[CS-FSLUG] PD: Re: Christians taking action...

[Timothy Butler]

> There are unions in this country and they have tried uncucessfully to
> unionise walmart for years.  Gee, I wonder why???  Could it be that
> their, supposedly trampled on employees are satisfied with the status
> quo?

	It's called "union breakers."

	(Although admittedly -- and I mean no offense to anyone who works at  
Wal-Mart -- but the quality of help at Wal-Mart is rather low.)

>
> When a mom and pop grocery, the only one we had in town, goes out of
> bussiness because WalMart brought in reasonably priced groceries like
> the city folks get normaly,  12,000 people benifit and TWO (2) lose.


	Hardly. Wal-Mart prices things lower because by themselves they  
transact about 10% of the U.S.'s business with China and trade enough  
to have a larger "GNP" than many countries. Wal-Mart can force prices  
lower, hence kill off the jobs of thousands, lowering market choice  
and promoting the sale of goods from countries (like China) that  
abuse human rights.

	Consider this: in many cities, such as my own St. Louis, there are  
various grocery chains. We have two mid-sized chains based here with  
union help (Schnucks, the larger, might be known to some of you since  
it is growing into a regional chain). They pay $15+ an hour plus  
benefits. Wal-Mart, on the other hand, pays something not too far  
from minimum wage and offers no benefits to many of its employees.  
This shows: when I go into the traditional grocery stores, I get  
quality help that knows what they are doing. I appreciate the quality  
products and selection too. But, many people care more about the  
price, and so these stores that provide a decent wage are being  
forced to go more to part time help and many are closing.

	People do not appreciate quality nor do they worry about what they  
are doing to workers salaries. People ignore that Wal-Mart often  
builds in places with the sole purpose of killing off the competition  
before closing their store knowing that people will now have no  
choice but to drive farther to the *next* Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is big  
enough that normal market forces have a hard time stopping it, just  
as the case is with Microsoft. Wal-Mart is subsidized in its actions  
by the fact that Medicaid exists and thus people receive some kind of  
healthcare despite Wal-Mart -- *we* pay for Wal-Mart's actions  
through higher taxes... I'd rather just pay a store that gives the  
employees benefits and takes the workers off the state rolls.
	

	It hurts us all in the long run.

	Consider this opposed to Costco, Wal-Mart's opposition in the  
wholesaler market (Wal-Mart owns Sam's). Their CEO takes only  
somewhere about 4x more in salary than that of a forklift driver. The  
said drivers can hope to earn beyond $40,000/year and benefits.  
Costco in turn gets loyal, helpful employees that make the customer  
experience much better. Nevertheless, many don't care about customer  
experience. They'd rather go to Wal-Mart, where the employees are  
treated like dirt and save an extra $.50.

	I don't boycott Wal-Mart, but I do give my business to other, better  
companies most of the time.


	-Tim




---
Timothy R. Butler | "It may be that  when the angels go about their
Editor, OfB.biz   | task  praising God,  they play only Bach.  I am
tbutler at ofb.biz   | sure,  however,  that when they are together en
timothybutler.us  | famille they play Mozart."
                                                       -- Karl Barth