A Compelling Read

I encourage everyone to check out one of the best blogs I have ever read: Working At WAL-MART, by Josh Smith of Augusta, Maine.

My loyal readers know that the world's largest retailer is one of my favorite subjects. I've been fascinated by Wal-Mart since it entered my home state of Arizona about 15 years ago; in recent years, the corporation has become the subject of debate and controversy across the country. Not since the heyday of A&P in the 1930's has a retail chain stirred such emotion in people.

While I admire Wal-Mart as a retailing operation, I'm troubled by its corporate culture. The company's relentless drive towards greater efficiency and profitability permeates all aspects of its operations, including labor policy. Employees (labelled "associates" by Wal-Mart) aren't paid a living wage, are given erratic work schedules and paltry benefits, and are discouraged from joining unions. Such mistreatement by management borders on contempt for the working class citizens who endure these high pressure jobs, living paycheck to paycheck in a "service economy" that provides few other options.

Mr. Smith worked at a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Maine for four months in order to document, first hand, the often frustrating experience of working for the company. His tales offer tremendous insight into how the company regards its employees and customers. He recognizes that while he worked at the company as an "experiment," his co-workers went through the same indignities only to return home to a life of poverty with bleak prospects.

Wal-Mart's labor practices deserve scrutiny over any other aspect of the company and its operations because it has become the nation's largest employer. The plight of the working class in our post-industrial economy affects all of us; by allowing Wal-Mart to continue to disrespect its labor force, we encourage our own employers to treat us the same way.

Read Working at WAL-MART

Previously on P.U.

The Greatest Retailing Machine Ever Devised (6/25/2005)
Book Review: The United States of Wal-Mart (7/17/2005)
Looking For Love in All the Wal Places (7/24/2005)
A Union at Wal-Mart? Sort of... (10/10/2005)
Wal-Mart Goes to War (11/01/2005)
Trump Hits the Wal (2/23/2006)