Wal-Mart : bastards

[rubberdinghy]

Case in point: the public sector in Ottawa. They are paid very well, have great benefits, but may strike for a triple the rate of inflation wage increase demand ? Ludicrous. F*** them. Asking for an increase to keep up with inflation, and benefit protection is reasonable, but more is laughable. They act like these people work hard. Sure, some do, but the workers that loaf all day, take 20 smoke breaks, go home after lunch, send useless memos all day, surf the net, etc.

People are greedy that's it...It's the real American Way. I am greedy too, I'll take whatever I can get...(maybe then I'd go to see the New Deal for 20 bucks.) Anyways, Sam Walton was one greedy mofo, and look at the empire he built. Some say it was unethical, but whatever, it's what he did, and in all honesty it was smart business...Like others have said, I will shop more at CTC, or Zellers, simply because they are canadian, however, they both are large corporations and am sure have done some underhanded dealings in the past to get where they are. So all in all, there isn't much that we can do, Millions will shop at wal-mart, many people will still eat beef, people will still chop down trees, people will still pollute our atmosphere. If someone out there can come up with a larger, more global way to stop this great, and I'll jump on that bandwagon, however, I will still do the things that I do!

love y'all

Scot

[bouche]

Case in point: the public sector in Ottawa. They are paid very well, have great benefits, but may strike for a triple the rate of inflation wage increase demand ? Ludicrous. F*** them. Asking for an increase to keep up with inflation, and benefit protection is reasonable, but more is laughable. They act like these people work hard. Sure, some do, but the workers that loaf all day, take 20 smoke breaks, go home after lunch, send useless memos all day, surf the net, etc. The lack of efficiency is mind boggling, and these people get away with it b/c the union will back them from being fired unless they burn the building down. I know many people that work for the government, and ALL of them have told me that this is epidemic. Most people have about 3-4 hours work per day. Then they go home, or stay and f*** around. Some people work their asses off, and get promoted to the top (kudos for them for having the pride to work hard even though they don't have to); but just as many do the bare minimum, f*** around all day, and collect a large paycheck with mandated raises, and a silver plated pension. I'm all for people getting paid, but they should all work a full day.

That's a pretty HUGE generalization to be pissed off about.

Realistically, there are days in ANY job where you get plenty of work done early on and there really just isn't any need to continue. Sure, screw around at work every once and a while, and if something comes up, you're there to take care of it.

[timouse]

what a very tricky balance. the Wobblies and the IWW in the 30's totally changed working conditions, but 70 years later on union manufacturing shops are largely inefficient and full of people who do the minimum required.

as far as wal-mart goes, or any other service/retail sector gig goes, go union! so many big companies will keep people working just under the fiull time threshold to avoid paying benefits.

i will not shop at wal mart unless trhere is no alternative. i think niffermouse and i have been there 2x in the last year.

fight the giant corporations.Don't Give Them Your Money!

timouse (with thanks to jello biafra & utah phillips)

[ggrtrhhrtgg]

well, if you want to discuss how many hours we work in the industrial field... here are actual stats as compared to other western countries...

US workers put in the longest hours on the job in industrialized nations, clocking up nearly 2,000 hours in 1997, almost two weeks more than their counterparts in Japan, where hours worked per year have been gradually declining since 1980, according to a new statistical study of global labour trends published by the International Labour Office (ILO).*

The study examines 18 Key Indicators of the Labour Market (KILM) including labour productivity, labour costs and hours worked. It shows that the US pattern of increasing annual hours worked per person (which totalled 1,966 in 1997 versus 1,883 in 1980, an increase of nearly 4%) runs contrary to a worldwide trend in industrialized countries that has seen hours at work remaining steady or declining in recent years.

The long working hours of US and Japanese workers (whose 1995 total was 1,889 annual hours worked versus 2,121 in 1980, a decline of more than 10%) contrasts most sharply with those of European workers, who are logging progressively fewer hours on the job, particularly in the Scandinavian countries such as Norway and Sweden where hours worked in 1997 were, respectively 1,399 and 1,552 per year.

In France, which recently introduced legislation limiting the work week to 35 hours, men and women workers put in 1,656 hours in 1997 versus 1,810 in the 1980s. In Germany (Western), the annual total of working hours was just under 1,560 in 1996 versus 1,610 in 1990 and 1,742 in 1980.

Workers in the United Kingdom, putting in 1,731 hours annually in 1997, appear to have neither gained nor lost much free time since 1980 when they worked 1,775 hours. Irish workers' annual hours dropped from 1,728 in 1980 to 1,656 in 1996, putting them roughly on par with Switzerland (1,643), Denmark (1,689 hours for male workers in 1994) and Netherlands (1,679 for male workers in 1994).

Workers (both men and women) in Australia logged only slightly longer hours than their counterparts in New Zealand in 1996 (1,867 versus 1,838). Canadian workers have seen their work schedules decline by more than a full work week during the last decades, with 1996's result of 1,732 hours closely resembling 1980's total of 1,784.

[SevenSeasJim]

"In France, which recently introduced legislation limiting the work week to 35 hours, men and women workers put in 1,656 hours in 1997 versus 1,810 in the 1980s. In Germany (Western), the annual total of working hours was just under 1,560 in 1996 versus 1,610 in 1990 and 1,742 in 1980"

French MP's voted this down last week and changed it from 35 hours/week to 48 hours/week for private companies.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4248845.stm