Big Box Stores and Jobs

[lanego]

Some would call it God's house, or maybe home-away-from-heaven.

[lanego]

Just an interesting update on the fact that boycotts do work.

"Wal-Mart is fighting for its image -- and for its financial future... Wal-Mart is an embattled company and is fighting wars on all sides" -- Business Week, Jan. 9, 2007

"Bad years do happen to good companies. But for Wal-Mart, 2006 was just another downer in period of decline that's lasted seven years...Wall Street is starting to lose patience" -- Fortune Magazine, Jan., 2007

[Paw_Paw_Drew]

Correct me if I am wrong but didn't Wall-mart start out with an ad campaign 10-20-30 yrs ago that they would sell only american products unless they weren't available in america. Perhaps just a bit of nostalgic thinking on my part.

[lanego]

Right in one. And Sam is spinning in his grave.

[madjack]

Right in one. And Sam is spinning in his grave.

...everyday...multiple times....................................................................

[calwes]

You know it's sad that you want us to buy American, and it's "OK" that the
the american companies are buying from the same people WalMart is.
Just like your US car makers, and of course its ok that we pay the unions
worker such a high rate to be less productive. Don't get me wrong Union
if theywere used as originally intended it would be great, but now it it pays folks to be lazy. So it's not just WalMarts. Of course I guess really it's "Bush's Fault.

[lanego]

Oh, you are so wrong. It's not okay for U.S. companies to buy more from foreign producers than American ones. The balance of trade is a disaster for us. I believe in sanctions, not tax breaks for those corporations who do not shop locally. I also strongly disagree that American workers are lazy. Our workforce is the most productive in the world and our productivity growth rate cannot be touched by any other country. Check NPR and the Wall Street Journal. The lazy worker myth is perpetrated by anti-union corporate interests and swallowed by the media-hypnotized American public. You will see a lazy worker in every business in every industry in every country on the planet. That doesn't represent the majority or the trend. I love the American worker and I support union businesses.

[Miriam C.]

Oh, you are so wrong. It's not okay for U.S. companies to buy more from foreign producers than American ones. The balance of trade is a disaster for us. I believe in sanctions, not tax breaks for those corporations who do not shop locally. I also strongly disagree that American workers are lazy. Our workforce is the most productive in the world and our productivity growth rate cannot be touched by any other country. Check NPR and the Wall Street Journal. The lazy worker myth is perpetrated by anti-union corporate interests and swallowed by the media-hypnotized American public. You will see a lazy worker in every business in every industry in every country on the planet. That doesn't represent the majority or the trend. I love the American worker and I support union businesses.

you go girl! It is a shame unions got so politicised that they aren't effective against the multinationals. Just imagine a real union in China or Mexico

[angib]

I think you need to see the downside of a 'buy domestic' policy as well as the upside. You can use your buying power to protect your industries from the real world but in doing so, you also are encouraging them to not adapt fast enough to survive - after all, they only need to compete with other US firms, right? After a while, the enthusiasm to 'buy domestic' tapers off and then they are in a worse position than they were before.

This is what happened here in the 1970s in response to a 'buy British' campaign.

Andrew

[Nitetimes]

I also strongly disagree that American workers are lazy.

Disagree all you want. Fact is union workers want more for less all the time.
My wife works in a grocery store that is unionized, all the employees want to do is argue over who's in charge and file grievances. Work is for the other person to do.

Our workforce is the most productive in the world and our productivity growth rate cannot be touched by any other country.

Somehow I doubt that.

Check NPR and the Wall Street Journal.

Yep, I'm gonna take their word for something. Not!!!

The lazy worker myth is perpetrated by anti-union corporate interests and swallowed by the media-hypnotized American public.

Actually it's perpetrated by the people that work there that get fed up with the lazy person next to them getting paid the same as they are and not doing any work that the company can't fire because they are in the union and protected. It used to be if you didn't do your job you got canned, now there has to be a 'reason' to fire you.
No, it's not the exception any more, it's the norm.

I love the American worker and I support union businesses.

I am happy to support the American worker I just refuse to support the unions that should have been shut down years ago.





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[madjack]

...a couple of thoughts on how unions work now days...when a man is paid based solely on his longevity with the company with no regard for his productivity or competence, that is wrong...

...a couple of real life experiences from the road...2 Paper mills...each making similar products and similar in size and location...the nonunion loading dock takes 2 hours to load your truck...the union dock takes 12-16 hours to load your truck...a unionized food processing co...one of the most beautifully organized wharehouses I have ever seen...30 loading docks...30 forklift operators WITH helpers...all hanging out doing nothing but talking shop...24 to 36 hours to load a truck...when a supervisor was asked why they can't get trucks loaded any faster and why so many employees are doing nothing, he informs me that he can't say anthing to the operators becuse they would file a grievance and he would be fired because the co didn't want problems with the union...whenever I would go into a plant to load/unload, if I found out it was union, I would go back out to the truck and goto bed...if it was non-union, I would get a cup of coffee and wait for the dockworkers to finish...about the time I finished my coffee...unions had and still have a place...just not, as many are operated today...if you want to talk productivity...look to a non-union shop...that has been my experience....
madjack

[calwes]

Jack this is the point I was trying to make . I've worked in unions and there is no incentive for a person to do more or do it better .Your going to get paid the same . I generally hire someone who comes from a union.
Most of the time they are not motivated an will jump ship the first chance they get.

[Ira]

"Jump Ship" is really the wrong idiom to use:

You should really say, "Resign for a better opportunity."

It's funny how the way someone chooses to express a viewpoint can differ so VASTLY from the way others would say it:

As if a worker doesn't have a right to resign at any time, on his own free will, for WHATEVER reason.

And by the way--depending on your specific job, a 21-year-old MAY be more productive than a 40-year-old for factory work. So is THIS the direction everything should be based on? Even though the 40-year-old has been with the company for 15 years?

WHAT THE HELL IS BEING SAID HERE??? YOU GET OLDER SO YOU AREN'T AS "PRODUCTIVE" AS A YOUNGER WORKER, SO YOU'RE GARBAGE AND YOU'RE OUT!?

And it's amazing to me how some people will poo-poo a person's right to get top dollar for what they do, and then say they're ungrateful good-for-nothings for WANTING that top dollar. How DARE they for wanting to be protected by a union.

While the CEOs take millions in bonuses and are the ones responsible fpr driving these companies into the ground in the first place.

Because no matter how you want to explain or wish it away, a worker trying to make $40,000, 50,000 a year is NOT the reason that companies fall. This is what human beings need to SURVIVE nowadays, at the very least.

And calling them lazy for demanding this is TOTAL BS.

But on a side note, take a look at the productivity numbers by every respectable labor study group out there. There is no COMPARISON!

The American workforce IS the most productive, BY FAR!!!

Because that "lazy" spin is simply pure, unadulterated, corporate, anti-union nonsense.

But using the above model on how our workrs should behave. we COULD compete with China!

Twelve hours a day, for two dollars a day.

LONG LIVE THE UNIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For Christ's sake, haven't some of you learned ANYTHING from history? We're supposed to be going FORWARD--not backwards!

[calwes]

I simply think it is stupid when the union require there to be a janitor to be at the work place if two machinist are working to empty thier chips 1 time for them in 8hrs. the rest of that 8hrs. he sits on his but. And can draw time and a half or double time for doing thirty minute of work in a 8hr day. That is reproductive.

[rudeboysaude]

Here's another twist on hurting Ma and Pa shops.. The internet. That's the biggest "boxed store" of them all!

I've seen Ma and Pa record shops closing doors left and right. Who wants to buy a CD when you download it straight from Itunes the day it's released. Whenever I'm looking for something I feel I need to complete my life first thing I do is jump on the internet and find out where I can get it cheapest. I know everyone here does too because I follow there links. Unfortunatly the internet has opened up a vast market to someone sitting in their boxers at home clicking away. I don't even need to go to Wal-mart. They'll send it to my door. You can even get your groceries online. I don't go to the local video store anymore either when I can Netflix everything. My buddy opened a board shop because it was his life dream. Ironically 3 years later he's bankrupt because he found out that customers will buy it cheaper online and he can't offer those prices with overhead costs to pay for. We have an embroidery and vinyl cutting business out of our home and we have no intentions of ever owning a store front. We stay too busy now with just internet orders and they come from all over the US. Even did some stuff for a guy in Austrailia. No chance that guy would ever walk into a little store front in my little town. And why did he come to me? I did it cheaper.

Most people don't like change... but it's impossible to stop it. You could be like my grandma who won't touch a computer. Hopefully she won't have to live in a cyber-world where she has to order her groceries online someday or she'll starve!

A.