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**7UENf0w7** · 08-24-2011, 06:59 PM

http://www.thismagazine.ca/issues/20...on_walmart.php

Even Wal Mart knows the extent of the damage, and know they have to bend a little, before they shoot themselves in their OWN foot

My smiley face has not quite perked up over this news. After all, Wal-Mart pays low wages. A 2004 UC Berkeley study found that over half of Wal-Mart workers earned under $9 per hour, while other large retailers pay $14 on average. As a result, the families of Wal-Mart employees are more likely than other retail workers to need food stamps and other public assistance programs. Usually Wal-Mart must be forced kicking and screaming to pay something like a living wage—as Chicago city council has just done.

Wal-Mart contributes to a low-wage economy in other ways too. Its business practices force suppliers to cut costs, so in turn these firms cut wages. Other retailers (who may not have such influence over their suppliers) are forced to cut the wages they pay to compete with Wal-Mart. Another Berkeley study estimates that in 2000, the total earnings of retail workers in the United States dropped by $4.7 billion due to Wal-Mart’s presence.

And now Wal-Mart, the icon of the low-wage economy, wants to raise minimum wages? Has Wal-Mart got some kind of multiple personality disorder?

Believe it or not, this makes a kind of sense in the wacko realities of the low-wage economic model. Wal-Mart loves low wages, but it starts to be a problem if wages go too low. From Wal-Mart’s perspective, more highly paid workers can afford to shop at fancier places than Wal-Mart. So Wal-Mart is content when a higher-paid workforce gets its wages cut. For Wal-Mart, union bashing is A-OK because unions might actually fight for wages that are high enough to allow workers to shop at places other than Wal-Mart.

But if wages get too low, then too many people have too little purchasing power. Would-be Wal-Mart customers will be frequenting food banks and Dumpsters instead of its stores. At US $5.15 (less than $6 Canadian) per hour, the US minimum wage hasn’t risen since 1997. After adjusting for inflation, the purchasing power of the minimum wage is at its lowest level since 1955.

08-24-2011, 06:59 PM	#14
7UENf0w7 Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 346 Senior Member	http://www.thismagazine.ca/issues/20...on_walmart.php Even Wal Mart knows the extent of the damage, and know they have to bend a little, before they shoot themselves in their OWN foot My smiley face has not quite perked up over this news. After all, Wal-Mart pays low wages. A 2004 UC Berkeley study found that over half of Wal-Mart workers earned under $9 per hour, while other large retailers pay $14 on average. As a result, the families of Wal-Mart employees are more likely than other retail workers to need food stamps and other public assistance programs. Usually Wal-Mart must be forced kicking and screaming to pay something like a living wage—as Chicago city council has just done. Wal-Mart contributes to a low-wage economy in other ways too. Its business practices force suppliers to cut costs, so in turn these firms cut wages. Other retailers (who may not have such influence over their suppliers) are forced to cut the wages they pay to compete with Wal-Mart. Another Berkeley study estimates that in 2000, the total earnings of retail workers in the United States dropped by $4.7 billion due to Wal-Mart’s presence. And now Wal-Mart, the icon of the low-wage economy, wants to raise minimum wages? Has Wal-Mart got some kind of multiple personality disorder? Believe it or not, this makes a kind of sense in the wacko realities of the low-wage economic model. Wal-Mart loves low wages, but it starts to be a problem if wages go too low. From Wal-Mart’s perspective, more highly paid workers can afford to shop at fancier places than Wal-Mart. So Wal-Mart is content when a higher-paid workforce gets its wages cut. For Wal-Mart, union bashing is A-OK because unions might actually fight for wages that are high enough to allow workers to shop at places other than Wal-Mart. But if wages get too low, then too many people have too little purchasing power. Would-be Wal-Mart customers will be frequenting food banks and Dumpsters instead of its stores. At US $5.15 (less than $6 Canadian) per hour, the US minimum wage hasn’t risen since 1997. After adjusting for inflation, the purchasing power of the minimum wage is at its lowest level since 1955.
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