[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
“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.”
- 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
---------------------------------
Yahoo! Music Unlimited - Access over 1 million songs. Try it free.
_____________________________________________________
List services made available by First Step Internet,
serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
http://www.fsr.net
mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
---------------------------------
Yahoo! Music Unlimited - Access over 1 million songs. Try it free.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20051125/06cee1b0/attachment.htm
More information about the Vision2020
mailing list