Walmart is just a front for off loaded cheap Chinese goods. Sure using labor camps, product dumping and destroying the sky doesn't happen in our backyard. But the concept of Walmart as pro American is disgusting. Anything to harm it is good. Good for this app. Bored? I'll fund a new one.
Wal-Mart Tells Workers: Don’t Download Labor Group’s Chat App
61–70 of 257 posts
Re: Wal-Mart Tells Workers: Don’t Download Labor Group’s Chat App
#62Just to play devil's advocate here, this is from the article: > The app, called WorkIt, invites users to register by providing a name, email, telephone number and ZIP Code. Users can also s hare (sic) their job title and Wal-Mart store number.... That is a bunch of personally identifying information. You can easily steal somebody's identity with those bits of information, or at least have a good idea of who they are.…
Name + telephone number + address is exactly the kind of information that you used to be able to get out of a phone book and can probably still buy from the DMV.
Just a niggle, but which phone number? Phone books only log land line numbers. Your mobile phone number (for large portions of the population) is one of the keys to your life.
Re: Wal-Mart Tells Workers: Don’t Download Labor Group’s Chat App
#63It's an illegal labor practice in the US for an employer to do that. It's interference with the right to bargain collectively. But WalMart probably doesn't have much to fear from the Labor Department. Even under the current administration, enforcement is weak, and it will probably be weaker under the next administration. It's really tough to organize a union today, even though the law as written is pro-union.
They're not interfering with the right to bargain collectively though. For all we know, they're genuinely warning their employees that they may be involved in a PII collection scam. They can't reprimand/dismiss you for using the app, but surely they can tell you it's unwise. I don't see why people are so quick to tie Wal-Mart to the pyre; for what they pay, their employees are satisfied to an outsized degree. Given t…
Parent is downvoted, but they're at least correct that it's legal to recommend employees not associate with union organizers (including related activities like downloading an app). It's only when they take retaliatory action that it starts to cross the line.
Re: Wal-Mart Tells Workers: Don’t Download Labor Group’s Chat App
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
They're not interfering with the right to bargain collectively though. For all we know, they're genuinely warning their employees that they may be involved in a PII collection scam. They can't reprimand/dismiss you for using the app, but surely they can tell you it's unwise. I don't see why people are so quick to tie Wal-Mart to the pyre; for what they pay, their employees are satisfied to an outsized degree. Given t…
This is the same company that shows employees videos that are equivalent to "Unions = bad, yuck, gross, not even once" during training. They have every incentive to prevent unionization. If workers have room to negotiate, that means they could negotiate for fair compensation. Reminder that our country's labor history is rife with straight up mass murder of workers because they demanded fair pay, safe working conditio…
> they could negotiate for fair compensation.
What, exactly, is unfair about the current compensation? Walmart pays exactly what they and the employee agreed to at the onset of the employment agreement. Those who couldn't reach an agreement have do not provide work for Walmart at all.
I really don't know how you can get any more fair than that? Everyone equally has the ability to decide what works for them and are free to move on when it doesn't work.
> If workers have room to negotiate
A union actually takes away a worker's room to negotiate. The union becomes the only vendor and, in this case, Walmart would be legally required to hire through that vendor for the defined positions. This is less fair, as now you are managing the supply of labour and actively hindering competition. A union has no bargaining power if it has competition, of course.
While the benefits of a union are clear, the way you try to spin the situation is, to say the least, interesting. A union is beneficial because it takes away the fairness and takes away the freedom to negotiate. Fairness and freedom are what allow people to drive value towards zero, which is where the problems stem from.
I have a feeling this will be taken as an anti-union message, even though it really is a pro-union one. The loss of fairness is a good thing! We have a long history to look back on to see why.
Re: Wal-Mart Tells Workers: Don’t Download Labor Group’s Chat App
#65Just to play devil's advocate here, this is from the article: > The app, called WorkIt, invites users to register by providing a name, email, telephone number and ZIP Code. Users can also s hare (sic) their job title and Wal-Mart store number.... That is a bunch of personally identifying information. You can easily steal somebody's identity with those bits of information, or at least have a good idea of who they are.…
It's not PII [1]. That's an actual legal term. Workit apparently wants worker identifying information, and Walmart, like other employers are free to tell their workers not to provide it, but there's no ethical or legal reason they can give to workers not to use it. It's not unlike GlassDoor - lots of companies would prefer you didn't use it, but at the employee level, the advantage/disadvantage ratio is pretty in you…
I have been thinking of non-anonymous reviews for a while now, but I know it can't be the default.
Re: Wal-Mart Tells Workers: Don’t Download Labor Group’s Chat App
#66Hmm. It seems likely this will result in the Streisand effect for Walmart.
Re: Wal-Mart Tells Workers: Don’t Download Labor Group’s Chat App
#67Just to play devil's advocate here, this is from the article: > The app, called WorkIt, invites users to register by providing a name, email, telephone number and ZIP Code. Users can also s hare (sic) their job title and Wal-Mart store number.... That is a bunch of personally identifying information. You can easily steal somebody's identity with those bits of information, or at least have a good idea of who they are.…
All of this information is probably readily available on these users' facebook profiles.
Re: Wal-Mart Tells Workers: Don’t Download Labor Group’s Chat App
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is the same company that shows employees videos that are equivalent to "Unions = bad, yuck, gross, not even once" during training. They have every incentive to prevent unionization. If workers have room to negotiate, that means they could negotiate for fair compensation. Reminder that our country's labor history is rife with straight up mass murder of workers because they demanded fair pay, safe working conditio…
> they could negotiate for fair compensation. What, exactly, is unfair about the current compensation? Walmart pays exactly what they and the employee agreed to at the onset of the employment agreement. Those who couldn't reach an agreement have do not provide work for Walmart at all. I really don't know how you can get any more fair than that? Everyone equally has the ability to decide what works for them and are fr…
I'm curious about how people that see unions as something that causes a negative outcome for workers explains the massive gap in worker rights etc that clearly exists between the US and Europe.
Re: Wal-Mart Tells Workers: Don’t Download Labor Group’s Chat App
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
> re: pro-worker laws against multi-national importers of Chinese made stuff. The pro-worker stuff was just to attract that demographic, I'm pretty sure.
I think that people should give the Trump administration a chance. The GOP knows that blue collar whites were the force behind his election. He's going to have to deliver for these laborers if he wants to have a chance in 2020.
I did give him a chance. He used it all up with his cabinet picks and the people on his transition team. I see nothing to suggest that his administration will be friendly towards labor, organized or not.
Re: Wal-Mart Tells Workers: Don’t Download Labor Group’s Chat App
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
> they could negotiate for fair compensation. What, exactly, is unfair about the current compensation? Walmart pays exactly what they and the employee agreed to at the onset of the employment agreement. Those who couldn't reach an agreement have do not provide work for Walmart at all. I really don't know how you can get any more fair than that? Everyone equally has the ability to decide what works for them and are fr…
I'm curious about how people that see unions as something that causes a negative outcome for workers explains the massive gap in worker rights etc that clearly exists between the US and Europe.
Perhaps it is because just as we have seen here, they are told by labour advocates that fair compensation and room for negotiation are a good thing? Since a union takes both of those away, if fairness and freedom are good, one can only conclude that a union is bad.
That's why I found the use of the parent's words so interesting.