THE reason for the current hate for Wal-Mart.

[amana1man]

Quote by: shield772 Well I work at Wal-Mart but not for Wal-Mart, I would say the majority of the employees are happy with their jobs and prospects, and they have better pay, work conditions, and insurance than people in the fast food industry and many other industries.

A November 2004 New York Times article cites a study in Georgia that found 10,000 children of Wal-Mart employees were in the state's healthcare program at a cost to taxpayers of $10 million a year. The same article describes a hospital in North Carolina that found that 31 percent of its 1,900 patients were Wal-Mart employees on Medicaid, and an additional 16 percent were Wal-Mart employees with no insurance at all. And in California, a study released in August 2004 by researchers at the University of California at Berkeley determined that the healthcare expenses of uninsured Wal-Mart employees were costing the already economically-strapped state $32 million a year in taxpayer funds. Wal-Mart has disputed findings that the company encourages its employees to apply for public assistance and called the California study "biased," noting that the researchers at Berkeley did not contact the company for facts and statistics.

Wal-mart health insurance is not affordable by most of its employees. It was higher than Hy Vee or Kmart or several other like employers checked. This came from a article in the Des Miones paper some months back.

Unscrupulous employers can use tools like harassment to rid themselves of elderly workers or workers with health problems which pose a insurance risk. Do you know the unemployment rate of a 60 year old American? I do not know but guess it very high, well over the 20 percent mark. What about a handicapped elderly worker. I was told by Iowa Workforce Development it was well over 50 percent and perhaps as high as 70 percent.
Quite an accomplishment would be for this person to find work.

I worked at Wal-mart and was harressed until I quit when they found out I was a handicapped person. All of this is hard to prove and the unscrupulous employer got away with it. I was told by Walmart supervisor "You will do what your told for as long as I tell you to do it, I do not care about what your doctor said you can or cannot do." So this bodes well for our government protecting our rights in the workplace. Giving this and me not being able to do a regular job I applied for Social Security Disability but was told "no, you are able to work." So where will I find work when the government turns its back on protecting my rights. Employers are not encouraged to hire disabled workers unless its someone who is currently on disability.

I put my Wal-mart story on the internet and have got dozens of replies from people who were mistreated by this company. Included was a lady who loved working at Wal-mart and had been there 15 years. She got a new superviser who disliked her. She said she ended up taking a job at a Wal-mart 50 miles away because the district manager would do nothing about harassment by her superviser.

Then there is the fellow who fell from letter and broke his arm. Wal-mart said their video shows him falling on purpose to get money. He just quit, he did not file a lawsuit or complain to the labor dept.

Than there's the lady who fell from a ladder after telling her superviser she had high blood pressure and should not climb. Because she climbed the ladder as asked by her superviser, Wal-mart refused her medical bills since they claimed she knew she should not be climbing. She hurt her back and takes medication daily. She can lift only 10 pounds. Some kind of stupid law in Texas prevents her from filing a law suit.

Lastly what about the thousands of lost jobs because Wal-mart refused to buy produces made in the USA because they were a few dollars higher in price. Mr. Sam Walton's Walmart slogan said "Help America, Buy American Made." Now Walmart's program is "no, lets buy China and put people in the United States out of work." Our government is gladly letting it happen because it is "big Business". Now if we all work low paying Walmart jobs who will have the money to buy that new television or even a new pair of jeans?
Look behind that yellow smiley face and see what's really happening to workers. Good American jobs like at Thomson Electronics in Circleville, Ohio forced out of business by Walmart -- they were making good money, now they are making a fraction of that, $7, $8 an hour if they are working at Wal-mart. There's a revolving door at Wal-Mart -- workers coming in, seeing the reality of it and quitting.