Wal-Mart to trim payroll: replaces employees for the second
time!
Bentonville, Arkansas-David
Kruk- Wal-Mart Corporation today announced a series of
cost-cutting moves designed to decrease expenses and improve corporate
profits. In this latest initiative, Wal-Mart executives announced a plan to
replace over 4,500 current employees with lower-paid newcomers.
Only
two years ago, these soon to be laid off workers were themselves hired to
replace previous employees with “high salaries.” This second round of
employee replacements has been described as aggressive cost cutting intended to
drive almost all costs out of salaries.
A
Wal-Mart company spokesman, Chris Martinez, told Red Tractor USA that, “We are
determined to save money and increase profits whenever possible. If this can
be accomplished by continuing to cut employee salaries, then we will always make
these moves.” With this round of employee replacements, Wal-Mart is creating its
own definition of “Minimum Wage.” Martinez told Red Tractor USA that the
company was considering a new internal marketing slogan that states, “At
Wal-Mart, minimum wage means minimum wage.”
According to an internal Wal-Mart memo recently obtained by a Red Tractor USA
investigative reporter, the company’s Human Resources department has been
telling store managers that, “We are moving towards an eventual model where
employees will pay us instead of us paying them.” The same memo also states
that Wal-Mart foresees people wanting to work at Wal-Mart for free in return for
the corporate benefits, steep employee discounts, and the chance to be
associated with an American success story.
The
company believes that many of its customers would jump at the opportunity to
work for free at Wal-Mart if they could receive an employee discount on their
already cheap products. The memo states, “We believe that there are many young
single mothers that would jump at the chance to work at Wal-Mart for free in
return for employee discounts on baby diapers, food, and formula.”
On Wall
Street, investors viewed positively the announcement of additional job
replacements at Wal-Mart, as its stock price surged three dollars on the news.
Connecticut-based retail consultant Shari Klaus, President of Klaus & Company,
told Red Tractor USA that, “Wal-Mart continues to be the leader in cost
reduction in the retail store industry, and, if that means driving cost out of
salary, that would likely give them a competitive advantage for years to come.”
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