This and the experience working at Walmart should look good on their resumes when they look to step up to a management position at Sizzler.
Walmart has been widely condemned for offering its employees only low-paying, dead end jobs. Even President Obama criticized Hillary Clinton during the 2008 presidential campaign for having served on Walmart’s board and stated that the firm ought to pay “a living wage.”
In inner-city Detroit, however, where the unemployment rate is estimated at an astonishing 50%, the prospect of a Walmart job may appear far more attractive.
Four inner-city Detroit high schools have decided that employment with Walmart is an opportunity worth training their students to pursue. The schools have teamed up with the giant merchandiser to offer a for-credit class in job-readiness training that also includes entry-level after-school jobs.
According to the Detroit Free Press, the principal at one of the schools optimistically suggested that “the program will allow students an opportunity to earn money and to be exposed to people from different cultures — since all of the stores are in the suburbs.”
The announcement of the program outraged Donna Stern, the Midwest coordinator for the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration & Immigrant Rights And Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN). “They’re going to train students to be subservient workers” she told the Free Press. “This is not why parents send them to school.”
I worked at Fred Meyers for 8 years.
It was said that if you lasted more then 2, you could work ANYWHERE, and get paid ALLOT more.
When I quit,
Nov 1,
4 others went with me, including 1 upper management person..
For those that dont know…THATS xmas season, and no EXTRA help.
In 2005 we fought a Walmart proposal to build a concept store near our urban highland park area. Lots of work but our community blocked them. The idea was this huge five floor eyesore with underground parking.
Their tactics included using race as a factor in their efforts (ie. whites kept area blacks from a business with low prices).
Walmart is predatory with surrounding businesses and an urban living cancer. Keep that shit out in the suburbs.
I think it’s an honest effort to help and those kids need it.
Highland Park is limousine liberal and bigot city. It’s hardly representative of the suburbs.
How are those costumes going Dallas, still dressing up as Hispanic lawn workers?
Indoctrination using Beijing Consensus. American ideals of law, due process and human rights matter less. The old ways are best, they say. Better off taking wood shop. We built gun racks kids.
#3 Highland Park as liberal? You are either uniformed or a liar. Probably both as Highland Park votes 90% republican each and every time.
Having said that, the Republicans here in my neighborhood are very nice and tolerant because they are educated.
Maybe you and the Loopie family can learn something or two by moving out of your ghetto.
Free trade is working well for Detroit.
Of course she is upset by this program. The more people that get a job and support themselves, the more irrelevant she and her ilk become.
“They’re going to train students to be subservient workers” she told the Free Press. “This is not why parents send them to school.”
How many people start a job as a boss, subservient to no one? And what is the difference between starting a job at Walmart or starting one at Subway, Burger King or the local convenience store.
I’ll bet Donna Stern’s objections have everything to do with Walmart being on the Service Employees International Union’s sh*t list. Would she say the exact same thing if the program was sponsored by K mart, Target, or Costco.
People who keep saying Wal-Mart is low paying should check out what other places pay for the same entry level gorilla jobs. If you want places to pay a living wage raise minimum wage. I seriously don’t understand how the President can lecture that someone is paying below a living wage when the government are the people who set the minimum wage. Wal-Mart is paying well above the minimum in my area.
Hell I can walk over there today and be making as much with no experience as I can with 10 years experience in my chosen field.
The world is not nice to families like mine.
Would she prefer that the school have a class to teach kids how to fill out a welfare application?
I think anything the schools do to help kids join the workforce is a good thing.
I’m damn near 50 years old and have had some real crappy jobs as a kid, believe me Walmart would have been a step up.
Everyone is quick to jump on Walmart but from a family members experience I know that the do pay above minimum wage, offer a retirement plan, have profit sharing and have a stock purchase plan. Thats beats the hell out of any of my entry level jobs.
The world is not nice period. Any job that is an entry level job pays crap. That’s why it’s an entry level job. You have no skills, the point is to gain skills and experience. Once you obtain some skill you then move on to something better. Before I went to college I was a dishwasher in a restaurant. By the time I graduated I was managing the kitchen. My first job after graduation was entry level. It paid slightly more than my kitchen management job. That was over 20 years ago. Every job I have had was a step up in prestige, pay, benefits, experience, and responsibility. That’s the way the system is supposed to work. However if you settle for one level of occupation, and then bitch about how bad it is, well then who’s fault is that.
There is no such thing as bad work. There is work that is poorly done or underpaid.
6 months ago I went into a big box retailer and ran across a sales person who was fantastic. Customer service was out this world and great attitude. She was making minimum wage with zero benefits with a university education. I got her contact info, gave it to a friend of mine who is a recruiter, gave her a reference, and she got a job in an energy services company. True story.
WalMart is just fine. It’s what you make of it.
SHUT UP SLAVES!!! You will OBEY!!
Now if we could get Walmart involved in the rest of the curriculum, maybe Detroit schoolkids will be better educated.
By itself, this is not that good. Great for Walmart as they get the taxpayers to pay for their training, but the lady from the Big Acronym is right, schools should be about general skills education, not vocational ed. Clinton tried doing something like this at the federal level and it got shot down.
it’s a sad commentary on the education system that a special class in “job readiness” is even needed to work at such a low skilled job. And, how the hell are these kids going to get to a job in the suburbs?!? With what Walmart pays I doubt they could afford public transportation even if there is any (which I doubt)
#8: CostCo can’t be put in your list. They pay very good money and their benefit package is generous.
#17 I know my local Walmart pays better than than that referenced in your link (FYI do not need to include the www, works fine without). Much closer to $10.
As usual, The Onion says it best.
A 50% unemployment rate is squarely in the Third World, in fact a bad part of the 3rd – maybe Mozambique or Haiti. We need to cut Motown a little slack, and lay blame for this predicament where it’s due. On Japanese car drivers.