Yesterday, the retail giant announced they’ll up their starting wage from $9 to $11, increase maternity benefits, and hand out some hefty bonuses to employees who qualify. All of this thanks to the new tax law.
On the surface, it’s a beautiful story: a corporation goes to bed a monster, wakes up with a conscience, and finally chooses to take care of their hardworking employees. That’ll do, Walmart. That’ll do.
BUT… this change has been needed for a while
For years, Walmart has overworked employees, offered over-priced benefits, and failed to meet workers’ company-wide demand for a $15 wage.
The goliath brick-and-mortar chain, which has more than 1.3m employees, has faced massive black Friday protests, and a slew of non-profit groups have fought tooth and nail to unionize — all to no avail.
That said, ‘tis better to turn good late, than to never turn at all.
Wait a sec…
Have they turned? Or is this all just some PR fluff to mask the fact that they’re closing 63 locations of their sister company, Sam’s Club, across the US — a move that is speculated to impact more than 11k workers?
Moreover, 10 of the affected stores will be turned into e-commerce distribution centers, and according to Walmart, the employees of those stores aren’t exactly shoe-ins.
“Sorry, Cindy, you’re great, but if you want to work at the e-commerce distribution center, you’re going to have to reapply.”
