CanadianWolverine said:
And where do you get off accusing me of being blind and full of hatred towards this corporation? If a documentary (http://www.walmartmovie.com/) and the testimonies of (former?) employees of those places in this thread won't convince you of the truth of the matter, I would strongly suggest that is you who is being blind.
And don't try to paint this like I was only laying blame at the feet of Walmart, I realize full well that everyone there bears the weight of responsibility for this death; just because this Walmart places their employees in harms way doesn't mean the customers had to harm the employee and each other, or that the police had to react to a tragedy rather than prevent one. Even the employees bear some of the responsibility for not telling the employer 'Hell no' and walking off the job when the working conditions became unsafe.
Wal-Mart doesn't pay any less then flipping burgers at McDonald's. There is a job market, but for a first job Wal-Mart is actually pretty good. Anyone can get sick of these low paying jobs because yes for the total amount of work you do you are underpaid, but such is the fact of life. I worked at a grocery store as my first job, and all the bag boys were part time regardless of the hours they did. But by law over here if we do more then 36 hours a week for 3 weeks, then yeah we are forced into being full time, but there are similar laws present in the United States, and yes Wal-Mart follows those same laws.
The Documentary also scorns Wal-Mart for providing low prices. Oh no! cheaper products for consumers whatever shall we do?! Just because Wal-Mart provides the lowest prices, that doesn't mean it's always the best place to shop. Here in Montreal there are several grocery chains. Metro is generally the more expensive grocery store, but they make up for it in improved customer service and they do have some very good specials a lot more often then their competition. The other groceries are mostly cheaper, but Metro isn't going out of business.
If a Wal-Mart was to build a store in a small community, yes of course some small businesses will be affected, this happens all the time, and it isn't just Wal-Mart that does it.
Oh of course I expect you to play the Sweatshop in 3rd world countries card. You sit there in your suburban home and assume you know what's best for the people in other countries. Let me tell you my man that it's a different world over there. The people in those countries are often forced into things like prostitution, rummaging through trash, working out in the fields all just so they can survive. When a clothing manufacturer is built, they are payed something like $0.15 an hour, but that allows them to survive without resorting to the alternatives that are present in their country. Sweat shops often pay quite a bit more then the average incomes in the area, nothing else needs to be said.
