[Vision2020] The CO-OP Sells Stuff From China/Wal-Mart Salary

Donovan Arnold donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com
Fri Nov 25 23:54:17 PST 2005


Hansin,
  
 Many people at Wal-mart make  more than you do. The Wal_Mart health insurance program is better than  the UI Student Health Insurance program, and it comes with the job.
  
  Most of Moscow's labor force is unskilled, high school educated,  inexperienced youth attending college full time. So it would not be  logical to ban allow low skilled part time jobs into the area. If you  are someone that only has a high school education and is attending  college, as 65% of Moscow residents are, it is awfully difficult to  find a job if they are all high paying full time jobs that require  experience and a M.S. degree.
  
  In addition, Wal_mart is here already. So we are not adding a Wal_mart, just a grocery store and oil, lube and gas station.
  
  And no Hansin, I do not plan to finish my studies, ever. In the medical  and educational fields, and many others, people keep going the school  to better ourselves and remain competent in their field. We do not stop  at a BS degree, some of us even get accepted to graduate school.
  
  But yes, I did use to push shopping carts for a job. And I find it  disrespectful of you to bash those that do now. It is hard honest work.  There is nothing wrong with working at a shopping center pushing carts  for a living. I did it when I was 10 years old for $3.35 an hour. 
  
  -DJA

Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com> wrote:              v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}                  st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }                    You may be on to something, Arnold.
     
    Perhaps what Moscow needs is another minimum-wage,  no-career, sub-standard health insurance program, part-time unemployment sump  like Wal-Mart.
     
    Maybe  when you finally complete your studies (if you ever do) at UI, you can  hustle grocery carts at Wal-Mart.  If not, remind me to buy a  pencil from you, ok?
     
    Tom Hansen
    Moscow, Idaho
     
            &#8220;If you are interested in keeping working conditions poor and  inhuman in China, Honduras, Mexico,  and Bangladesh,  you should buy as many American products as possible.  If  foreigners do not get our money, they cannot improve working conditions  for the poor in those countries.&#8221;
  
  - Donovan J. Arnold (November 22, 2005) 
    
    
            
---------------------------------
    
    From:  vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com] On Behalf Of Donovan Arnold
  Sent: Friday, November 25, 2005  2:57 PM
  To: vision2020 at moscow.com
  Subject: [Vision2020] The CO-OP  Sells Stuff From China/Wal-Mart Salary
    
     
         As Tom Hansin's article points out, Wal-mart employees are making  $7.50-$8.50 an hour.
  
  So my question is, how much should a worker that needs no experience in  life or work get paid at a job that has little or no responsibility?
  
  $9 or $10 an hour? $15, 20? Let us put this in perspective shall we?
  
  A senior at UI with 3 years of research experience can only make a maximum of  $8.15 an hour. A Certified Nurses Assistant at Gritman Hospital  makes $8 an hour. A Certified Nurse Assistant at Aspen, who has the lives of other people in  there hands makes $6.50 an hour starting out. A student worker at the Student Union Building  makes $6.25 an hour. A person who cares for a person with server behavioral  disabilities makes $7 and hour. 
  
  So for an unskilled, uneducated, inexperienced worker at Wal-Mart to be  pulling $7.50+ an hour, that is better than most people that have some  skills and training. And MOST th! e jobs I have worked in this area do  not pay medical unless you work full-time for at least 6 months. Which  you would imagine is less than 1/2 the workforce of most businesses.
  
  Wal-Mart pays the prevailing wage of an area. It is not going to pay a  stock boy $12 and hour in area where most unskilled jobs only pay $7 or  less, it isn't gonna happen. The minimum wage in this state is $5.15 an  hours, so $7.50 an hour is about 50% higher then state law. People  might think that many people do not make $5.15 or less than $6 an hour,  but they do, if you go into places like Southeastern Idaho, that is  what they pay, $6 an hour, and rent is about $350 a month.
  
  The Grocery store comparison is crock I am afraid. First of all, a  cashier to become unionized and get the pay of $10 or more has to have  years of experience before they qualify, many 1000s of hours working  for the same company doing boring, laborious work. Second, when they  get the $10+ an hour they cut! your hours down to first about 15 a week  and slowly they get up to about 30 as other union members retire or  move to another union store. So $12 an hour is very little if you only  work 25 hours a week. Third, Wal-Mart is not a grocery store, it is a  retail store.
  
  If Wal-Mart did not pay prevailing wages they would not be able to keep their  stores and factories full or employees.
  
  In terms of not being able to support a family of four people on a  Wal-Mart salary, that has got to be a joke. No, in this country, it is  not possible to raise three children on most salaries. If someone is  trying to have a family, they need to get an education and a skilled  job, or be willing to work 60 hours a week like many other people in  the country and world do. 
  
 Another question to ask yourself  is; Why is it OK for the CO-OP to sell stuff from China, Bolivia, and  other third world countries but just horrible and awful when Wal-Mart  does it? It just doesn! 't follow, I am hoping maybe Joan Opyr  or Bill London can explain this to us. I like both stores very much.  However, I think the rules should apply equally to everybody. 
  
  Take Care,
  
  Donovan J Arnold
    
        
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