I’ve never been the same since it clicked in me that welfare payments are used in a huge part to subsidise the businesses that refuse to pay more than minimum wage. So when the news trumpets that “$COMPANY has made record profits this year”, all I hear is a story about how much profit that company has made while also receiving an indirect government bailout.
Walmart actually teaches their employees how to get food stamps
Submitted 1 day ago by VetOfTheSeas@discuss.online to workreform@lemmy.world
https://discuss.online/pictrs/image/fd336869-b2bf-4a99-98d6-7b428d358937.jpeg
Comments
djdarren@piefed.social 1 day ago
isles@lemmy.world 22 hours ago
It does seem like a company shouldn’t be able to take/distribute profit until it’s repaid all the federal and state programs that the employees rely on.
krisevol@lemmus.org 7 hours ago
sounds like the required benefits are limiting peoples income and companies are just finding way around it. I still don’t know why Americans think medical should be tied to employment. Why not remove these required benefits from the employer and find another solution.
mirshafie@europe.pub 5 hours ago
Luckily there are multiple functioning health care systems around the world to take inspiration from.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 4 hours ago
Medi-caid, snap, other benefits that are “Welfare” have very low “max income” mostly less than 20k/year for most states, and they calculate based on your gross income per month, not after adjusted tax income.
Thor_Whale@lemmus.org 4 hours ago
I think they’re doing it because they’re afraid Americans are going to dump traditional work and go do work or a craft they actually enjoy whatever that might be. Or it could just be the old puritan mentality cemented in the stupid minds of the average selfish citizen.
terranoid@lemmy.cafe 5 hours ago
There’s a lot of reason it’s tied to employment, and it’s all basically to make sure most Americans are basically poor feudal peasants.
We live in the modern equivalent of a feudal monarchy, and if you’re not contributing as a member of the labor class then you won’t be taken care of. Simple as that. Laboratores must labor.
And we simply turn our heads and pretend the rest don’t exist. Those that don’t labor are shunned, and will die off of infection or starvation or due to the elements.
And then we say it’s their fault for being lazy.
inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world 20 hours ago
So this has been the case for over twenty years now with people “discovering” this well known and well documented practice of keeping employees below full time to keep them from giving benefits. Hell it was exactly like this when my sister was working there as a teenager.
I mean this is kind of what is wrong with America honestly, memories of a gold fish and one of the reasons why no progress ever gets made.
chiliedogg@lemmy.world 20 hours ago
Tying benefits to employers is idiotic. Even if you want to tie benefits to work requirements, this system fucks the millions of people with multiple part-time jobs.
IronBird@lemmy.world 20 hours ago
it’s accomplishing exactly what it’s designed to
inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
Yeah, it’s a vestigial concept that went into overdrive due to WWII that needs to just F all the way off at this point.
Sackett@thelemmy.club 19 hours ago
Yup. I worked at Target circa 2010 and it was the same. I was scheduled 38 hours a week, and you would get written up if you were late clocking out.
BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone 19 hours ago
I remember when I was working at McDondald’s and they never worked me above 32 hours typically. Back then it was 40 as the cutoff. That they’re allowed to scuzz their way around the law through this means we’ll never get equity with our system. They must be punished for such practices.
Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 10 hours ago
Walmart plans for extraordinarily high turnover. If the median worker is there longer than a year, they are overpaying for labor. If less than a year, they’ll bring on new workers at higher rates than their experienced workers. Why give the experienced people higher pay when they’ve proven they will stay on at less?
Walmart is one of the scummiest employers on the planet, and they have an outsized influence on the rest of the labor market.
DagwoodIII@piefed.social 1 day ago
Back in 1960, the minimum wage was $1.00/hour and the cost of the average US home was $11,000.00.
When Richard Nixon was elected in 1968, ‘middle class’ was defined as one job paying for a house, a car, and enough money to send the kids to college. In those days $1 million was considered a vast fortune. After five GOP Presidential terms, middle class was two incomes to support a family of four, and $1 million was what a rich guy paid for a party.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 4 hours ago
my parents had thier first house in the 80s for 120k, so it fits. it drastically went up in the 90s if they bought it.
mohammed_alibi@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
That is quite a sum in the 80s. My grand parents bought a 2 bdrm condo for about $20k. It took them a while to save up like $10k and they still had a loan. The loan was also at something like 13% rate.
FluorideMind@lemmy.world 1 day ago
This is how you radicalize a generation btw.
amgine@lemmy.world 21 hours ago
This has been going on for 20 years. Still waiting for that radicalized generation
jballs@sh.itjust.works 20 hours ago
More than that. But yeah, clearly they’ve figured out a formula to keep people poor and apathetic. So many people don’t vote because they don’t want to get involved in politics. Too bad, cause politics is involved in you - and it’s fucking you over.
Alexfire@lemmy.world 20 hours ago
They’re scrolling tiktok and whatever feeds them a constant supply of propaganda, to numb the pain of life, caused by the controlling systems they support, as a team sport, identity their fragile egos are too weak to choose to change. That takes too much courage and integrity.
cRazi_man@europe.pub 1 day ago
Where I work you can only work temporarily for 2 years before they automatically get a permanent contract. I got a colleague come to me for support yesterday saying he’s been told his contract won’t be renewed beyond 1year+11months and they’re going to advertise to hire another person into the role.
Rooster326@programming.dev 22 hours ago
They do this at our Post Office.
The Union says you must get a raise after 12 months of continuous employment.
Well wouldn’t you know it. They sign contracts for 50 weeks employment and 0 PTO. They phrase this contract as if it’s how they “gift” you 2 weeks of vacation.
idiomaddict@lemmy.world 23 hours ago
That sounds like it might a place with somewhat robust worker’s protections, at least on paper. Are there mechanisms to prevent employers gaming the system like that?
Thor_Whale@lemmus.org 5 hours ago
Shareholder profits over people. Got to find Grandpa’s golf outings in retirement… 🫠 I can only imagine them attempting to get healthcare
Gaslov@lemmy.world 17 hours ago
Many places won’t rent to someone that cannot prove monthly income greater than 3x the rent.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 4 hours ago
HCOl im near does this, theres like a job-like application for some of these rental units. not a problem for most high paying tech, or a nurse. but even then they would rather live somewhere cheaper.
Landless2029@lemmy.world 16 hours ago
This happened to me. I provided a bank statement that proved I had a year of rent in savings…
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 4 hours ago
its like a competitive job applicant in these places.
kat_angstrom@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I’ve been boycotting WalMart for 25 years, but regrettably this has not put them out of business. Fortunately, it meant that not a single one of my dollars went into their greedy, overstuffed pockets.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 5 hours ago
luckily walmart is allergic to our high tax counties, so there are non in a 50+mil radius.
grue@lemmy.world 22 hours ago
I’ve been boycotting WalMart for 25 years, but regrettably this has not put them out of business.
Something for folks to remember, when they try to pretend that boycotts are a good substitute for effective government regulation.
kat_angstrom@lemmy.world 22 hours ago
Exactly! Individual consumer action is close to meaningless, but regulations are broad and sweeping
ChexMax@lemmy.world 21 hours ago
But if you live in the USA your taxes go to subsidize the wages of their employees through Medicaid and SNAP. We need to do more than boycott but most of us are too tired and broke to do even that much. Good job on doing what you can
Alexfire@lemmy.world 20 hours ago
Exactly, if the owners paid enough wages then people would make too much to qualify for the public assistance and would be happier and healthier. That’s what controlling systems don’t want, gotta keep the majority in scarcity mode so they keep making bad choices from stressed brain, can’t use prefrontal cortex as much which critical thinking requires.
kat_angstrom@lemmy.world 21 hours ago
Thankfully, I am Canadian. For life! :D
cokeslutgarbage@sh.itjust.works 16 hours ago
I boycotted them for 15, but now I can’t afford to shop anywhere else. I have never used Amazon tho.
bluemite@lemmy.world 22 hours ago
This is not a new thing. There’s a documentary from 2005 called “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price” that goes into detail about similar actions they were taking back then.
SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org 21 hours ago
I’m sure it’s gotten progressively worse these last 20 years since
ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
I don’t think it has gotten progressively worse, only because it couldn’t.
mumblerfish@lemmy.world 22 hours ago
All of my life I been lied to
Just found out my boss makes 500 times what I do
And still wants to cut my hours back
To 39 and three quarters ‘cause 40 gets you a health plan
And I got a feelin’ I’m a need it
Losin’ feelin’ in my knees and my lower back
And I’m going back, trapped like a lower class clown
Hold a rat down, so we kill each other over cheddar
Keep us hungry so we never organize for nothing better
Just make it through the day, make it through the week– You Say Millionaire Like It’s a Good Thing, Guante
motruck@lemmy.zip 17 hours ago
Tips help the owner not the employee.
SmoothOperator@lemmy.world 1 day ago
What we as a society can do is create fertile conditions for unionizing to stop stuff like this.
lulungomeena_burbclave@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
What we can also do is incentivize worker co-ops.
Alexfire@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
Hopefully, if too many aren’t so strongly indoctrinated and identified with the team against unions and better worker benefits. Workers in other countries have benefits at all jobs, and they would never go back to the lack of benefits that usa workers accept. Workers here like to feel special that they have a job with “good benefits” that others don’t have so they prefer that. It’s part of the “pioneer, cowboy, self-made” story, but in reality it’s the same selfish and greed that runs deep and they’re proud of it.
douglasg14b@lemmy.world 16 hours ago
Otherwise known as corporate welfare.
x00z@lemmy.world 20 hours ago
Why are there even brackets and thresholds for benefits? It should be a linear scale. 1 hour of work = 1/40th, 29h = 29/40, 30h = 30/40th etc.
jj4211@lemmy.world 16 hours ago
Or perhaps the “benefits” should be from government and not employer.
Theoriginalthon@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
Because fuck the poor!
Also we have a similar, but nowhere near a bad so called benefit cliff in the uk
NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml 13 hours ago
healthcare is also a workplace benefit in the u.s. too
SnarkoPolo@lemmy.world 17 hours ago
nO 1 wAnTs 2 wOrK nE mOaR!!!1!11!
uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 hours ago
Pro tip: They never did.
(on YouTube)
bluesheep@sh.itjust.works 12 hours ago
When I worked as a restocker at a grocery store, they planned the majority of us for 3 hours a day (we were mostly minors so we didn’t know better), from 17:00 till 20:00. Because, at 3.5 hours, you were entitled to a 30 minute break, and even tho it was an unpaid break they still didn’t want you to take it. Did you get a lot more stuff then normal and so you had to work overtime? Tough shit, you still ain’t getting that break even tho it’s now 21:00
Sometimes they would even cut some people their hours back if they felt that they weren’t working hard enough (again, we were minors, some of us making 4 bucks an hour, they were that petty). Fuck this system
SatansMaggotyCumFart@piefed.world 21 hours ago
Seems the answer would be to end exemptions like this for companies with gross revenues or profits over certain figures that people smarter than me can figure out.
Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 17 hours ago
Stop tying health benefits to employment. Universal healthcare solves about 90% of this problem.
flandish@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
or nationalize them and make the workers own the corp
ToastedRavioli@midwest.social 23 hours ago
I know we all love to bash Walmart, but it makes no sense that someone who earns $1700 a month after tax could qualify to rent a $1400 a month apartment. No landlord would reasonably do that, so this story is fishy at best already
Even if true, thats kind of the fault of the person who decided to spend 4/5ths of their income on rent rather than get a roommate or rent something cheaper
kgbbot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 23 hours ago
Maybe she’s got a partner…also 1400 is nothing for rent. She might be in a studio.
This is on Walmart
groucho@retrolemmy.com 21 hours ago
Or she’s in section 8 housing, which means the government is subsidizing WalMart in two ways. Or she had a better job when she applied for the apartment. There’s lots of explanations.
ToastedRavioli@midwest.social 22 hours ago
If she has a partner with an income then she isnt trying to afford $1400 rent on $1700 income
If she has a partner without an income, then the story is still sus af because no landlord would rent to someone for that far over 1/3rd of their income.
The math aint mathing. And $1400 is nothing in some places and is more than you need for a 2-3 bedroom house in others. Its all about location
W98BSoD@lemmy.dbzer0.com 23 hours ago
But why victim blame?
ToastedRavioli@midwest.social 22 hours ago
Im not victim blaming, Im saying the story doesnt add up. And no one is a victim of their own decision to work for Walmart, there are other places to work.
Personally I have worked for them on several occasions and they always paid above the average entry-level wage in the area, provided benefits beyond what is legally required (even for part time people, as I was), like PTO, and I never personally saw anyone get hour limited at 29 hours. That aspect doesnt even make sense either, as Im pretty certain the classification for full time hours is 32+, not 30.
Either way, Walmart isnt the devil incarnate that everyone claims it to be. I didnt leave because of mistreatment, I left because its a poorly run company that makes stupid decisions. Its not a perfect company, and sure they are intensely anti-union which is fucked. That said, Im pretty sure this story is fake ragebait, or at best the details have been highly edited to sound worse.
thejoker954@lemmy.world 20 hours ago
Even at 32 hours I don’t get any benefits at Walmart.
the_armchair_potato@lemmy.world 20 hours ago
We have been cowed too much to take back everything that has been stolen from us 😒
Pika@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
what’s screwed up is at 2010 a month it also disqualifies you from Medicaid in states that have low income eligibility. It’s not uncommon that if you aren’t getting benefits to self cap your hours at 20-25 hours a week because any more and you lose federal aid, so its cheaper for them to actually work /less/. All stemming from the companies inability to let their workers work.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 5 hours ago
medicaid calculates your total gross income, and not adjusted by tax. so if you are earn 700 instead of the 1000 before taxes, they will count that 1000.