HOW IS THIS PLAYING OUT ACROSS THE U.S. …?
In college I worked discount retail in the summer and over winter break. Ohio University broke before Thanksgiving so I had four or five weeks of work. Christmas eve was always the last day of work. Laying off earlier doesn’t send good signals about sales.
From the Bangor Daily News:
Some temporary seasonal employees at the local Wal-Mart store who were hired on a short-term basis to boost holiday staffing at the store have been let go, something that happens every year, a company official confirmed Friday evening.
The situation does not amount to layoffs, Wal-Mart spokeswoman Michelle Bradford said Friday, because the people were not considered part of the company’s permanent work force. She declined to address the issue of why the store determined weeks before Christmas that some seasonal workers no longer were needed.
An employee who identified himself as an assistant manager at the new supercenter but declined to give his full name said Friday that he was not sure how many temporary seasonal associates had completed their seasonal employment at the store. He said holiday business at the new supercenter, which opened this fall, so far may not have met the projections of the store’s staff.
OK, walmoles. What’s happening at your store?
This is true, widespread and not being covered in the media. There was a nationwide layoff of all temp workers at Walmart this week. Two weeks BEFORE Christmas. I have never seen this in my eleven years with the company. There were 12 layoffs at my store in Indiana, 40 at the supercenter in a large city nearby and 16 at my family members Walmart in Michigan. This is a far cry from the supposed “economic recovery” they are talking about on t.v. After Christmas there will be more of the same.
Shalom Wallyworks,
First, thank you for stopping in, for reading and, most importantly, for adding to the discussion. We build our community with our conversations.
It is disconcerting to take solace in the misfortunes of others, in this case the laid0ff workers, yet it is possible to see a bigger picture, that the Walmart business model does not take care of people.
If I could find a source of justice in all of this, I might feel a bit better, but I’ve yet to uncover any.
B’shalom,
Jeff
Our temps were let go two weeks ago.They were realy just put on for black Friday.
Our sales are way down,last Saturday we were up against $500,000.We only made $300,000. The loss comes from workers hours. Wait till they see the week after New Years. Some associates only have two days.
Shalom Walmartmole,
I truly wish we had more observers like you out there. You are a valuable part of our blog.
B’shalom,
Jeff
[...] Walmart temp workers hired for the holiday season getting their pink slips two weeks early, card check a dusty echo [...]
[...] HOW IS THIS PLAYING OUT ACROSS THE U.S. …? In college I worked discount retail in the summer and over winter break. Ohio University broke before Thanksgiving so I had four or five weeks of work. Christmas eve was always the last day of work. Laying off earlier doesn’t send good signals about sales. Keep reading… [...]
I just happen to be one of those seasonal temp workers laid-off by Walmart.
I worked for Walmart in Texas. Just in case anyone is trying to figure out how many states are affected. I also have a cousin in Cali, same thing there!
I was hired 3 days before Thanksgiving as a FT Cashier. Of course the first 3 days was comprised of orientation and computer based learning modules. Upon completion of these we were given a schedule with full time(32-40) hours for our week 1. The week 2 we were also given schedules with full time hours. My third day into the 2nd week “I drove 32 miles to Walmart” only to be sent home because my schedule had been changed.
They had completely took the hours for this day off my schedule instead of just cutting my hours on 2-3 days, to keep me from having to drive 32 miles to work 3-5 hours. Real nice of them thinking of me like that… I guess during al that generosity someone forgot to call me ahead of time and save me that 32 mile drive to find this out and not work any hours at all!! “HELLO!”
Well anyways I took that with a grain of salt and gave them the benefit of the doubt. My schedule for week 3 actually had me working 40 hours. Yippee! I was all excited about this schedule and worked the first 3 days (S-S-M) of it like a trooper. I was sure ready for the next 2 days (T-W) off. On Thursday morning as I was gettin ready to head to work, I received a call from a co-worker (also a seasonal temp) asking if I had heard the news yet.
She proceeded to tell me that the previous evening all the temps had been told to go to the personnel office before they clocked out for the end of their shift. Upon doing this they were each told that they had been laid off and instructed to come back the next morning to pick up their final pay checks.
Well I immediately called them to find out what was going on and was told that yes we had definitely been laid off, and that as the ones that were not working the day before arrived at work today they would be instructed to go to personnel before clocking in. This was on 12/17/09. I couldn’t believe it. I know I was hired as a temp but in the interview process we were “ALL” told that we would just be a temp but we had a strong possibility of remaining on board as FT workers after our temp assignments were over.
When I interviewed for this job I had 2 more jobs lined up but was undecided, but when Walmart hired me I decided to accept their offer with them being such a large retail chain, and a lot of our local businesses closing down due to the economy. I do know for a fact that this town has 3 Walmart Supercenters, and all 3 laid off every single temp worker they had hired (approx 75 people), some had actually gone through orientation on Monday 12/14/09, and laid off on Wednesday 12/16/09.
Some never even got to do their CBL’s. I do know people that work at Walmarts in neighboring towns and same thing there. They started officially laying off all their temps on 12/11/2009. When I went to get my Final pay check the store manager was actually working as a cashier.
Shalom Shelley,
First, thank you for stopping in, for reading and, most importantly, for taking the time to share your story. We build our communities with our conversations.
What we’ve experienced this Christmas season is the implementation of Walmart’s Just-In-Time application to employment. It’s insidious and evil and just one more reason why workers around the world must, must, must, seek unionization. It’s the only way the greed of corporations can be balanced.
B’shalom,
Jeff