Wal-Mart Asks Workers To Donate Food To Its Needy Employees
Wal-Mart Asks Workers To Donate Food To Its Needy Employees
Wal-Mart logic: instead of paying workers a living wage, we can encourage low-wage workers to donate to less well-off workers.
November 18, 2013
http://www.alternet.org/wal-mart-holds-food-drive-employees-who-cant-afford-thanksgiving-dinner?akid=11155.1070598.pqvhj6&rd=1&src=newsletter925671&t=3
Wal-Mart doesnt pay its employees enough of a wage so that they can afford to buy quality food for Thanksgiving. So one store in Cleveland had a novel idea: launch a food drive for its own employees. Its targeted at the low-wage workers who could afford to donate food to other, even more low-wage workers.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer first reported on the story, and now its being picked up by a number of outlets, including Business Insider. Please Donate Food Items Here, so Associates in Need Can Enjoy Thanksgiving Dinner, read a sign advertising the drive affixed to a tablecloth.
"That Wal-Mart would have the audacity to ask low-wage workers to donate food to other low-wage workers to me, it is a moral outrage, Norma Mills, who lives near the Wal-Mart in Cleveland, told the Plain Dealer. Some workers at Ohio Wal-Marts went on strike today.
Wal-Mart has defended the food drive as way of helping their employees. This is part of the company's culture to rally around associates and take care of them when they face extreme hardships, said a company spokesperson.