Last Thursday, November 7th, 2013, five Wal-Mart workers were arrested while protesting for higher wages in Los Angeles, three of which are current employees and two former.
The group organizing the protest, including clergy members and community organizers had been staging a two-day strike, asking Wal-Mart for higher pay, better benefits and hours as well as their rights to speak up without retaliation. On average, the hourly wage for Wal-Mart employees is about $12 per hour. Employees are asking for livable wages, knowing Wal-Mart’s almost $500 billion of sales and billions of profits.
In the other hand, Wal-Mart feels that they are proud of the opportunity it provides its workers. They believe that the main concern is not the minimum wage but the mobility, in accordance to workers abilities and opportunities to advance. If Wal-Mart were to rise wages they may have to rise prices, a step which Wal-Mart would not want to take at all.
As a consequence, workers have continued to walk off work, claiming that they cannot survive on Wal-Mart’s wages and get retaliated against for speaking out. This is an example of a consequence of insufficiency of effective work force organization; employees are not feeling happy about working at the company, which then causes long run negative consequences to the company itself, Wal-Mart, in terms of productivity, working conditions and labor investment costs.
Current, Wal-Mart Spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan Said That the Company Knows of Three, and Two Former Employees Who Were Arrested. “Five Wal-Mart Workers Arrested.” CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 08 Nov. 2013. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. <http://money.cnn.com/2013/11/08/news/companies/walmart-protestors-arrested/index.html?iid=HP_River>.
With reference to Class 19 People, Culture and Teams, and Class 20 Innovation and Entrepreneurship
I agree with your analysis on how Walmart needs to find a balance between worker’s wages to manage their productivity and the pricing of their products. Good analysis, and well done!