[lbo-talk] Wal-Mart

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>>Unions should attack Wal-Mart's supply chain first before trying to 
>>organize Wal-Mart stores and offices.
>>
>>"By the end of 2001, Wal-Mart will have 78 distribution centers and 
>>will employ approximately 25,000 workers" ("Wal-Mart: Driving Down 
>>Standards in the Food Industry," July 11, 2000, 
>><http://www.teamster.org/00news/nr_WW_1.htm>).
>>
>>Employ 156-240 organizers and salt every single Wal-Mart 
>>distribution center, implanting 2-3 organizers per center, with the 
>>goal of bringing about a nationwide Wal-Mart supply crisis within a 
>>couple of years.  That should cost $3-4.8 million per year, 
>>spending $20,000 per organizer per year (the organizers combining 
>>their union paychecks with Wal-Mart wages to survive and organize). 
>>At the same time, beef up Jobs with Justice and similar 
>>union-community-campus-congregation alliances, and line up support 
>>of union locals whose workers' labor comes into direct or indirect 
>>contact with the Wal-Mart supply chain.
>>
>>If unions succeed in organizing Wal-Mart distribution workers, they 
>>can use the power to disrupt the supply chain as a lever to 
>>organize Wal-Mart store and office clerks.
>>--
>>Yoshie
>
>As someone who knows the headaches of organizing in the logistics 
>sector, I can tell you they'll need a lot more salt per distribution 
>hub and more pay 'cause Wal-Mart will cut the working hours to the 
>bone of any organizer they don't fire. They also need a plan for all 
>the fired workers and for sustaining their presence in the hubs 
>after the first second and third wave of firings.

Quadruple the sum that I mention above, and organized labor can still 
easily afford it.  Besides, cutting the working hours of organizers 
and other troublemakers is not a phenomenon unique to the logistics 
sector or Wal-Mart.  All anti-union employers do this.  The point is 
to attack the supply chain strategically -- it represents a much 
smaller number of workers than all Wal-Mart store clerks, and yet 
controlling it gives you more leverage than controlling all stores.


>During the recent week when it seemed as though everyone and their 
>goat was running a documentary on Wal-Mart, one of the shows (CNN, I 
>believe) briefly interviewed the manager of the IT data room that 
>collects and sorts and analyzes the streams of data coming in from 
>the stores.  They could tell within 10 minutes of point of sale that 
>X number of boxes of Y detergent were sold in Po-dunk.  Monitors on 
>the wall broadcast weather reports from around the country so that 
>they could enter and anticipate seasonal rushes.  And on and on.
>
>But what I noticed most was that the IT head and all of the 
>employees in the room were women.
>
>I'd love to know just how far below equivalent market wage those 
>women are making in comparison to males in the same industry.
>
>  - Deborah

That's fascinating.  Isn't it very unusual for the IT department of a 
big company to be headed by a woman and predominantly staffed by 
women?
-- 
Yoshie

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