wal-Mart workers to make similar concerns public Wednesday at news conferences in Tampa and Orlando. The stage was provided by the newly organized Wal-Mart Workers Association, a self-described rights group claiming about 200 Wal-Mart rank and file workers as members that is getting financial staff support from labor unions, antipoverty groups such as ACORN, private foundations and some church groups. Members pay $5 a month in dues.
[emphasis added]
Workers don't want to join a union my Aunt Fanny. The schedule issue is sweeping through Florida Wal-Mart according to an organizer from ACORN at the press conference.
Wal-Mart officials contend the company did not change its work scheduling policy. The company only has become more rigid about using a centralized system to match staffing to customer traffic peaks. They also noted that 200 employees out of about 92,000 working statewide were hardly representative.
Indeed, 200 employees out of 92,000 working in Florida are just the people who have the nerve to risk their jobs in the face of a law-breaking, union-busting employer like Wal-Mart. As the workers themselves suggested at the press conference, the real number of supporters is undoubtedly much bigger:
"There would be a lot more people to speak out here today, but they are scared of retribution," said Gloria Barker, who works at a Tampa Wal-Mart. "They do it indirect ways. The management uses fear to intimidate workers. I'm tired of management disrespecting us."
And guess what? There is a means to get back at them:
Entry-level workers need to work several quarters to qualify for unemployment benefits, but many Wal-Mart workers forced to accept cuts in pay and benefits are longtime veterans with up to 20 years on the payroll. When former workers apply for unemployment benefits, Wal-Mart must decide whether to voluntarily agree to help pay their benefits or face an appeal process in which state officials are the final arbiter.
Having thousands of employees file for such benefits could cost Wal-Mart a lot of money and create a paper trail that could be used for class-action lawsuits.
[emphasis added]
It couldn't happen to a nicer company.
JR