Walmart Workers Struggle Everyday in Poverty

Just a quick post of sympathy for Walmart workers whether they are striking or not.  I am ashamed that I have shopped there in the past , as if I was abetting the slave labor wages these poor workers are subject to.  As a humanistic and feeling human being I am in complete solidarity with these struggling workers.

For those unfortunate enough to have to resort to being employed by Walmart, they can only look forward to a dismal future of pay caps, hourly wages that will remain practically close to minimum for years, and little opportunity to have full-time employment, which would allow them some miserable skimpy benefits.

Walmart likes to keep more than half of their hourly employers part-time so as to avoid offering such employee benefits such as health insurance.  Raises are said to be only 20 to 40 cents an hour for good performance  yearly, but with pay caps in place even excellence  evaluations will not merit much of a future for these workers.

Those that do work full-time, are said to have a difficult time affording their health  care plan, and often their spouses are not included.  Walmart is the world’s largest private employer , with 1.4 million workers in the US alone, so I find it unbelievable that with their clout, they can’t come up with a low cost insurance plan and make it affordable to their “associates”.  Half of the million employed by Walmart in the US make close to minimum wage!

From a financial point of view, Walmart has reported their highest profit margin, 3.9% in a decade and their stocks and  dividends are up for stockholders, yet there is decidingly NO trickle down benefits to their employees, who remain impoverished.

When a corporation continually refuses to pay its employees enough salary that is compatible to the amount needed the cover basic costs of living, then they are creating increased welfare needs within their own population of workers.  Some reports state that up to 80% of Walmart workers are on Food Stamps.  I find that truly deplorable!

Corporate greed has been around for a long time, but Walmart seems to take the cake without hardly any limits or control.  They promote themselves as pro-American as apple pie, yet continuously use predatory pricing that has put many smaller retailers out of business.

They are true monopsonists, , which is a buyer’s monopoly.  Because Walmart is so huge and remains one the largest buyers, it can directly influence and control the market, driving prices down.  This has a ripple effect on smaller suppliers who will hurt because they are too small to meet such a low price, therefore not only knocking  them out of competition, but often putting them out of business.

I could on and on, but the bottom line is that this company takes corporate greed to a new level, that seems to flourish without hardly any real societal flack or backlash, protected as it is under capitalistic rigidity.

Forbes lists 4 Walton family members within the top ten richest Americans.   They reportedly have as much wealth as the bottom 40% of Americans combined! Yet, with all this accumulated wealth, you can not find any of them listed within the top 50 American philanthropists.

The Walton family’s philosophy of greed prevails, as the misery of their employees continues in one of the world’s wealthiest countries.  Slavery still exists packaged as being an “associate” for over a million  disadvantaged Americans working there, who although have the dignity of being “employed” nevertheless are caught in the vicious cycle of poverty.