Thursday, January 03, 2008

Wal-Mart Subsidized by State and Federal Governments, Us.

The only people making money are the Waltons. Wal-Mart keeps the pressure on their vendors to keep their prices low. The vendors keep their prices low by paying their employees at or below poverty level. Wal-Mart keeps their prices low by paying their employees at or below the poverty level. The majority of these employees do not participate in the company-offered-benefits because they cannot affort their share. Therefore Tenncare and Medicare provide the company-offered-benefits. Wal-Mart as a whole reports 46% of their employees have benefits. The rest, at least those in Tennessee rely on Tenncare or Medicare etc. In other words we subsidize the Waltons.

Financial magazines have stories from China how Wal-Mart demands low prices so they can sell to the public at low prices. To meet that requirement, Wal-Mart suppliers do not pay their employees very well. Wal-Mart does not pay their employees very well so the only people making money are the Waltons and as you see some of their executives who bring home $400,000 a week. Wal-Mart watch is an organization monitoring Wal-Mart and its business practices.

Wal-Mart has turned into a monster Sam Walton never conceived of and the story below is an example.

Wal-Mart Watch will launch an on-line fundraiser today to assist former Wal-Mart employee Deborah Shank and her family of Jackson, Missouri with Mrs. Shank’s medical expenses after Wal-Mart demanded repayment for its health care plan costs from the family. The organization also pledged to match all funds raised.

A November 20 Wall Street Journal article entitled “Accident Victims Face Grab for Legal Winnings,” reported on Mrs. Shank’s story. When she was left brain damaged after a tragic collision with a semi-trailer truck seven years ago, her Wal-Mart health care plan paid her initial medical bills. Wal-Mart subsequently sued the Shanks for the $470,000 it paid in medical expenses, plus the company’s legal expenses and attorney’s fees. Wal-Mart’s lawsuit demands will completely drain the settlement money set aside in a trust for Mrs. Shank’s future care and force her to rely on public assistance for her medical and living expenses.

As Wal-Mart touts its new health care plan and launches public relations campaigns to repair its damaged reputation, this story once again exposes the company’s poor business practices and total disregard for the health and welfare of its employees.

“Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott’s decision to take away the money that Mrs. Shank would use for her medical expenses represents the kind of failure of moral leadership that we have sadly come to expect from him,” said David Nassar, Wal-Mart Watch Executive Director. “The Shanks are a hard-working American family - the kind that Lee Scott currently claims Wal-Mart helps to ‘save money and live better.’ Unfortunately, the Shank family is doing neither.”

Wal-Mart Watch will raise funds for the Shank family and tell their story to remind consumers this holiday season that the low costs Wal-Mart provide come with a very high price paid by American families like the Shanks every day.

“Lee Scott will bring home more than $400,000 this week alone,” Nassar added. “If Wal-Mart needs that money so badly, perhaps Scott should pay it himself. Or, maybe the Walton family, some of the wealthiest individuals in the nation, would be willing to pay it to attempt to quell the moral outrage this story is generating against their father’s company. But, we will not wait for Lee Scott or the Walton family to do the right thing. We are doing something about it ourselves and we hope to make a difference for Mrs. Shank and her family.”

No comments: