No Turn On Red

Yesterday, Wal-Mart announced that they are capping employee’s wages. I find it interesting to watch this story unfold across the blogosphere and traditional news outlets. I posted some links to early reaction to the news earlier today, but now here’s some more nuggets that I am finding as the news has spread.

First, back to The Writing on the Wal. Always a good site about news and information about the negative and positive things Wal-Mart does, they’re also following how this story is unfolding. They’ve made a post with some of the employee reaction, taken from Wake Up Walmart.

Blogging Stocks has a few pieces written about the Wal-Mart announcement. The first post, Deep thoughts on Wal-Mart’s pay raise announcement, takes a look at some of the positive things that have surfaced from this story. On the other hand, Sarah Gilbert writes, in The Wal-mart wage has new mix and max:

Interestingly, the Wal-Mart spokesperson responsible for this news spun the caps as a positive (paraphrase thanks to the AP): “the wage caps give current associates an incentive to move up to higher positions if they want to make more money.” Umm… sure. Now employees must get more responsibility if they want more money, I suppose. In the abstract, it’s a good thing, but having managed lots of people I’ve learned that not everyone is cut out for responsibility; the new caps will limit the lifetime earnings potential of thousands upon thousands of employees.

Is this an unjust negative spin or just the reality of the situation? I’m sure it is more reality than anything else, as I don’t believe Wal-Mart’s decision is purely altruistic in nature.

Lastly, for the real reaction you have to listen to the employees themselves. Although you or I may not be able to sit down and have a round table discussion with dozens of Wal-Mart employees at a time, don’t forget about the forums where they, very candidly, discuss what is going on. Some of my favorites for Wal-Mart employees are the forum at Walmart-Blows (take a look at the thread New Flight coming down this week Will hear more Monday which contains a leak of the initial information, then speculation, and finally the reaction as it is announced). Also check out the Wal-Mart employee forum at Retail-Worker, the employee forum at WallyWorldSucks and the walmart_employe [sic] Livejournal community.

(I’d love to see more reaction to this. Please use the comments to post links to blogs or news articles about this. Thanks!)

Related posts

• Wal-Mart changes wage structure (0)
• Coverage of the Wal-Mart pay cap (0)
• Wal-Mart to face worker-led class-action lawsuit in New Jersey (0)
• Wal-Mart owes PA workers $78 million (0)
• Employee rights and out-of-workplace conduct (0)

Some more coverage of yesterday’s announcement by Wal-Mart that they will be capping pay at their stores now. First from the Los Angeles Times (see: Wal-Mart to Raise and Limit Wages):

Wal-Mart is instituting the salary caps to encourage workers to move up through the ranks rather than remain in the same job for years. Employees who earn more than the maximum amount for their job won’t see a salary decrease but will no longer be entitled to raises unless they change positions.

The company also said it was increasing performance-based pay raises but declined to say by how much. Overall, the moves will not increase the company’s labor costs, Simley said, nor will they result in price increases.

Critics said Monday’s announcement did little to change the fact that Wal-Mart pays below the national averages for retailers and has consistently fought efforts to boost workers’ standard of living.

Chris Kofinis, of the union-backed group WakeUpWalMart .com, said the salary caps were little more than an effort to get rid of higher-paid veteran employees. “This is a determined attempt to push full-time workers out of this company, and they should be ashamed of themselves.”

And more from the mentionted WakeUpWalmart (see: No Careers Here) and The Writing on the Wal (see: Wal-Mart CAPS Worker Wages. Media Swallows Cover Story).

Related posts

• Wal-Mart changes wage structure (0)
• Employee reaction & more coverage about Wal-Mart (0)
• Wal-Mart to face worker-led class-action lawsuit in New Jersey (0)
• Wal-Mart owes PA workers $78 million (0)
• Employee rights and out-of-workplace conduct (0)

Looks like the rumor I reported on yesterday turned out to have some merit.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is raising starting pay at about a third of its nearly 4,000 U.S. stores by an average 6 percent and introducing wage caps for the first time on each type of job in all stores, the company said Monday.

The nation’s largest private employer said the changes would help it remain competitive with other retailers and meet a need for workers and managers as it continues to expand.

More from the Associated Press.

According to their release, they are putting a hard cap on wages within different pay scales, but they are balancing that with a raise in wages in a third of stores. Still sounds like a bottom-line motivated decision, as this brings down the theoretical average hourly wage across the country. I’m sure it is a smart move for the people who crunch the numbers, but I’m not sure I want to go to a Wal-Mart where the employees are even more disgruntled than they currently are.

Interesting to see what the short term employee reaction will be for this. I don’t foresee it going over well, no matter what the corporate spin is. I guess we won’t know the long term ramifications of this move until, well, the long term.

Related posts

• Employee reaction & more coverage about Wal-Mart (0)
• Coverage of the Wal-Mart pay cap (0)
• Wal-Mart to face worker-led class-action lawsuit in New Jersey (0)
• Wal-Mart owes PA workers $78 million (0)
• Employee rights and out-of-workplace conduct (0)