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Post by redwolf on Aug 1, 2008 10:17:07 GMT -6
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Post by redwolf on Aug 1, 2008 10:33:06 GMT -6
Wal-Mart's response: Wal-Mart denies that it told employees how to voteBy CHUCK BARTELS AND ANNE D'INNOCENZIO AP Business Writers LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, denied a report Friday that it had pressured employees to vote against Democrats in November because of worries that a bill the party supports would make it easier for workers to unionize.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080801/ap_on_bi_ge/wal_mart_politics
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Post by unlawflcombatnt on Aug 2, 2008 2:39:03 GMT -6
I hope it actually is true that Obama will make it easier to for Wal-Mart workers (and others) to unionize.
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Post by blueneck on Aug 2, 2008 5:12:03 GMT -6
Lets hope so for Walmart workers sake.
i worked in a union supermarket thru much of the 80's while I was going to school. These were good jobs that paid in the 8-9 buck and hour range in 1980's dollars and we had full medical dental and optical benefits - I have not since had as good of benefits post grocery store. we got paid and extra 50 cent/hr night bonus for third shift work, time and half for overtime and Sundays, double time on holidays. Today's retail workers are lucky to make 8 bucks and hour in todays dollarswith minimal benefits if at all.
granted this is hard demanding work with sucky hours - retail's best business times are weekends and holidays - so you pretty much have to work them - also physically demanding with long hours on your feet and heavy lifting. This is precisely why retail workers would benefit from union representation.
I didn't get rich working in the store - but I could afford to put myself thru college, drive a decent car and even buy my first modest house in a decent neighborhood. Couldn't do that on today's retail pay - no way
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Post by unlawflcombatnt on Aug 2, 2008 10:02:15 GMT -6
i worked in a union supermarket thru much of the 80's while I was going to school. These were good jobs that paid in the 8-9 buck and hour range in 1980's dollars and we had full medical dental and optical benefits - I have not since had as good of benefits post grocery store. we got paid and extra 50 cent/hr night bonus for third shift work, time and half for overtime and Sundays, double time on holidays. Today's retail workers are lucky to make 8 bucks and hour in todays dollarswith minimal benefits if at all. That's exactly how I remember wages during the 80's. Back then I had a college friend who worked at a unionized Von's grocery store. He was making about $10/hour (in 1982 dollars). That's about $22/hour in today's dollars. Today, grocery checkers and stock persons in California are making less than $10/hour in current dollars. Unions have been almost destroyed in the years following Reagan's inauguration in 1980. And the 'd real wages of unionized and previously-unionized workers has driven all other wages down as well.
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Post by Ryan on Aug 5, 2008 23:52:21 GMT -6
And the only reason our country has survived this long without an economic crash is due to the constant bubbles, ending with the housing/credit bubble. Without easy access to cheap credit, American workers wages would either have to go up to pay for goods, or goods prices would have to drastically fall. This is why this credit crisis needs to play through so it ends American consumers reliance on credit as a means to finance their everyday lifestyles. Also I believe that easy credit has caused healthcare and college tuition costs to rise way faster than inflation as a whole. With credit seizing up a bit, college tuition will have to fall as student loans become harder to get. Also, I doubt China would have grown this fast without cheap credit, American consumers willingly buying anything made in China on plastic. Hopefully, any good that a deep recession /Great Depression 2 scenerio will give us is more local and regional production and distribution of goods/services, and a more sustainable economic model where wages=possible spending and not wages+credit=unsustainable spending on Chinese goods, while encourages further outsourcing.
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