PowerSwitch

Just finished watching this Documentary on Walmart. 10/10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jazb24Q2s94

Truly shocking what these bart@rds get up to.

From paying low wages, promising healthcare and not delivering, getting massive subsidies to build new stores, employing sweatshop labour in foreign countries, spying on employees, blackmailing employees, devastating towns that they takeover, even ignoring crimes committed on its parking lots, all for the need for more and more money and power.

Truly sickening.

And for British readers, Walmart = Asda.

I've seen that WalMart film, it's getting on for a decade old now with a lot of the material from the 90s. I'm not sure how much is relevant to ASDA here in the UK.

For example:
2001, 2002, 2003 – Voted a top 10 UK employer by the Sunday Times Top 100 Best Employers Survey.

And just today we have this:
"Some 19,000 Asda staff will receive record payouts averaging £3,240 under parent company Wal-Mart's Sharesave scheme, the supermarket chain has said."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23223794

It's their own money that they are getting back ...!!!

The scheme allows staff to set aside between £50 and £250 a month over three years, in return for a share bonus.

They are being generously "allowed" to invest in their own employers so Wall Mart get a cheap loan off its employees. Talk about spin!

Only 10% of the workforce take advantage of this scheme probably because the other 90% are on minimum wage and can't afford to partake. If they paid a decent wage more employees might take advantage of the scheme but beware: the stock market value at the moment is pumped up by QE money in the Stock Markets. Once this QE money stops there could be a massive readjustment - downwards.

It's not as bad as you make out - they are able to buy the shares at a significant discount to the market price and if the share price does go down, they are guaranteed to get back their payments. This is not a cheap loan from their employees!

The deal here seems to be -20% from the 2010 price, which itself is significantly below the current price.

When I was involved in a similar "sharesave" scheme with a past employer we were able to buy 3 shares for the price of 2.

A new report by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance has found that, through their Walton Family Foundation, the Waltons have given $4.5 million dollars to groups like the American Enterprise Institute, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and Americans for Prosperity.

These groups are attacking renewable energy policies at the state level and, specifically, pushing for fees on rooftop solar installations. The head of ALEC has even gone so far as to denigrate owners of rooftop solar installations as "free riders".

You shouldn't give Walmart/Asda a cent anyway.

It adds that the solar industry now employs about 143,000 Americans, half of which are rooftop solar installation techs who make, on average, $24 per hour, "more than twice what the average Walmart associate makes."

Associate! Corporate speak gone berserk! Who do they think they're fooling?

Source

I don't think that a Walmart Associate is an Associate in the same way that a John Lewis Partnership Partner is.