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Wal-Mart, the nation's largest private
employer with 1.4 million workers, is leading the corporate attack
on wages and benefits with renewed vigor.
In spite of a recent "community-friendly"
public relations campaign aimed at repairing its notorious reputation
for low wages, poor benefits and labor violations, the company
is putting an even tighter squeeze on employees--many of whom
already live below poverty level--and its main competitors are
following suit.
Specifically, Wal-Mart is rolling
out a campaign to cap employee wages and reduce what it spends
on health care benefits--by increasing its part-time workforce
and pushing out longer-standing employees.
"Given the impact of tenure
on wage benefits, the cost of an associate with seven years of
tenure is almost 55 percent more than the cost of an associate
with one-year tenure, yet there is no difference in his or her
productivity," reads an internal corporate memo leaked to
the New York Times. The memo recommends hiring more part-time
employees, because "the shift to more part time associates
will lower Wal-Mart's health care enrollment."
According to Wake Up Wal-Mart,
a UFCW campaign exposing the company's abuses, Wal-Mart already
has the highest number of workers without health care coverage
of any employer--it fails to provide benefits for 775,000 employees.
As a result, an average of 13 percent of its workforce has to
seek assistance from the Medicare and Medicaid public health
care systems.
Now, with its new strategy
getting underway, Wal-Mart has announced that it is cutting health
care options for employees, meaning this situation is likely
to get worse.
Under the system outlined in
the 2007 Wal-Mart Medical Benefits Booklet, new hires now get
to choose between the perversely titled "Value Plan"
or "Freedom Plan."
While Wal-Mart's marketing
machine is heralding a new discounted generic drug program for
customers, employees opting for the "Value Plan" could
be saddled with a $300 pharmacy deductible, plus additional deductibles
that could conceivably total $6,000. On the other hand, the "Freedom
Plan" only really offers freedom from coverage--premiums
are jacked up by 6.9 percent, and getting a spouse covered will
cost an $1,800 surcharge.
According to Wake Up Wal-Mart's
analysis, a family depending on one of the offered plans could
pay as much as 60 percent of their income for health insurance,
and a single worker could pay as much as 30 percent.
Wal-Mart is also planning on
doubling to 40 percent the percentage of its employees who are
part time. This will involve forcing full-time employees with
seniority off the schedule.
Some Florida stores have reportedly
begun to institute this "weed-out" program by not permitting
older employees with leg or back problems from sitting on stools
while working as cashiers, store greeters or fitting-room attendants--even
after using them for years.
According to the New York
Times, Wal-Mart employees say that management expects them
to be available for any shift. In 1,900 stores, that means 24
hours a day.
And for this around-the-clock
loyalty, employees will have their already low wages capped--denying
them annual raises if their pay is at or above cap. The Times
didn't report whether Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott would see a cap
on his own compensation, which totaled $17 million last year--nearly
1,000 times higher than the annual wages for an average U.S.
Wal-Mart "associate," according to the company's own
figures.
It's accepted fact that Wal-Mart's
labor policies have lowered the bar on wages, benefits and working
standards, not just in the retail industry, but throughout the
private sector. Wal-Mart competitors Target and Sears have both
adopted similar strategies to Wal-Mart's newest anti-worker offensive.
A 2006 survey conducted by
the Bureau of Labor Statistic (BLS) confirms the trend. Covering
10,370 private companies employing 105 million workers primarily
in the private sector, the BLS survey found that only 71 percent
of workers have access to health insurance through an employer.
Low-wage earners making less
than $15 an hour face a significantly less access--only 57 percent
are offered health benefits, and only 38 percent participate.
"The bottom line,"
the BLS report concludes, "is that union workers continue
to receive benefits that are far superior to those provided to
nonunion workers, and most low-wage workers are not covered by
benefit plans or cannot afford to participate in them."
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