The union-funded Economic Policy Institute has a simple solution to win higher wages for Wal-Mart employees. All the corporate giant has to do is cut its profit margin from 3.6% to 2.9%!
This could catch on. Now if unions would only cut their dues 50% it would mean hundreds of extra dollars in the paychecks of wage-earners -- dollars that would otherwise go to funding the Economic Policy Institute's pointless studies.
Meanwhile, we wait patiently for the national union campaign to boycott non-union Target Stores (4.7% profit margin). "A survey by the UFCW found that starting wages are similar in Targets and Wal-Marts -- possibly higher overall at Wal-Marts – and that Target benefits packages are often harder to qualify for and less comprehensive," reported CorpWatch last April.
So why not target Target? Maybe it's because Target gave only $181,000 to Republicans while Wal-Mart gave $1,355,000 (source: BuyBlue.org).
The second paragraph is, of course, my favorite.
I wonder--how effective is BuyBlue, anyway?
I think one major reason for the preference for TGT over WMT is that, to many people who consider themselves as members of an "elite," WMT is just so...tacky, whereas TGT is at least a little stylism.
ReplyDeleteIf TGT were shown to have the labor practices of Simon Legree, I suspect this preference would remain largely intact.
(Disclosure: I'm a TGT shareholder)
I think that Target and Walmart have slightly different demographics as shown by their ads and the way stores are usually arranged. There's just a more spacious feel to a Target and Walmart does use up their space efficiently which is why they always turn a profit. I personally hate that Walmart has practically driven out normal grocery stores. Now we have these giant boxes where it takes half an hour to get a gallon of milk. I would say both stores stink when it comes to customer service, which is why I avoid them until absolutely necessary.
ReplyDeleteI watch next to no tv anymore, so the only way I found out there's a new Wal*Mart near me is when my dad told me about it! It's in an area where I never travel, so it's conceivable I'd have been ignorant of its existence for years!
ReplyDeleteBut having nothing better to do today, I went.
It isn't a regular Wal*Mart. It's one of those Mega Mambo Wal*Marts. It was huge, larger than the Sam's Club or Costco that are near my house! I enjoyed touring the place--it was about 20 degrees cooler inside than out.