Tammy, glad you had a good time ... but sorry Mima got a tummy ache. It's hard to find things to eat with that disorder. My mom had that and there were so many things she couldn't eat. I can remember when we went to Burger Kings I would have to explain every time that she couldn't eat seeds so would they please make her burger with two bottoms. It was a pain but what could you do. There were only a few restaurants she would even eat at. I kept telling her we could find her someting at any place in town but she would say she was afraid she'd get sick so we stuck with the 3 she liked. I got really tired of eating at the same places all the time but hurmored her.
Allergies are killing me! So's the RA, OA and FIBRO. No sleep - not helping! Flu-like symptoms.
1st choir practice tonight before church. They did really good ... of course they had me for a leader so what did I expect!
Only had 15 tonight. 5 not there that said they were joining. Supposed to be there next week. Not bad for a start. We may be starting a choir for the older youth soon, too.
Speaking of going to Wal Mart ... I've about stopped shopping there. I'm not saying I'll NEVER go there again but I didn't go there last weekend and I'm going to start supporting the local stores with my business more and stay out of Wal Mart as much as I possibly can ... and that's possibly A LOT!!!
#1. Wal-Mart just partnered with the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.
#2. Wal-Mart discriminates against women. Wal-Mart employs fewer women in management today than its competitors did in 1975. The average time from their date of hire until they are first promoted to an Assistant Manager job is 4.38 years for women and only 2.86 years for men. The average male senior vice president at Wal-Mart makes $419,435 a year, while the four women senior vice presidents earn an average of $279,772.
#3. Wal-Mart manufactures ALL it's products out of countries other than the US ... mainly in China.
#4. Wal-Mart uses child labor at rediculously low labor rates & long hours ... they were fined $135,540 in civil money penalties for violating the youth employment provisions in 2005. The State of Connecticut, investigating Wal-Mart’s child labor practices after the federal investigation ended, found 11 more violations. In June 2005, Connecticut fined Wal-Mart Stores Inc. $3,300 over child labor violations after a state investigation found that some minors lacked proper paperwork and were operating hazardous equipment at the stores. [“Wal-Mart Is Fined for Child Labor Violations,” Bloomberg News, June 22, 2005]
#5. Wal-Mart consistantly violates labor laws with disregard to it's workers rights. In December 2005, a California court ordered Wal-Mart to pay $172 million in damages for failing to provide meal breaks to nearly 116,000 hourly workers as required under state law. Wal-Mart appealed the case. [The New York Times, December 23, 2005]
NEWS REPORT
Organizing rights. Wal-Mart has aggressively sought to discourage – even intimidate – workers from exercising their right to form a union. Wal-Mart even provides a hotline for its managers to call when they suspect union-organizing activities; on the other end are specialists trained to head off organizing efforts. In rare cases where union organizing efforts among Wal-Mart employees have succeeded, Wal-Mart has acted aggressively to stamp the union out.
Low wages. In 2001, Wal-Mart paid its employees an average $8.23 per hour, compared with $10.35 for an average supermarket worker. • Unequal pay for equal work. Wal-Mart is now the subject of a sweeping class action lawsuit, involving more than one million current and former women employees of Wal-Mart as plaintiffs, alleging that pay and opportunities for advancement do not reach those of their male counterparts.
Off-the-clock work. By December of 2002, 39 class action lawsuits, involving hundreds of thousands of plaintiffs, charged Wal-Mart with withholding earned wages, either by deleting hours from time sheets or forcing workers to work unpaid overtime hours.
Child labor. An internal Wal-Mart audit turned up thousands of cases of young employees working too late, working during school hours, or working for too many hours a day, in violation of U.S. child labor laws.
Unaffordable and unavailable healthcare. While 66 percent of employees at large firms like Wal-Mart receive health benefits from their employer, only 41 to 46 percent of Wal-Mart employees do. In 2002, Wal-Mart adopted new policies that force employees to wait longer before having enough tenure to qualify for benefits.
Wal-Mart has also shifted more of the cost for health care premiums onto its workers. Wal-Mart even encourages its employees to seek charitable and public assistance for meeting their health care needs. A UC-Berkeley study found that California taxpayers subsidized $20.5 million worth of medical care in that state alone.
Undocumented workers. Recent news reports and other evidence show that Wal-Mart executives knowingly hired undocumented workers as janitors in their stores, and then forced them to work long hours for little pay – $325 for 60-hour, seven-day weeks, for eight straight months, according to one worker.
Exploiting foreign labor. In 2002, Wal-Mart purchased 10 percent of all Chinese goods imported into the U.S. And workers in countries like China, Bangladesh, and Honduras are suffering because of the stringent demands Wal-Mart makes of its suppliers. One factory worker reported working 19-hour days for 10- to 15-day stretches to meet Wal-Mart’s price demands.
Disability discrimination. Wal-Mart has been the subject of numerous lawsuits alleging discrimination in hiring towards people with disabilities.
Worker safety. A recent report provided evidence of Wal-Mart’s policy of locking workers inside stores overnight. In some cases, workers were told not to use emergency exits in any but the most serious emergencies. In some cases, sick or injured workers had to wait for the start of the morning shift, when managers with keys arrived to unlock the doors.
Still want to shop Wal Mart?
Hope you found Bob
What's a gal to do? They about have us over a barrel heading over a waterfall ...
