Forced to Work at Wal-Mart
I just encountered a lovely little editorial in The Indianapolis Star:
I have friends who graduated from some of the most expensive private universities in the country and can't find work. They wait tables and work in Borders. What about people who never graduated from college and live in small towns like Nitro, West Virginia or Falfurrias, Texas? What kind of options do they have?
I know that in America you're supposed to pull 'yerself UP from 'yer bootstraps and all. But if you live in a town of 5,297 people, where most businesses have closed down BECAUSE OF WAL-MART, and you've got kids to feed and no savings, the only thing that's UP is Wal-Mart.
I think people work there because they're out of options, or it's the best option around. That's the tragic reality.
I also think Wal-Mart employees should get living wages. It's lazy and ignorant to just say, "you're not forced to work there!" and forget about reality.
No one is forced to work for Wal-Mart
August 23, 2006
What do Democrats such as Sen. Evan Bayh have against Wal-Mart? If conditions and pay were actually as bad as Democrats make it out to be, the employees of Wal-Mart are free to leave, or they would have chosen not to work there in the first place.
Do Democrats actually have a problem with Wal-Mart? No, but unions do, and if unions have a problem, so do Democrats such as Bayh, who won't even return his campaign contribution from Wal-Mart, he's so disgusted with them.
Larry Clark
Wanamaker
I have friends who graduated from some of the most expensive private universities in the country and can't find work. They wait tables and work in Borders. What about people who never graduated from college and live in small towns like Nitro, West Virginia or Falfurrias, Texas? What kind of options do they have?
I know that in America you're supposed to pull 'yerself UP from 'yer bootstraps and all. But if you live in a town of 5,297 people, where most businesses have closed down BECAUSE OF WAL-MART, and you've got kids to feed and no savings, the only thing that's UP is Wal-Mart.
I think people work there because they're out of options, or it's the best option around. That's the tragic reality.
I also think Wal-Mart employees should get living wages. It's lazy and ignorant to just say, "you're not forced to work there!" and forget about reality.
posted by Mr. Bottled at Thursday, August 24, 2006
3 Comments:
So by your own admission, the best job they can get is at Wal Mart?
You know how Wal Mart got so big? Because people shop there. Don't blame Wal Mart, blame the consumer. You're upset that Wal Mart sells the same things are other vendors but offers them at better prices, more convenient locations and later hours?
I heard something about WalMart recently. A woman was buying back to school supplies for her children, and they wouldn't let her buy more than 30 items at a time. Something about people coming in, buying up stock and shipping it overseas for profit. What I didn't have clarified for me, with that story, was it 30 different items, or 30 of the same item.
Yeah, I'm saying that in a lot of towns, the unfortunate truth is that the best job out there is at Wal-Mart. Sometimes that's because Wal-Mart itself pushed out other businesses. Sometimes it's just the only thing there.
My point is, people often can't just pick up and find other work. But they should be getting a decent wage for the work they do.
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