Wal-Marts employees - Essay Example

Wal-Mart’s employees Complaints about understaffing and low pay are not uncommon among retail workers. However, Wal-Mart is not mere peddler of saucepans and boom boxes. As per the year 2007, Wal-Mart was the nation’s largest private employer. Characterized with 3372 stores and more than 1 million hourly workers; the company’s annual revenues account for 2% of the USA’s entire domestic product. Even as the economy was experiencing slow growth, the company’s growth was on the rise with its strategic plan focusing on adding 800,000 more jobs worldwide by the end of 2007 (Karen, 601). Given its big size and rapid expansion, Wal-Mart increasingly sets the standard for wages and benefits through the U.S. economy. Considering its market influence, the company sets the standards of what retailers pay to their workers. The problem is; this pay is not satisfactory enough for retail workers. It is interesting to note that for a company which averages $6.6 billion annual profit, the average hourly worker at Wal-Mart earns barely $18,000 annually (Karen, 602). Wal-Mart most of the time forces employees to work overtime without pay. Supervisors are pressured by company headquarters to keep payroll low, regularly deleted hours from time records and reports. As stated by Jennifer McLaughlin-one of the company’s employees-40% of the employees opt not to receive coverage under the company’s medical plan, which costs up to $2,844 annually. The company was also faced with sex discrimination lawsuit whereby it was accused on favoring male as compared to female when it comes to promotions and equal pay (Karen, 605). In order to fight for their rights and to make their voices heard, workers launched a massive drive to organize a union at Wal-Mart, demanding better wages and working conditions. To counter the union drives, Wal-Mart’s management responded to the union drive by trying to stop workers from forming the union. This was against the federal labor law and in several accessions the company had been declared guilty by interrogating workers confiscating union and firing union supporters by the National Labor Relations Board. For the company, the formation of the union will is a violation of the company’s policy (Singh and Neeraj, 65). To protect the bottom line Wal-Mart is as aggressive at fighting off unions as it is at cutting costs. The employees approached by co-workers about joining a union were scared to talk. Considering all these factors, it is clear that the employees were undergoing some hard times at work hence the need for one voice to fight for their rights. For Wal-Mart, the formation of union by the employees will go against the company’s policies. However, in real sense the company was against the union formation because they feared that the demands will add to the production costs. The main argument of this paper is that the Wal-Mart’s employees should form union as a way of fighting for their rights and improving their working conditions (Karen, 608). The main questions are; how will employees benefits under the union? Will the company gain or lose with the formation of the employees union? These questions will be answered below. Labor union is an association of employees whose principal purpose is to regulate relations between employees and employers. It is an organization of employees hence a labor union represents the employee’s interests to the employers. In normal circumstances, labor union in a company fights for better working conditions and remuneration for its members. In addition, labor unions in an organization advocate sound relationships between employers and employees through the promotion and protection of freedom association, dispute resolution and collective bargaining agreements. In a more specific case, it is factual to state that labor unions negotiate for wages, complaint procedures, work rules, firing and promotion of workers, rules governing hiring, workplace safety and policies and benefits (Gennard, and Graham, 61). The union leaders are responsible for negotiating agreements. These agreements are binding on the file member and rank and the employer and in some cases on other non-member workers. The function of a trade union also comprise of representing workers at disciplinary and grievance hearing. In most cases, labor union representative will be a workplace representative who is also a co-worker (Karen, 609). Employers and workers seem to approach employment from different perspectives. Unions have played a role in the worker-employer dialogue for quite some time. Considering the challenges that Wal-Mart’s employees like McLaughlin went through, it is clear that the workers needed an urgent formation of union to fight for their rights. The formation of union will definitely benefit the employees as opposed to Wal-Mart (Gennard, and Graham, 115). This was the reason why the company’s management was opposed to the idea in such a way that they carefully instructed management to individually work over each employee who might be a union sympathizer. It was understandable that some employees pushed for the formation of the union because they knew which kind of benefits the employees will enjoy when they become part of a union. These benefits include: increased wages for its members, protection for workers, representatives for workers and productivity deals. Union representation seems to be superfluous for worker-owners who are supposed to have decision-making authority by virtue of being owners. Even in the most democratic organizations, a union can have an important role to play. In terms of Wal-Mart, the union would be important in observing the balance of power that exists between the employees and the company. The formation of union by Wal-Mart workers will help the workers to enhance their collective bargaining power. In addition, this union will help the company and the workers to assess their situation on the context of industry-wide working conditions and compensation practices (Gennard, and Graham, 15). Even though it will increase the costs, the formation of union by the employees will help them have access to group rates on benefits like health insurance or multi-employer pensions. This will help employees such as McLaughlin cater for their families hence healthy lives. The company should allow their employees to form a union because this will bring a ready-made communication structure which can be helpful in building an ownership structure among employees who are accustomed whose influence is limited in the company (Gennard, and Graham, 90). In a more specific argument, it is not only the employees that will gain with the formation of the union but rather, Wal-Mart will also gain as a result of the formation of the union. Some of the positive instances where the union has influenced the company were at play in a Toledo textile firm. That is, in 1991, GenCorp was in the verge or closing down as a result of losses, but instead agreed to sell it to the 200-plus employees as Textileather. The amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union were supportive of the buyout deal and joined the management in building successful employee participation. This is just one of the many instances through which Wal-Mart can benefit as a result of the employees joining a union. Despite these positive effects that union will have on the Wal-Mart’s employees, it is also apparent that there are some negative effects of labor union. The formation of the union might cause the wages to rise through the threat of strikes (Singh and Neeraj, 77). Considering that Wal-Mart is a leading retail company in the USA, this increase in wages will result to increased wage demands from other employees from different companies hence through multiplier effect resulting to unemployment and inflation. If the union members go on strike, this will be a serious case that will make the company lose sales and output. However, these negative effects do not justify the mistreatment that the Wal-Mart’ employees are going through. The only sure way of ensuring transparency and respect of employees’ right is through the formation of the union (Singh and Neeraj, 89). This will enhance their bargaining power hence better payment. Work cited Gennard, John, and Graham Judge. Employee Relations. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, 1997. Print. Karen Olsson, up against wal-mart. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, 2007. Print. Marshall, Shelley, Ian M. Ramsay, and Richard Mitchell. Varieties of Capitalism, Corporate Governance and Employees. Carlton, Vic: Melbourne University Press, 2008. Print. Singh, P N, and Neeraj Kumar. Employee Relations Management. New Delhi: Pearson Education South Asia, 2011. Internet resource. Read More