Walmart vs. a brain damaged woman

But what wages should they pay for minimum wage work? Jobs such as those found at Walmart are not meant to raise a family on, or support yourself on any more than jobs at McDonalds or selling popcorn at the local cinema are. They are minimum wage jobs that pay minimum wage ...as they should.

As for benefits, per Walmart's career site, employees can get on the Health plan for as little as $5-$8 per month. That's pretty darned good. They have over 50 different health plan options for coverage, deductible and health credits and premiums. Some may have some terms that aren't well liked - such as you pay back the health plan if you sue and get a settlement - but for $8.00 a month, that's pretty good assurance that either way, you aren't going to have to file bankruptcy if you have to have surgery or your kid breaks an arm. And it's appropriate insurance options for college kids, adults who work there for supplemental income or extra spending money. The insurance isn't geared towards supporting a family's insurance needs, because the jobs aren't geared towards that.

The fact is that no company is going to give you insurance with little or no copay, minute deductibles, and no contingency terms...when the cost for the company to provide that to you is more than what your work is worth. That would be daft. If you have a $50,000 a year job..yeah, your worth as an employee justifies that. $12,000 a year...nah.

Employees at Walmart can get over 2,400 prescriptions for $4.00, also.

Last year, Walmart put 870 million into associates’ Profit Sharing and 401(k) Plan accounts. They put in regardless of whether or not the employee contributes.

Walmart employees can buy Walmart stock without paying brokerage fees, and Walmart will match a portion of the stock they purchase.
http://walmartstores.com/Careers/Careers/7750.aspx

Walmart certainly isn't the only one doing that. All big name stores buy from overseas at cheapo prices and hike them up. Heck, Mom and Pop businesses have a huge mark up.

 

If you don't mind my asking, what kind of position do you hold there?

 

First two years a supervisor now I'm a cake decorator.

 

My insurance is a heck of alot more then 8 bucks a month.
Sam's again pays more then walmart people..don't know why but they do.
They don't pay min wage either, just a little above that.

 

do you mind if I ask you what you do for a living?
Sheri

 

But how many companies can you name that don't do that?

That is untrue. There are over 50 healthcare plan options available, and you get what you pay for. Minimum wage jobs aren't going to carry any other insurance than that which can be considered affordable at minimum wage pay. And its not going to offer much, but it will protect you for catastrophic situations such as cancer, surgery or serious accidents.

It is capitalism, but its how its always worked. I don't recall outrage when JC Penneys, Dillards, or any of those clothing stores opened up, leaving only high-dollar mom and pop clothing boutiques able to survive.

Again, thats a fallacy. A retail worker at Mom and Pops bakery or Mom and Pops gardening center is not going to have been making any more than the person who takes a job working in Walmart's bakery or garden shop.

And "fewer" jobs? Come on. Common sense dictates that a store that employees 75 people is providing more jobs than 3 Mom and Pop stores that employeed 5-7 people each.

Okay...you are an employee of Walmart. You sign on for a Health plan that has terms stating that if you become injured or sick and file a lawsuit for the situation that put you in that condition, you must pay back the Health plan with any settlement you receive.

On Monday, your co-worker (who is on the same Walmart health plan as you) is seriously injured and impaired for life because a box of roofing tiles fell on them at Home Depot.

On that same day, you are seriously injured and impaired for life when a back hoe falls off a flatbed truck on the highway and hits your car. You win a lawsuit and get a settlement from the trucking company.

Walmart agrees to ignore their fiduciary responsibility to the plan that you and your co-worker agreed to, due to media pressure, and they don't recoup from your co-worker, allowing them to keep their settlement money.

It's old news since your co-worker got to the media first, and the media won't pick up your story...so Walmart won't do the same for you, and you have to pay the Walmart health plan back with your settlement money.

Is that fair? At what point does Walmart stop ignoring the terms of the plan? The plan can't afford to change the rules for everyone, so who gets a break and who doesn't?

Suppose Walmart agreed to do both. Is it fair to the employees that either lose the only healthplan they can possibly afford because it's been sunk by not recouping the expenses it paid out, as the plan is designed to do? Or if the plan survives, and the premiums go from $8.00 a month to $75-100 a month. Is that fair to your co-workers who can no longer afford the insurance?

 

No, not at all. In fact, I've already stated on the forum several times when asked what I do.

I am a Business Analyst.

 

I know that NC minimum wage is $6.15, and if they are paying above that...good.

So it would be safe to assume that if you are paying more than the $8.00 premium, you are on one of the plans that has better payout and benefits than the plan that one pays only $8.00 for.

For minimum wage workers to be able to get ANY kind of affordable health insurance to protect against catastrophic medical expenses is a generous benefit. Most companies don't offer that. You can sign on to the plan that cost you $264.00 a month straight out of your salary, and that's all that is offered. And with that plan, you might get benefits such as $20.00 Dr's office co pays and $10.00 prescription co pays. You'll get 80/20 coverage. You can get no cost preventive care.

But at $8.00 a month, you'll get what you are paying for, which is going to be much less. Big deductibles, higher co pays (if any) for maint. care. But if you have a heart attack or are in a serious accident or get cancer...its better than having $400K medical bills all on your debt ledger.

 

I bet it does look good on paper, however what type of coverage is one getting making minimum wage for 8 bucks a month? I've also read they try to keep employees below 40 hpw so they do not have to offer benefits. Yes, all big box stores could be guilty of this. Like I said, I speak with my wallet. They do not get my money unless I am hard up for some milk, bread, or diapers and they are closest. I cannot, in good conscience support their ethics. And why isn't a 12,000.00 per year human being as important as a 50,000.00 per year human being? These people are getting rich off the backs of the poor working class in America and "slaves" in China.

I hate to just post a google link, but there were just too many cases here to cite individually. http://www.google.com/search?q=walm...ox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7ADBS

But here are a few -

This on is from '05 but stil relevant I think. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/33206.php

Here is our own backyard -
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/transform/protest.html

Yeah, I know - those are from 04/05. Here is Walmart now, still falling short.

http://walmartwatch.com/pages/cutti...proved_2008_health_care_offerings_fall_short/

 

Figures... I was a SW Tester in Corporate America before my gig as SAHM... We always had to explain things to the BA's. Just teasing you Mag.

 

Walmart...and every other business, doesn't pay wages based on the worth of a human being. They pay wages for the worth of the work being done by the human being.

I look at it this way. Business has to set a gauge for what to pay folks.

Why should a Walmart employee with no education past high school, who spends their workday using skills most people possess merely by being human, such as putting shampoo on a shelf and telling someone where the bedspreads on sale are located....

...make just as much than someone who has spent time, money and ambition to become educated on how to program a computer? Or someone who has gone through hours of education and apprentice work to become a plumber?

The market essentially works as it should. The more time, money and effort a person expends to gain knowledge and skill...the more valuable they become as an employee because they have the knowledge and skills to do a specific job that others can't.

The poor working class has an obligation to better themselves via education and training if they want to be anything other than poor working class. It's not up to any company to do that.

So...if Walmart went POOF and went away, these people would be working where? Those jobs would not exist for these people to work. So...would that get them off the states healthcare roles? Would that make these people suddenly qualify for a $50,000 a year job if Walmart wasn't there? Would Walmart not existing there miraculously make $50,000 a year jobs appear?

The answer to both questions is no. These people - and the taxpayers - would be worse off when it comes to paying out govt benefits, if Walmart wasn't there.

Why is Walmart responsible for these people choosing to settle with having only enough skills to work a minimum wage job? These people chose that route for their life...not Walmart.

Okay, lets look at what's in here:

"Wal-Mart Health Insurance Coverage Lags Far Behind National Average. Nationally, 64% of workers in very large firms (5,000 employees or more) receive their health benefits from their employer. Wal-Mart covers around 50% of its employees."

Why compare Walmart, which due to its nature only has minimum wage level jobs to offer to employees, to those "very large firms" employing 5000 or more? That's comparing office workers with degrees and industry specialized skills and knowledge.....to people who stock shelves and greet incomers. People making $30,000+ to people making $12,000 or less.

What possible purpose could there be in comparing people whose skills and output are worth more than people who don't have those skills and cannot create comparable output?

The article also includes Walmart's correct response, which is that these are not jobs meant for supporting a family...and the benefits aren't geared towards that either.

 

Waaahhh :cry:....we so under appreciated. The Developers resent us pointing out their programming errors. The business units resent us pointing out to them why their business decisions are bad decisions.

It seems the only people that like us are the Senior Executives who can appreciate how much time and money we save the company by ****ing everyone else off. But that's okay...they are the ones that decide who gets the bonus'. :mrgreen:

 

I already knew that,
but I have no problem listing what I did either cause I have posted several times that is what I do. Just thought I ask.
Sheri

 

Not quite. Oh, I absolutely agree with the first part of that - they treat human beings just like steel or oil, or any other input to production. They pay the least amount they can possibly pay to get enough people to do the job. That's why illegal immigration is such a big problem. If business did not profit from it, there would be no illegal immigration.

 

Originally Posted by magnolia

Quote:What possible purpose could there be in comparing people whose skills and output are worth more than people who don't have those skills and cannot create comparable output?

The article also includes Walmart's correct response, which is that these are not jobs meant for supporting a family...and the benefits aren't geared towards that either:Quote




Just cause I didn't finish college doesn't mean I don't have skills, 20 years should make up for not finishing it, I support my daughter just fine thank you, just wish I got paid what I was worth. Thanks for making me feel small about what I do..and I'm not important enough to have better insurance or make more money. Maybe I'm seeing more into this then I should..
You have made some good points, I just don't believe in all of them. JMO

 

I'm just thinking here, tell me what you think a Cake decorator is worth or paid, pushing out 50 cakes a day?
Sheri

 

Could you go into a courtroom and defend me with your knowledge of the law?

Could you walk into an operating room today and perform surgery on someone's brain?

Can you program a computer to handle millions of financial transactions a day?

I doubt that you can. The people that can do that, spent many hours and dollars to gain the skills and knowledge that allows them to be able to do those things. They also sacrificed to do so. Many put off marriage and children until they could do so. They lived hand to mouth during college to do so. And now it pays off for them. Their skills and knowlege are worth more than yours..and than mine. So they get paid more than we do.

No one said you don't support your daughter, or do a good job at what you do. But the fact is that what you do is not worth the same pay that others with more skills and knowledge warrant. Its a fact of life. You don't get paid more just because you want more. You have to earn it.

 

Magnolia you are right on. Wal-Mart is not Evil here. It is a group health plan where claims are shared by the other employees. The clause is in place to prevent over indemnification. Without this clause a person could proft from an injury at the expense of those who support the group health plan (the employees). This money will go towards reducing the employee health insurance premiums for next year (granted these are more than likely fully funded by Wal-Mart).

My question is if people want someone to blame why don't they look at the ambulance chasing attorney who filed the suit against the truck company? How did he not know this money would be owed to Wal-Mart should he win a judgement?? He should have either A) sued for enough to fund her trust account plus enough to repay the Wal Mart health plan or B) not sued at all.

So now after the dust settles the attorney (where is John Edwards again these days?) walks away with a big pile of money and the liberal media bashes the big bad corporation EVIL Wal-Mart.

Give me a break. Just want you to know you are not alone Magnolia!

 

FYI - I toured plants in Indonesia, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka where they make the kind of products you see in Walmart stores. Here workers are exploited, squeezed to thier bones to make these products; the working condition in these plant are horrible. These workers are the people I'm talking about. They got no healthcare, no insurance. These are the little people thousands miles away working in these hell-like factories where they traded thier blood and flesh for less than $2 a day to make Walmart rich.

One Indonesian girl who had a chance to come to the US, it was a shock for her when she saw a shirt that was selling for $20 dollars at a Walmart store that made in her plant back home. $20 was her one month salary that she could make hundred of the same shirts.

Back to the lawsuit that Walmart is after the brain damaged woman. Just imagine you have just enough bread to feed your children and nothing more than that, without that they would die. Somebody come in and has the legal right to take the bread away from you, how would you react? Is it right or wrong?

You can spend all your time PR for Walmart, but I don't think the story sells very well here.

 

http://www.planetizen.com/node/19820

Where do they get their crap, a map based on where they buy their stuff.

http://www.benjaminedwards.net/Writings/walmart map.htm


Regarding price comparisons between Wal-mart vs. Target

http://cockeyed.com/citizen/target/walmart_versus_target01.html

P.S. To the idiot who is about to make a post stating that this is a French company, do yourself a favor and check first.

Maggy, that was not aimed at you!