|
NYT Business
Oct 02 Wal Mart announces wage caps, part time on-demand
hours for employees in a move to boost its Wall Street stock price:
“Investment analysts and
store managers say Wal-Mart executives have told them the company wants to transform its work
force to 40% part-time from 20%. Wal-Mart denies it has a goal of 40% part-time
workers, although company officials say that part-timers now make up 25% to 30%
of workers, up from 20% last October…Other big retailers, with or
without unions, have begun using more part-time workers, adopted wage caps and
instituted more demanding work schedules in one form or another. But because Wal-Mart is such a giant -
its $312 billion in sales last year exceeded the sales of the next 5 biggest
retailers combined - its new labor practices may well influence policies more
broadly. And
Wal-Mart’s tougher scheduling demands could be especially taxing on workers
because, unlike its competitors, the chain has many stores - more than 1,900
out of 4,000 - that are open 24 hours. Human resources experts have
long said that companies benefit most from having experienced workers. Yet Wal-Mart officials say the efficiencies
they gain will outweigh the effects of having what labor experts say would be a
less experienced, less stable, lower-paid work force. ALSO
SEE Wal-Mart sent the following
confidential memo to managers, instructing them how to answer questions from
employees about new pay ranges and wage caps. The document was provided to the
NYT by WakeUpWalMart.com, a union-funded group critical of the retailer. WalMart Memo on Wage Caps
(pdf) A Pennsylvania judge ruled that Wal
Mart must pay $178 Million in back wages to employees who were forced to work
on their rest breaks. Wal Mart races to win China’s
retail: will purchase large chain in China http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-walmart19oct19,1,1680976.story 101506 Wal Mart joins long list of
retailers ending Layaway plans: few use it but low income customers
without credit cards will suffer http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-layaway15oct15,0,1474039.story?coll=la-home-business 101906 Wal Mart will announce it is
expanding $4 discount generic program to 14 new states: Alaska,
Arkansas, Arizona, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico,
New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas and Vermont. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061019/ap_on_bi_ge/wal_mart_health_care Let me share
what I’ve learned recently chasing cheaper prescription drugs for my mother. She
had fallen out of the Medicare D ‘donut hole’ the first of October, like 7
million other seniors. Fortunately, we confirmed that coverage gap ends when
the plans renew on January 01, 2007. As you may
remember, the day after Wal Mart announced a $4/30 day supply test market for
Tampa Florida, Target said it would match Wal Mart in Tampa. Later, Wal Mart
expanded its test program to include all of Florida, with promises that it
would expand into other states by Jan. 2007. Before that, K
Mart said Hey, guys. We’ve had a discount generic program going nationally
since May. So since we live in Oregon, I did the leg work and found 2 of my
mother’s heart medications on K Mart $15/90 day list, saving her $40 each
prescription. Also, the K
Mart $15/90 day generic discount is not limited to senior citizens. This may be
true for Target and Wal Mart but I didn’t talk with them. K Mart has not posted
their formulary online, however, so you will have to search for one of their
retail stores that has a pharmacy and call them. Like the others, they carry
150 or so items, often different dosages of the same medication, so don’t think
they are giving away the priciest medications. And remember this is just for
generics. I’m attaching Wal Mart’s formulary FYF, we’ll see if it squeezes
through the FW filter with this text. However, for
those on the Medicare D program, buying meds via the K Mart, Target or Wal Mart
discounts will NOT be added into the running total that you are supposed to track
using the Medicare D card, just in case your true out of pocket expenses (TrOOP)
exceed the catastrophic level of $3,600 before the turnover at the New Year. And, in case
you didn’t read the fine print, plans add what they are paying to the Pharma to
what the patient actually pays at the retail counter, plus the monthly fee, so
that $2300 (rounding) figure adds up rather quickly for many seniors. |
_______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
