Contra Costa Times has an excellent, in-depth article comparing the health care benefit costs of Wal-Mart employees to those of other food chains such as Costco and those currently locking out their employees or "suffering" through the strike. Good reading if you want a better understanding of the current chaos in Southern California. Snippets:
| But Wal-Mart's health insurance strategy is acquiring a growing number of critics. A San Jose assemblywoman claims health benefits are so unaffordable that workers instead sign up for government health care at the urging of the retailer. And perhaps the most visable opponents are the 70,000 striking Southern California grocery workers, who blame the retail giant for forcing their traditional grocery employers to phase out one of the best health benefits packages in the retail industry.
Research shows that Wal-Mart spends less money on health care coverage than retailers and non-competitors. Wal-Mart spent an average of $3,500 per worker for health benefits in 2002. That's compared with $5,646 per worker for all employers and $4,834 per worker in the wholesale and retail industries, according to Mercer Human Resource Consulting. Nearly 80 percent of Wal-Mart workers in California have coverage through an HMO. On average, they pay $106 per month for the insurance premium. That relatively high cost becomes even more expensive considering that Wal-Mart's hourly wage is at the low end of the industry. Wal-Mart will not give exact wage figures, but workers at Bay Area stores say the starting salary ranges from about $8 to $8.25 per hour, although it can go higher if a worker has special skills or experience. By comparison, the lowest paying job at Safeway, Albertson's and other unionized traditional grocer chains starts at $8.39, and Costco starts workers at about $10 per hour. Most importantly, workers at those stores move up the pay scale more quickly than Wal-Mart employees. Wal-Mart officials say it's unfair to compare Safeway Inc. and Albertson's Inc. store workers to Wal-Mart workers ("associates" in Wal-Mart's parlance) because the retail giant isn't a direct competitor with the traditional grocers. But the only significant difference in the work forces is that Safeway and Albertson's workers are members of the United Food and Commercial Workers, which gives them more leverage to maintain their pay and benefits. At Costco, which is partially unionized, workers pay for 8 percent of their total health care costs, while Wal-Mart store workers chip in about one-third of the cost. A new full-time Costco worker can sign up for benefits in half the time that a comparable Wal-Mart worker can. For part-time workers, Costco employees get their benefits in one-fourth the time. Wal-Mart does offer health insurance with a monthly premium as low as $26 per month for an individual plan. But under that coverage, the worker pays up to $1,000 per year before the plan starts paying for part of any medical charges. |
After learning how Wal-Mart treats its employees, how can anyone in good conscience shop there? Not only is the corporation mistreating its employees, but the other food chains are using Wal-Mart as an excuse to abuse their own employees.
It's so easy for you to make a huge impact on the outcome of these events:
Don't cross the picket lines at Vons, Ralphs and Albertsons!
Don't shop at Wal-Mart! (UPDATE: Strikers march on Oxnard Wal-Mart)
Shop at stores that treat their employees with the same respect that you want from your employer. It's that simple.
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