"Josh Hill"  wrote in message
news:gfskh39lal1sco0c1976ejm6a7np7d6531{at}4ax.com...
> On Sat, 20 Oct 2007 15:03:00 -0700, Jon Schild 
> wrote:
>
> >Josh Hill wrote:
>
> >> It was certainly true before there were unions: in some cases,
> >> employees were literally worked to death. And non-union companies like
> >> Wal-Mart pay their people miserable salaries. In some states, Wal-Mart
> >> employees have signed up for Medicaid because they don't get medical
> >> insurance.
> >
> >I keep hearing this, but people I know personally who work at Wal-Mart
> >are all happy with it. They report NONE of the supposed abuses that
> >activists are always talking about. I think unions are just spreading
> >lies about how horrible it is to work without having union dues forced
> >out of your pocket. They see how much power they could get by bringing
> >down a company that large, and they want it.
>
> According to a web site I found:
>
> In 2001, sales associates, the most common job in Wal-Mart, earned on
> average $8.23 an hour for annual wages of $13,861. The 2001 poverty
> line for a family of three was $14,630. ["Is Wal-Mart Too Powerful?",
> Business Week, 10/6/03, US Dept of Health and Human Services 2001
> Poverty Guidelines, 2001]

And 8.23 is a couple of bukcs over the minimum wage in 2001.

>
> A 2003 wage analysis reported that cashiers, the second most common
> job, earn approximately $7.92 per hour and work 29 hours a week. This
> brings in annual wages of only $11,948. ["Statistical Analysis of
> Gender Patterns in Wal-Mart's Workforce", Dr. Richard Drogin 2003]
> Wal-Mart Associates don't earn enough to support a family

Still over the minimum wage in 2003.

>
> The average two-person family (one parent and one child) needed
> $27,948 to meet basic needs in 2005, well above what Wal-Mart reports
> that its average full-time associate earns. Wal-Mart claimed that its
> average associate earned $9.68 an hour in 2005. That would make the
> average associate's annual wages $17,114. ["Basic Family Budget
> Calculator" online at www.epinet.org]

Still well over the minumum wage in 2005.

>
> http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/facts/
>
> It seems they're paying poverty-level wages.

And above the minimum wage.

Thnk that may be why they have thousands of applicants when a new store
opens?

Dennis


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