Walmart warehouse workers fired en masse in what they say is retaliation over labor lawsuit, organizing

Schneider Logistics operates a Walmart distribution center in Mira Loma area near Riverside. A Walmart distribution center in Mira Loma, California, has laid off a group of Inland Empire warehouse workers. Workers say the decision was made because they’re trying to gain higher wages and safer working conditions.

It’s the latest dispute at a facility that’s become the focal point for labor complaints in the warehousing business. Read the full story.

This retaliation is yet another sign of the retail giant’s unwillingness to treat its workers with the respect they deserve.

Contradictions in the Anti-Hunger Movement

Walmart spends $2 billion a year to fight hunger. This sounds impressive until you hear the grim truth - that the average Walmart worker, of which there are 1.4 million in the US, earns $8.81 per hour. At this pay rate, a single parent with one child working full time would qualify for food stamps.

In other words, the public is subsidizing Walmart billions of dollars annually to keep its employees productive, healthy and free of hunger through government food and healthcare programs, yet the company crows about the millions of dollars it distributes to anti-hunger causes.

Occupy Takes on Wal-Mart

The estimated 118,000 Walmart warehouse workers in California are fighting back: “In an open letter to the Occupy movement, workers employed by Rogers in a Schneider-run warehouse handling Walmart’s goods told of ‘working up to 72 hours straight [and] not receiving even minimum wage after working 16 hour days consistently for years.’” But the battle going on at the Walmart center in Mira Loma “is an exemplary case of the chess match between capital and labor.” Read more from The Progressive. 

Walmart CEO earns 994 times more in total compensation than average associate

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Danny Stauffer of Milwaukee has been working as a baker at Walmart for almost five years. His salary is $9.40 an hour, up from a starting wage of $7.11.

Stauffer, 26, said has tried to work full-time at the company but hasn’t had success.

“I actually like the work I do,” he said. “The people I work with, the work itself – they’re all great. It just doesn’t pay the bills.” Read more.

What Walmart CFO Charles Holley Won’t Tell You: Walmart Is Not Worth the Investment

For some time, Walmart’s US same store sales have been disappointing. Recently that metric turned positive, but it’s still well below competitorslike Target, Costco and Kroger, and still below where they were two years ago. In fact it appears that Walmart has been losing market share for the past two years. Given that challenging backdrop, one area of potential growth that has been identified as promising is US urban markets, yet to date urban growth has continued to face local community opposition, and the company’s expansion has in fact proceeded very slowly.

While Holley will look to project a positive 2012 economic outlook for the company, please see the below detailed report of economic indicators that suggest Walmart’s recent financial troubles should raise serious concerns for investors.

[Below report released earlier by John Marshall, CFA; UFCW Capital Stewardship Program.]

1. US same store sales lower than expected; still below 2008 levels

  • US comp store sales of 1.5% disappointed analysts and investors, many of whom had expected something closer to 2% or higher. Analysts on average had expected 1.8%.
  • More concerning for investors is that WMT comp stores sales were below competitors such as Target and Costco, and are still in negative territory over the last three years.


(Source: UFCW analysis of company data)

2) US profit smaller than expected; executives lower guidance for 2012

  • WMT’s Q4 EPS of $1.44 disappointed analysts who had expected at least $1.45. Company officials cited macroeconomic challenges and the need to offer lower prices to its core low-income customers, but some pricing studies have indicated that WMT is actually raising prices faster than the competition. (Deutsche Bank, “Grocery Pricing Study,” Feb. 7, 2012. “Wal-Mart’s basket increased the most over the last two months.”)
  • WMT associates across the country have pointed to a different explanation: growing shrink related to customer theft, as staffing hours are cut—a trend that is expected to continue as WMT greeter positions are eliminated.

3) Customer satisfaction declines as WMT continues to “cut its way to growth”

  • Over the last two years, as sales have lagged, WMT executives sought to achieve profit targets by slashing associate hours and reducing staff, leading associates to complain that customer service is suffering. These reports continue to be validated by a consumer surveys, which show WMT’s customer satisfaction to be among the lowest in the entire retail sector.
  • Last year, WMT officials acknowledged problems in getting products from store rooms out onto the shelves, but stated the company had addressed the problem through its dubious “one-touch” program. Curiously, WMT US’s inventory grew significantly in the 4th quarter, consistent with associate reports of continued problems with the inventory system.

4) US market share losses continue for 2nd year in a row

  • Most tellingly, while WMT executives continue to point to economy wide challenges, national retail sales data indicate the company lost US market share to its competition for the 2nd year in a row.


(Source: UFCW analysis of company and Census Bureau data)

Walmart: Low Prices, But At What Cost?

“Wal-Mart is now pushing its grocery suppliers harder to offer consistently low prices, instead of timed promotions or ‘rollbacks.’ That means food companies are unlikely to be able to pass through more price increases and will be forced to pull other levers, such as cost-cuts to protect margins or product innovation to drive sales,” writes Reuters. Would this be good for small businesses in New York? We don’t think so!