Friday, August 1, 2008

Wal Mart: We Tell Our Wage-Slaves How to Vote too!

From the Wall-Street Journal:

"In recent weeks, thousands of Wal-Mart store managers and department heads have been summoned to mandatory meetings at which the retailer stresses the downside for workers if stores were to be unionized.

According to about a dozen Wal-Mart employees who attended such meetings in seven states, Wal-Mart executives claim that employees at unionized stores would have to pay hefty union dues while getting nothing in return, and may have to go on strike without compensation. Also, unionization could mean fewer jobs as labor costs rise.


"'The meeting leader said, 'I am not telling you how to vote, but if the Democrats win, this bill will pass and you won't have a vote on whether you want a union,'" said a Wal-Mart customer-service supervisor from Missouri. 'I am not a stupid person. They were telling me how to vote,' she said."

As if Wal-Mart doesn't control enough already. My favorite part about this article was the blatant bias shown by the Wall-Street Journal at various points:

"The actions by Wal-Mart -- the nation's largest private employer -- reflect a growing concern among big business that a reinvigorated labor movement could reverse years of declining union membership. That could lead to higher payroll and health costs for companies already being hurt by rising fuel and commodities costs and the tough economic climate."

Wow. Really? The fact that Wall-Street has, quite frankly, the balls to hint that Wal-Mart is hurting by rising fuel and commodities cost is quite comical bordering insulting.

The Walton family takes home billions and billions every year while denying their employees basic benefits and reaping communities for their amenities, but most people don't care because hell, that sweatshirt only costs 29 cents.

Heaven forbid employees get higher wages, they might spend it, and stimulate the economy, we don't want that do we? Oh, wait, we do, just as long as it's from the upper-class only, sorry, I forgot.

But, of course it's not unreasonable to say Wal-Mart is hurting financially. Just as it's not unreasonable to say Rush Limbaugh is hurting from a lack of pie, Paris Hilton is hurting from a lack of media attention, and the American media is hurting from a lack of stupidity.

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