Wal-Muck

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The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Wal-Mart has told its managers that a Democratic win will be a boost to Unions and ultimately hurt Wal-Mart.  The managers were told that they would need to pay “hefty” union dues and get nothing for it.  Right at this point you have to ask, “so what”?

Wal-Mart has a long history of anti-union practices and a fairly well documented history of taking advantage of its employees.  Low wages and substandard health care are two of their hallmarks.  Wal-Mart would claim that they provided both jobs and low prices to the community.  The implied meaning being that the two come together as a pair or you get neither. 

Wal-Mart’s entry into partisan politics is a bit worrisome and most likely totally without merit.  Our Country is currently going no place under Republican leadership and under the last Democratic President, Bill Clinton, the Country (and Wal-Mart) enjoyed a period of economic growth and prosperity.  In addition the decline in Union membership continued during both the Clinton and Bush years.  Giving Unions the right to organize, other than as prescribed by current law does not make sense given the historic performance of most Unions. 

Unions have been losing members for some fairly simple reasons.  They do not work in the employee’s favor in comparison to what the dues and work disruptions cost.  Unions represent just another form of hierarchy and complicate the work place.  Unfortunately company management often is the reason Unions do not go out of existence totally.  The old “greed factor” we have seen so present on Wall Street drives many management teams to take from the workers and give to themselves.  So maybe Wal-Mart has seen the future and doesn’t like what it sees.

If Wal-Mart truly does not want further unionization of its stores, it should put its attention to treating its employees fairly and putting its creative energy to work with which ever party gets elected in bringing some form of national healthcare and a social security fix to its workers.  There are real problems facing workers (and all citizens) and companies like Wal-Mart could be part of the solution and not part of the problem.  If they do not take a more positive approach, they certainly will become Wal-Muck.