Wal-Mart's dirty tricks

[dajoki]

NYT
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/26/business/26walmart.ready.html?th&emc=th

Wal-Mart Memo Suggests Ways to Cut Employee Benefit Costs


By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
and MICHAEL BARBARO
Published: October 26, 2005

An internal memo sent to Wal-Mart's board of directors proposes numerous ways to hold down spending on health care and other benefits while seeking to minimize damage to the retailer's reputation. Among the recommendations are hiring more part-time workers and discouraging unhealthy people from working at Wal-Mart.

In the memorandum, M. Susan Chambers, Wal-Mart's executive vice president for benefits, also recommends reducing 401(k) contributions and wooing younger, and presumably healthier, workers by offering education benefits. The memo voices concern that workers with seven years' seniority earn more than workers with one year's seniority, but are no more productive.

To discourage unhealthy job applicants, Ms. Chambers suggests that Wal-Mart arrange for "all jobs to include some physical activity (e.g., all cashiers do some cart-gathering)."

The memo acknowledged that Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, had to walk a fine line in restraining benefit costs because critics had attacked it for being stingy on wages and health coverage. Ms. Chambers acknowledged that 46 percent of the children of Wal-Mart's 1.33 million United States employees were uninsured or on Medicaid.

[Maat]

1. Wal-Mart executives are just the lowest.

I'll never forget when I asked the pharmacy clerk if they prescribed the Morning After Pill, and she stated, "You won't find any of that around here." I asked her if it was a Wal-Mart corporate policy, and she stated that it was. I stated that I would no longer be patronizing Wal-Mart. She gave me a smug smile.

[pushycat]

5. Yieeechk!!! Those smug smiles are so ugly, eh? eom

[FtWayneBlue]

2. I got an email from WakeUpWalmart earlier today about this

and also heard the local NPR station start to report it in their news broadcast on my drive home from work this afternoon. But - when they went to play the segment that had the actual facts in it, there was dead air. Then, they went to the next news item. I wonder, do you think WalMart's donations to NPR caused the "glitch?"
There was no effort made to back up and fill in what was supposed to have been broadcast during the dead air time.

[dajoki]

3. that's very interesting n/t

[REP]

6. I Heard it On NPR A Few Days Ago

No black-out here.

[dajoki]

4. kick