On Monday, somebody found a link to a Wal-Mart orientation video on the web site of Paul French and Company, a production company that films these videos for Wal-Mart. To say there was interest in would be a tremendous understatement. By the time I found it two days later, it had 631 Diggs. If you read Barbara Ehrenreich's classic Nickeled and Dimed you know why. As she explains:
"For sheer grandeur, scale, and intimidation value, I doubt if any corporate orientation exceeds that of Wal-Mart. I have been told that the process will take eight hours, which will include two fifteen minute breaks and one half-hour break for a meal, and will be paid for like a regular shift."
Perhaps the most important part of this process, is Wal-Mart's anti-union indoctrination. At the end of her attempted brainwashing, Ehrenreich concluded:
"You have to wonder-and I imagine some of my teenage fellow orientees may be doing so-why such fiends as these union organizers, such outright extortionists are allowed to roam free in the land."
I want to think people can tell when they're being propagandized, but then George W. Bush's hit job on John Kerry in 2004 worked so I have to wonder. In any event, thanks to Paul French and Company we can now decide for ourselves what effect this presentation might be having. By the time I saw it Digged, Paul French and Company had taken it off its site, no doubt at Wal-Mart's behest. However, it was up just long enough apparently so that you can now find it elsewhere. I checked YouTube this morning (no luck), but I did find it here (along with many "sexy singles" in my community). Just in case this post sends the lawyers in that direction, I have taken down a transcript which I will be fisking in this space for the next couple of days.
Before I start, it is worth noting that the acting on this thing is just terrible. It's also admirably diverse in terms of the races and genders of who's being portrayed. I strongly suspect this is an artifact of the Wal-Mart applicant population more than any effort to promote diversity. And in light of the fact that Wal-Mart is the subject of the largest class action gender discrimination suit in American History, it can't be a coincidence that the manager in the video is a woman.
So let's roll the tape:
Donna (manager): Russell, I was just telling Julie and Dane here that Wal-Mart listens to our associates.
Russell (experienced Wal-Mart associate): Sure does. Mr. Walton said over and over again, "Listen to our associates. They are our best idea generators.
Dane (new employee #1): Huh, hey Russ you ever have an idea they went for?
Russell: Um, not yet, but Donna has.
Julie (new employee #2): Yeah, but she’s management.
Russell: She wasn’t management when she hit upon an idea to reorganize receiving and paperwork. She was a stocker then.
Donna: Not to long ago either.
Russell: Huh, now we’re using her way in every Wal-Mart. Right, Donna?
Yeah, right. Like a stocker is going to be in a position to see all the receiving and paperwork.
Donna: Right. You see the company wants to hear new ideas. For instance, the people greeters in our stores who make customers feel welcome; that was an associate’s idea.
If Wal-Mart really wanted to make customer's feel welcome, they'd fire the people greeter and put them on the check-out line since Wal-Marts are chronically understaffed. Now comes the start of the fun:
Julie: Sounds like employees...associates, they’re listened to.
Russell: And without going through union politicians.
Great, people hate politicians so call elected union leaders politicians. Subtle, huh? Union leaders do have to stand for elections. It's called democracy. The Landrum-Griffin Act of 1959 assures that unions have to be run in a democratic fashion. That's a lot more than you can say for Wal-Mart.
Donna: Of course not. You see management recognizes our associates. We know that our associates are good. Associates even came with suggestions about our work schedule.
So associates changed the work schedules? They were the ones that Wal-Mart turn it over to a computer and force open availability on everyone to get the hours they need? Tell that to the associates. Here's the Wall Street Journal from when the new system became public:
Some workers say the form has been used to pressure them to be open to more shifts. Tami Orth, a full-time cashier in Ludington, Mich., says she used to work a regular schedule of nearly 35 hours a week, with Mondays and Wednesdays off. In May, managers began to assign her as few as 12 hours a week, and her shifts began to fluctuate. "You can't budget anything," says Ms. Orth, who earns $9.32 an hour.
Some longtime workers also say they believe managers use the system to pressure them to quit. After working 16 years at a Wal-Mart in Hastings, Minn., Karen Nelson says managers told her she had to be open to working nights and weekends. After she refused, her hours were trimmed, though they have been restored in recent months. "The store manager said he could get two people for what he pays me," says Ms. Nelson, who earns about $14.50 an hour.
If Wal-Mart workers had a union, these employees might have had some control over their own schedules. Now, a computer does. That's an improvement? Who's looking out for them? A union would, but Wal-Mart thinks unions only want their employees' dues. That's the subject of tomorrow's excerpt.
JR
