Jim Stroud’s The Recruiters Lounge

Here, where I live, there is a rising anti Walmart force. See, Walmart has decided to build one of their Over - Megasized “supercenters” in our tiny little small town, and though allegedly, a permit has not yet been pulled, we have already seen some loss of small businesses. The little town I live in has always had a focus on the small business, this sadly will bring the destitution of the small business.

There are many that are “For” Walmart, and what they believe is that this evil empire brings more “freedom” to Americans. Personally, I think that those individuals really don’t get it, and the more they defend Walmart and their cheap prices, that unfortunately their lack of information on this topic really shines through.

People, Do you understand why this country is in Recession??? When you lose your job, because of the trickle down effect of the Problems which companies like Walmart create, will you be able to continue to have the “Freedom” to shop there? Even though those prices are so “cheap”?

And what cost are we paying to get those “cheap” prices? Who does it hurt? now, and ultimately later? What is the Cause and Effect for this alleged “value” and is it really a value to us, and the economy?

Personally I think there should be a law in America that states, that unless you are informed, unless you REALLY know and understand the dynamics of what one is voting for, one should NOT be allowed to vote.. a bit harsh isn’t it? Or is it? Yes, some say, this isn’t about a vote; Yes, indeed it is! It is Not only about hearing, listening, and knowing about what is occurring in your economy today, how it affects you now.. but also finding out what was the Trigger, the Cause, and what more harm will happen tomorrow.

Sometimes when I hear some screaming about the wonders and benefits of companies like walmart, I want to say – hey - Suggestion, take an economics class or two, so that you may get a better understanding of this situation, please, it isn’t as black and white as it appears. It really isn’t..

Seriously, it is companies like Walmart, Enron, Tyco, WorldCom, and especially the GAS COMPANIES like Chevron, Shell, Mobile – that ultimately TAKE AWAY Americans’ freedoms… and the people who are fighting these giants, they are fighting on Behalf of YOUR freedom, because they understand and realize that you were probably too busy, or maybe just didn’t understand, how YOUR FREEDOM becomes lost due to the TRICKLE DOWN EFFECT (In reverse) from companies like this!

Well, for those who wonder what is exactly wrong with what many call the “evil empire” Let me please share some facts with you,-they come from a movie called “the high cost of low price” — This movie comes Loaded with Facts and data – not only from Walmart themselves, but also from research done by UC Berkeley’s Labor Center, Philip Mattera, research director for Good Jobs First; The Center for Public Policy Priorities; Executive Office of Health and Human Services Division of Health Care Finance and Policy; Justice Department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and so many more. The information on the facts and data can also be found at http://www.walmartmovie.com/facts.php

Now here is some reasons why YOU Should care about What walmart is doing to Your Local and State economy, environment, and community –

WAL-MART Drives Down Retail Wages $4.7 BILLION Every Year
A recent study by researchers at UC Berkeley’s Labor Center

UPDATE: Since the completion of our film, the study has been finalized and published, and the published findings produced a different number for the annual loss in retail earnings than the preliminary figure we used in the film. The published study ultimately found that Wal-Mart actually reduced the take-home pay of retail workers by $4.7 BILLION dollars annually. Unfortunately for the retail workers this statistic concerns, Wal-Mart’s effect on retail wages turns out to be worse than we had anticipated.

Federal Poverty Level Family of Four - $17,650 Average Wal-Mart Hourly Sales Employee Wages - $13,861 “On average, Wal-Mart sales clerks — “associates” in company parlance — pulled in $8.23 an hour, or $13,861 a year, in 2001, according to documents filed in a lawsuit pending against the company.”

• HELEN WALTON: $18.0 BILLION
• ALICE WALTON: 18.0 BILLION
• JOHN WALTON: 18.2 BILLION
• ROB WALTON: $18.3 BILLION
• JIM WALTON: $18.3 BILLION

The WALTON FAMILY Has Given LESS THAN 1% of Their Wealth to Charity Bill Gates has given 58%. YET The WALTON FAMILY Made $3.2 MILLION in Political Contributions in 2004. In 2004, WAL-MART Employees gave OVER $5 MILLION to help fellow workers. BUT The Walton Family gave $6,000. The WALTON FAMILY received a federal tax cut of: $91,500.00 per HOUR in the 2004 tax.

According to the Wal-Mart Facts website, “The typical Supercenter raises or gives $30,000 to $50,000 a year to local charitable needs ranging from youth programs to literacy councils.” From a survey of Wal-Mart’s grand opening contributions, its giving averages to about $47,222 per store.

Also, DID YOU KNOW:

• WAL-MART Costs Taxpayers $1,557,000,000,00 to Support its Employees”The Democratic Staff of the Committee on Education and the Workforce estimates that one 200-person Wal-Mart store may result in a cost to federal taxpayers of $420,750 per year - about $2,103 per employee. Specifically, the low wages result in the following additional public costs being passed along to taxpayers:
• $36,000 a year for free and reduced lunches for just 50 qualifying Wal-Mart families.
• $42,000 a year for Section 8 housing assistance, assuming 3 percent of the store employees qualify for such assistance, at $6,700 per family.
• $125,000 a year for federal tax credits and deductions for low-income families, assuming 50 employees are heads of household with a child and 50 are married with two children.
• $100,000 a year for the additional Title I expenses, assuming 50 Wal-Mart families qualify with an average of 2 children.
• $108,000 a year for the additional federal health care costs of moving into state children’s health insurance programs (S-CHIP), assuming 30 employees with an average of two children qualify.
• $9,750 a year for the additional costs for low income energy assistance.”
• The total figure is based on the average $420,750 per-store figure, multiplied by 3700 (the approximate number of stores currently in the United States).

NOTE: $86 MILLION a Year to California Taxpayers In 2004, a study released the UC Berkeley Labor Center found that “reliance by Wal-Mart workers on public assistance programs in California comes at a cost to taxpayers of an estimated $86 million annually; this is comprised of $32 million in health related expenses and $54 million in other assistance.”

Wal-Mart dismisses the findings of the UC Berkeley study, “Hidden Costs of Wal-Mart Jobs,” as a “union hit piece.” However, text from Wal-Mart’s own internal memo substantially corroborates their findings.

The original report did not include costs to the public for Wal-Mart employees who are uninsured. Information from the Wal-Mart memo also points to the possibility of additional taxpayer costs incurred from uninsured employees, as analyzed by the Labor Center: The memo further reports that 19% of Wal-Mart employees lack health insurance. The cost of uncompensated care for those workers adds an estimated $202 million in taxpayer costs nationally, and $10 million in California. These costs were not quantified in the original report.

In addition to these new findings, a paper presented at the recent Wal-Mart sponsored conference by Michael J. Hicks of the Air Force Institute of Technology and Marshall University, finds that “Wal-Mart does increase Medicaid expenditures by roughly $898 per worker, which is consistent with other studies of the Medicaid costs per low wage worker across the United States.”

ADDITIONAL INSIGHTS:

• In Texas it is estimated that they cheated workers out of up to one hundred and fifty million dollars in unpaid wages.
• Wal-Mart currently faces lawsuits in thirty-one different States for wage and hour abuses potentially involving hundreds of thousand workers.
• Wal-Mart is facing a class-action lawsuit for discrimination against 1.75 million former and current female employees.
• Currently in the U.S. there are 26,699,678 SQUARE FEET of empty WAL-MARTS
• Cost for WAL-MART Factory Worker to Assemble: $0.18. Retail cost at Wal-Mart: $14.96
• 2005: Connecticut EPA orders WAL-MART to pay $1.15 MILLION for Clean Water Act violations in 22 stores “Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Gina McCarthy today announced a $1.15 million settlement with Wal-Mart involving environmental violations at 22 stores related to stormwater and other water management issues.”
• WAL-MART Imported $18 BILLION from CHINA in 2004! The world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc, says its inventory of stock produced in China is expected to hit US$18 billion this year [2004], keeping the annual growth rate of over 20 per cent consistent over two years.”

There is So much more on the site, but I got to say this alone was enough to give me a major heartburn.. Yes, I do believe that.

ABOUT KAREN MATTONEN, CAC, CSP

Karen is an experienced, successful recruiter who operates her own business and is actively involved in many industry organizations and activities. Her recruiting career began with Snelling Corporation. In 1998, after a successful tenure as a recruiter with Snelling, Karen struck out on her own, founding Advanced Career Solutions (ACS). ACS focuses on recruiting for the HVAC Industry. Karen has achieved accreditation as a California Accredited Consultant (CAC) through California Staffing Professionals. She has also gained her Certified Staffing Professional Certificate (CSP) through American Staffing Professionals. (www.americanstaffing.net)

Karen has a new and future-oriented vision of what recruiting can and should become: a profession we can be proud of for its ethical standing, professional conduct and ability to build great organizations. Her doing-well-by-doing-right philosophy is shaking up the status quo in an industry that needs to be shaken. She does this with conviction, leadership, and a distinctive voice that cries out for change.

Karen was a co-creator of the landmark webinar event – “EEOC Discrimination Debate.” This event featured senior members of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and staffing industry experts discussing and debating difficult issues about discrimination in today’s workplace environment. Company executives, hiring managers, recruiters, and human resource professionals from across the United States were invited to participate in the free Webinar and live panel discussion. Karen also served as one of the panelists on the discussion team in the March, 2006 event.

As co-host of the popular podcast “The Recruiters Lounge,”Karen discusses her frank opinions on the recruitment industry with her co-host, Jim Stroud.