I was all excited about the Howell Mill Station Wal-Mart grand opening today, and was getting ready to head over there to drop a load of cash for a load of things I'd convince myself I had to have to run my household more efficiently.
But per the routine, I first dropped by the computer to read-in on the day, and was sickened by the BusinessWeek tale told by workers at a Florida Wal-Mart as they walked-off the job two days ago.
Here's the rub part from reporter Pallavi Gogoi at BusyWeek online:
The protest wasn't led by any union group. Rather, it was instigated by two department managers, Guillermo Vasquez and Rosie Larosa. The department managers were not affected directly by the changes, but they felt that the company had gone too far with certain new policies. Among them were moves to cut the hours of full-time employees from 40 hours a week to 32 hours, along with a corresponding cut in wages, and to compel workers to be available for shifts around the clock.
In addition, the shifts would be decided not by managers, but by a computer at company headquarters. Employees could find themselves working 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. one week and noon to 9 p.m. the next. "So workers cannot pick up their children after school everyday, and part-timers cannot keep another job because they can be called to work anytime," says Vasquez.
As my time nor my money nor my life, thank God, is decided by a computer program, think I'll just unload my money at Target. Or since I really don't need any more stuff right this moment, I might send the money to these folks in Florida.
GUERILLA MEDIA TIP OF THE DAY: If you want to get on local news tonight, which isn't hard to do, but isn't my style (that's too often the tacky behavior used by book banners in Gwinnett County), you could simply make a sign right now that says something like "Send your Grand Opening money to Guillermo Vasquez and Rosie Larosa in Florida," walk over to where all the press will be today at the Howell Mill Rd. Wal-Mart, and just sit there on the sidewalk. Of course, anyone is welcome to this free speech/photo op. Around 11:45am or about 4:45pm is a good time for the locals. Or stay until about 6pm if the nets are there! Bonus tip: have copies of the BusinessWeek article to hand-out to interested people.
Or how about this for your signage: For All You've Done, or Not Done, This Week Alone! Shame, Wal-Mart, Shame.
Seed Newsvine
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