On the news this morning they were talking about Walmart employees in 15 states (including Minnesota) protesting for higher wages. The push is coming as the unions are trying to organize the workers.
My question……….do they really think that Walmart is going to pay 1.3 million workers union wages? Never, not in a million lifetimes will that happen. If you work at Walmart and feel you are underpaid, go get a different job.
same story with all the fast food workers. I think they are just looking for a reason to protest, if they get out of a day of work thats good enough for them.
No longer is America the land of equal opportunity. Its quickly becoming the land of equal outcome.
Corporations and bosses don’t determine your salary. You determine your salary. We are all free agents in life.
well said…
My point wasn’t if unions are good or bad. The point was that Walmart will never unionize AND I didn’t realize that they had 1.3 million employees! Thats allot of payroll no matter what you are paying your employees. 
WWMCD?
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WWMCD?
He would already be in jail for hitting a 63 year old Walmart employee from behind as she was adjusting her crutch.
Fast food employees and workers at Walmart should get themselves educated and learn some skills other than “Welcome to Walmart” and “can I super size that for you?” then they will find there lot in life much better
While agree you are your own maker in life, its sad when a person can’t make close to a good life working wherever they choose. I don’t care if you are a janitor or burger flipper you should be able to live a decent life. Corporations are funneling profits to themselves and screwing the common man.
Had Sam Walton funneled all those profits to the employees would Walmart have 1.3 million employees today? I understand what you are saying but profits are what lead to fortune 500 companies and large employers.
He could certainly funnel a couple extra bucks an hour. I think its a little too easy to say that if they don’t like the wage they should quit. Imagine if places like Wal-Mart didn’t pay a livable wage and nobody wanted to work there. We all need people to work at places like Wal-Mart, Mcdonalds, Target, Cub, and on and on….talking down on these people saying they need to acquire new skills or whatever is just silly
I agree with alot of whats said but they can hardly pay their rent let alone buy a house. I can’t see their wages going from $7 too $8 bucks and hour to $18 or $20 for the service they do but I can see it going to $10 or $12, they deserve to live too. I know alot of Walmart employees have food cards and were all paying for that, so why not give them a raise so they won’t have to use a food card and Walmart pays for it instead of us. With a few dollars an hour raise they can then maybe save a little a year and buy a cheap house instead of giving it all to landlords. Or is holding a job at Walmart mean you have to stay with your parents.
You people bashing Walmart assume all 1.5 million make minimum wage, check out the starting wage at Target you might be surprised. I was a teamster for 14 yrs treated like a piece of crap started driving for Walmart 21 yrs ago better wages, benefits, and retirement that I ever had being a teamster, it’s amazing how many people bash a company they never worked for 
1) Wal Mart has almost better pay and as good of benni’s as the Federal Lock and Dam operators.
2) Fast food positions unless in management were never created to make a living on. They are for the Mom that would like to make a few part time bucks, the school kid to make a few bucks.
3) If anyone thinks these positions are geared for people to make a living on, I have some ocean front property at Everts to sell you.
4) There’s a number of FF companies that will pay for your classes to improve yourself. IF you chose to do so.
5) If wages go to $15.00 per hour, it will cost the businesses aprox $25. per hour for all the MN (and other states) taxes. This will close down most of the mom and pop restaurants and you’ll have $20. McDoubles to go along with your $10. a pack cigarettes.
I didn’t know this soap box was so high Pug. Thanks for sharing it. 
Not slamming anyone but Walmart employees here in town don’t make that kind of wage, I know two people who work there. One has been there for almost 15 years and makes under $12, my cousins friend. The other has been there close to 10 and makes about $11, my other cousins ex. For that kind of commitment I think they should make more. I believe thier should be a lid on wages partaing to a certain job, but Walmart could afford a couple bucks more, to me thats just pocket change considering how much business they do a day for a 15 check out lane store.
For all you guys thinking wal-mart and others should make more. Those proposed wages are more than a number of highly skilled medical positions pay. Why spend all that time and money going to school when you could make better money doing the job a trained monkey can do? I think that sums up why FF and unskilled types like wal-mart floor people should not make more than what they are getting.
Do the math. $15 per hour is $600 per week, times 52 weeks comes out to $31,200 per year. Only a couple K less than the average starting teaching salary in MN. I’m a teacher so this is biased, but that is BS!!! Us teachers have a 4 yr degree at least, student loans, and do way more for society than all walmart or FF employees combined. Something just doesn’t sound right about that. IMHO.
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Do the math. $15 per hour is $600 per week, times 52 weeks comes out to $31,200 per year. Only a couple K less than the average starting teaching salary in MN. I’m a teacher so this is biased, but that is BS!!! Us teachers have a 4 yr degree at least, student loans, and do way more for society than all walmart or FF employees combined. Something just doesn’t sound right about that. IMHO.
X2. If you can teach a primate to sign, you can teach them to hang the pink shirts with the other pink shirts, or go get the carts in the lot. Those people are unskilled, uneducated labor and a penny a dozen. They do not deserve more money/hr.
I am currently going back to college and getting my 3rd higher education degree. I have issues with them making above $10/hr for unskilled labor as well.
Otherwise why would guys like Tim and I try? Why would we put effort into getting a degree for a job we have to maintain continuing education to keep? We would just get our mindless job and go fishing.
Assume those 1.3 million are .5 fte which means they work 1040 hours a year. 1040 x $2 x 1.3 million = $2.7 billion a year in wages alone. Shareholders probably wouldn’t like that.
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We would just get our mindless job and go fishing.
Stop attacking Pug. He has feelings too. 
I can’t count the number of jobs I have had. I might keep this one for a while since my commute just went down to 10 minutes. But at some point I am going to want a raise and when I do, I’ll be looking for a new job.
Its all about the free market. If you go to most Walmarts, looking at the surroundings, you assume they don’t pay their workers big salaries. There is a funny site called people of Walmart for a reason. I am not a snob, I’d love to shop at Walmart for some items since they are cheaper for the exact same product, but depending on the location. I don’t find the pennies on the dollar savings is worth it feeling uncomfortable. And I am not just talking about the people, some Walmarts are just not kept up.
Its kind of like when people complain about a Walmart or other store opening up a store in a small town. They complain about the few mom and pop stores being shut down. But they don’t talk about all the new jobs and budget saving everyone gets because of it.
Life isn’t fair. No one said it was.
There are so many job openings now for skilled workers in the trades and technical field. Plumbers, welders, steam fitters, machinist, toolmakers, electricians, on and on and on. I have zero pity for Walmart workers complaining about there wage. I just got out of school today, I put in 7 hours into school each week along with my full time job and family time and study time. 47 years old and I still am upgrading my skills and learning more. If there is a will there is a way…..
maybe the one’s bitching about their jobs should just move back across the border 
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. I just got out of school today, I put in 7 hours into school each week along with my full time job and family time and study time. 47 years old and I still am upgrading my skills and learning more . If there is a will there is a way….
Good for you! You get “IT“.
My wife had 18 years in as teaching assistant with an Early Childrens program. It was a Federally funded proram for 3&4 year old kids from low income families. She had to go to seminars or classes every year. Her wage after 18 years was $11.35 an hour. In the last 8 years she had gotten two raises. 
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. I just got out of school today, I put in 7 hours into school each week along with my full time job and family time and study time. 47 years old and I still am upgrading my skills and learning more . If there is a will there is a way….
Good for you!
Thank You, I should mention I work 12 hour nights and go to school during the day and evening. Sacrifice, lots of coffee and patience from my loved ones when I get crabby. Talked with a 57 year old classmate today and he is doing the same as me only his class load is double and he is a contractor who thought his workload would be easy only to get blasted with 4 jobs this week. Not sure he will be able to handle the workload long term but I commend him for trying. 
I’ve always thought teachers were under payed and also under appreciated and for years the people who complain that teachers make enough is all bullroar, the plain facts show they don’t make enough. Since when isn’t a teacher not supposed to make enough to buy a house and afford other things, Jheesh their teachers.
Should all service jobs be paid enough to buy a house, plus buy medical insurance, plus have enough to eat healthy food, plus many other things. I think this just shows the inadaquacies in our system. I for one am not going to settle for an answer that, this is just the way things are, because I can see improvements on quite a few things when it comes to prices. To me just because someone is a common laborer doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be paid a reasonable wage. Walmart makes billions and I think their workers should be able to make a decent wage, not a high wage because the positions don’t deem it necessary. If its all an education put their by effort then that means the local laborers union isn’t suppose to pay for their workers who have worn out their backs, legs, hips etc. and have learned their skills like making concrete darned near perfect when they lay it, among the many other things the laborers do. Has anyone ever thought about the apprenticeship and the math and the schooling that these guys go through just to learn a trade, its a 4 year minimum, just like college.
Do I think the amount of money Walmart makes that some of it shouldn’t come back to the workers just to say thanks for helping them run their business, maybe not giving them a couple dollars more isn’t worth the thanks.
Maybe I’m a little biased but I see how strong this area is and all because of a decent pay scale. This area is very busy and also affordable to live in because there’s a balance that works here. I don’t know if the leasees that lease the names from McDonalds or any other chain can pay a higher wage but I do know Walmart can.
And maybe I’m also a little biased because my dad and cousin unionized the city workers, the police, and any others who are paid by the city here, now they all make a decent wage and our taxes aren’t to high and we can live here not just survive. So when it comes to paying Walmart workers a couple bucks more it all comes back into the local business from things those people would by. If Walmart didn’t make the money they do then I would say no, but they do and can afford it, especially when it comes back to the local businesses here. Are the teachers in your areas unionized, if not they should be, because it all comes back to the local economy. To me a person shouldn’t have to go back to school to earn a higher wage to sustain minimal comfort like eating healthy. I’m not calling anyone out, I’m just explaining how I feel and the way things work here, and things work pretty good here, and no its not because of any government funded jobs, that money ran out along time ago. They are litterly building hundreds of new homes and businesses here and it isn’t because of low wages, people are being payed decent here and are spending their money and the banks are lending. I think Walmart employees are worth a couple bucks more.
All of you going to school and making yourselves better workers, congratulations and good for you 
You are the expensive Ranger and Skeeter boat owners among others, and you deserve everything you have worked hard for. But what about the average Joe worker, he must not have had the best education, or parenting for that matter to get him the skills he needs to be the management type. We need burger guys, we need janitors, we need mindless workers on factory lines and hanging clothes, we all need the minion workers doing the small things in order for all you “educated” workers to make big money. If anyone thinks that you yourself is making big dollars all by your incredibly educated self you are wrong, there is many minimum wage workers somewhere along the line doing the grunt work. I just want those people to have a somewhat decent life, I would compel anyone to try to live on minimum wage here. Somehow the American dream has turned into a $250000 house with 2 cars a 18′ glass boat and 2 degrees later and all those who dont make that are “mindless workers”. Why can’t a guy who is a Walmart worker have a $75000 house a piece of crap car and a rickety tin boat? Minimum wage won’t even provide that, nor health, dental,life insurance, or retirement. I’m tired of paying taxes to supplement these people where there greedy employers could be providing. Oh wait we need to make our shareholders happy and the rich get richer.
I still don’t support higher wages for the wal-marts and McD employees of the world but I would agree that they are big enough organizations to give those employees a pretty good group plan health/dental at a subsidized rate.
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