Day before Christmas Wal-Mart story

No- I don't ever shop there

I was protesting Wal-Mart with a group called "Jobs with Justice". We were handing out information about the lousy health care benefits provided by said company. My 11 year old son held a sign that read "All I want for Christmas is Health Care for My Mommy".

Well, as you can imagine, the Manager came out and he was not amused. He called the cops on us- they just told us to call the shopping center owner (not Wal-Mart) and get their permission first next time and sent us on our way.

But before they came a man came by who told us his wife had worked at that store. She was there for two years and was earning only $9 an hour. (This is on high cost Long Island). He told me that he had had two heart attacks and that after his second heart attack, his wife's hours were cut back to 4 hours a day, making her ineligible for health care, leaving them uninsured and having to go on Medicaid.

Nice, huh?

Then a woman came out of the store who thanked us. She said she worked there and "they make billions and we get nothing"

So Merry Christmas Lee Scott- I hope you choke on whatever very elegant meal you are enjoying.

albeit underwritten and paid for by the state. :shrug:

a high number of people on Medicaid. If the state wasn't so poor in general, the percentage would be higher. But I believe the Dem/Gazette (a rw rag despit its name) said that WalMart employees were the third highest group on Medicaid.

Did they name the OTHER two groups?

eom

Here in Arkansas, $9 is a handsome salary-but the cost of living is miniscule compared to Long Island. Not everyone here likes WalMart- even here, they realize what lousy working conditions they have. We don't have, and don't want, a WalMart in Newton County Arkansas, and we've kept them out.

Good for you, and glad of that positive response!

all the cheap chinese products they sell that hurt american workers.

My 75 year old grandmother works at Walmart here in Wichita. She works 20 hours a week and makes $9.30 per hour and just loves it I told her that they were putting small mom and pop stores out of business and they did not furnish health care for the workers.

She told me that she used to work for mom and pop stores and they never payed her near this much. They never provided health care for anyone and made her work much harder than Walmart and expected her to work more than 20 hours a week. She said they give her a discount on merchandise that she bought from them but she could still get a better price for the same thing at Walmart.

It really makes her angry when anyone, including me, badmouths Walmart.

THAT is why they hire her! Geesh!

I doubt if any one else would hire her and she and several of her friends are really grateful to Walmart to supplement their Social Security. I do not like it but she says she likes the extra income and she likes being around the people. It helps her feel like she is being productive....

Presumably you were on public property and as such do not need any permission, although you do apparently need to educate the local police.

Private property with public access is how they described it. It's public if you're there to spend money- its private for everything else, I guess. We weren't even saying anything- just giving out flyers, wishing people a nice holiday and my son held a small sign. We did not ask people not to go in.