Wal-Mart executive who called sales "total disaster" has left

[Teamster Jeff]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - Jerry Murray, the mid-level Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) executive who called the chain's early February sales "a total disaster" in an email made public by Bloomberg, left the world's largest retailer last week, Wal-Mart confirmed on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that Murray had left the company on April 5. Wal-Mart told Reuters that it was Murray's decision to leave and that his last day at Wal-Mart was Friday. A replacement has not yet been named.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/10/us-walmart-employee-departure-idUSBRE9390YI20130410

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Oops

[Demeter]

1. Getting out while the getting is good

There are worse plans.

[AndyTiedye]

2. "Where Are Our Customers? And Where is Their Money?"

Funny you should ask.

[Enrique]

3. it was Murray's decision

it was either that or his entire family would be killed.

[Kennah]

13. Wouldn't rule out that second part just yet.

[southernyankeebelle]

4. Am glad people see the humor. But I bet the employees who work for WalMart

are worried. When the shit hits the fan it will hit them first. That is very sad because I know people love to bad WM but there are living and breathing people working at this place because many can't find jobs in their local areas. So please try to understand many of these people have been there for years and years and work hard. It takes a special kind of person to work there. I know when we moved to my area I started working at WM before Easter. It was an terrible experience because I wasn't use to being on my feet for hours and hours. I finally quit. But I know people who still are there and in their 70s. They have to work they don't have the luxury of not working. That is sad. When you see many of these senior citizens some work to keep busy but they also have to be able to get extra money to live on because social security and medicare isn't enough. So all you younger people remember while we sit here having some fun just think years from now it just might be you. Life takes strange turns.

[xtraxritical]

11. I think WalMart taxes should increase for every "safety-net" benefit

their employee's receive from uncle Sam.

[southernyankeebelle]

17. My hubands has worked for WM over 18 yrs. Other then getting a retirement pension

he earned while serving this country 21 yrs he has never even gotten unemployment. We have been lucky not to have to use any type welfare but I don't begrudge these people who really do work hard and need the help because WM and other companies don't think they deserve raises. I agree taxes on corporations should be raised to help employees safety nets not just WM employees.

[homegirl]

5. Demise of Walmart?

Before Walmart arrived in my community I had seen the damage to a small California Central Valley Community that the arrival of Walmart had caused. The formerly thriving downtown shopping district was a ghost town. I took an oath that day to never set foot in a Walmart. Learning about the shifts that preclude benefits, low wages and Walmart employees eligibilty for Food Stamps and other tax payer financed benefits strengthened my resolve.
On another site
I have just learned that the Chinese factories will not produce merchandise for suppliers who have contracts for goods for Walmart. Seems Walmart has a nasty habit of cancellin contracted orders, leaving the factories with millions of items they will never be paid for.
Lots of complaints about empty shelves, maybe Walmart is about to hit the dust?

[classykaren]

6. I hope so homegirl

[southernyankeebelle]

18. I agree with you. WM destroyed many areas but its your politicans who were voted in

that allowed them to come in and destroy our areas. But since you and many wish WM would die on the vine where do you expect these low wage job earners find jobs in their rural or small towns? Just asking. I would pray my friends and family who work there would be able to find a job especially if they are over 50. We see how working over 50 anywhere is going for people.

[riderinthestorm]

21. The workers would find work at local mom and pop shops that could re-open with WM gone? nt

[southernyankeebelle]

22. Well that's nice. But you see in our little rural town those little mom and pop shops you

talk about and run by mom and pop only. So I don't see how mom and pop stores are going to help hire people. There is nothing wrong with mom and pop shops I would shop at them but it enough to hire many people. We had some manufacturing jobs but they moved to Mexico. Our city gave them the tax breaks and the citizens left holding the bag.

[riderinthestorm]

23. My little rural town (9000) probably employs as many people who would work at WM

Yet those dollars stay in our community which in turn helps our small town thrive. Its a better quality of life too.

The local grocery store, credit union, gas station and convenience store, sub and pizza shops, liquor store, the small animal vet clinic that stocks every pet food on the planet, the large animal vet clinic, the farm store that sells every large livestock and gardening supply you could ever want etc etc. - each of these small shops may only be staffed by Mom and Pop but most have an at least an employee or two or three (at the farm store which is also the local grain storage - its many more). Adding them all up, they probably equal the staffing at a regular WM and may even surpass it.

And our downtown's actually thriving because of it, unlike many small midwestern downtowns that have been sucked dry by the installation of a WalMart. Our small town's local Corn Boil festival has become a kind of community event with people from the surrounding towns flooding in for a "real" old fashioned farm festival. These things feed off each other and help people to decide to move here and start a business here - its a cycle that grows and grows unlike farming communities where WalMart has supplanted the local economy and the town withers.

[southernyankeebelle]

24. Well the WM has sucked the living out of our area also. But it doesn't help that

what manufacturing companies we did have moved out of the area. We had a cheese factory that was built here. The company got lots of tax breaks that they wanted. Well about a couple of years they closed down. Ostar company was here also and they moved to Mexico.

[mike_c]

7. after years of trying to penetrate our North Coast community...

...Walmart finally managed to open a store here in a largely empty shopping mall about a year ago. They actually had third parties sign the lease and arrange the interior remodeling in secret, presumably because they have encountered so much resistance in the past. The were blocked the last time by a voter initiative that refused them a rezoning that they'd demanded.

Within months of their store opening, a local coalition of activists collected more than enough signatures to get a living wage ballot initiative up for an upcoming vote, specifically targeting businesses that employ more than some threshold number of workers, e.g. Wally World. I think it has an excellent chance of passing. I can't wait to see whether Walmart raises workers' wages to $14/hr (I don't actually remember the proposed minimum wage, but it is well above the state and federal minimums-- $14 is a good ballpark estimate-- it might be higher), or whether it closes the store it fought so long and hard to open.

[freshwest]

9. Excellent preemption to a corporate model that forces its employees onto welfare.

It's in the community's interest to have a decent wage for the people there. It's a real investment for your town since living wages are the business of all of us, not these guys. Thanks for the information. Their business is squeezing out more money for billionaire heiress Alice Walton's DUI bail:

[hughee99]

10. I've seen these initiatives targeted toward businesses with at least "X" number of workers,

and I've always wondered about that stipulation. Shouldn't someone be paid living wage whether their employer has 10 workers or 10 million?

[Kennah]

14. Everyone paid a living wage? That's just crazy talk.

[mike_c]

20. yes they should...

...and I've long believed that businesses that cannot afford to pay employees a living wage have no business remaining in business. That said, I think large, highly profitable businesses can certainly best afford the expense of paying living wages, and if we have to start somewhere short of 100 percent compliance with living wages, that's a good place to bring the hammer down first.

[southernyankeebelle]

19. I would bet if that comes into law they will close it down.

[TygrBright]

8. Nothing to see here!! Move along! Wallyworld is FINE!!! n/t

[olddots]

15. unfortunately you're right

[Mz Pip]

12. Wonder if he got a Golden Parachute!

Probably cleaned up pretty nicely as he walked out the door.

[cbrer]

16. Good Job DU etal.

Keep up the pressure.

Keep up the activism.

Keep up the awesome presence.