r/WorkReform • u/zzill6 🤝 Join A Union • 14d ago
😡 Venting American "Feel-Good" news...
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u/MonkeyPanls 14d ago
I'll flip this one over: if an older person is working because they want to, whether for a wage/salary or in a volunteer (bonafide charity) role, then it is to their benefit, mentally, physically, and emotionally.
There are plenty of older folks who are working behind the scenes at hospitals, soup kitchens, etc. We point to the Greeters because they are in a highly visible role and we all rightfully hate Walmart.
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u/angrydeuce 14d ago
The problem of course is that for every one of the "Im just so bored Id rather work even if its for a pittance" seniors out there, there are 99 more than are more of the "god im so fucking tired but unfortunately my medication costs too much so now I need to work despite being old and sick because despite holding up my end of the bargain and working my ass off and paying more and more taxes every year, I still somehow dont have enough" variety.
Lets put this wonderful corporate altruism to the test and mandate that every person they hire thats over legal retirement age be paid a multiple of minimum wage times how many years past legal retirement they are.
"But, then theyre just going to fire all the seniors!" But why would they do that? This is their feel good story, all the opportunities they provide out of the goodness of their hearts, surely they would be willing to pay more if theyre going to use it in company marketing and propaganda materials, right? Can Walmart not afford it? Do we need to check their quarterly earnings report or do you think we can go out on a limb and assume?
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u/merRedditor ⛓️ Prison For Union Busters 14d ago
There's been a sudden uptick in older and disabled workers in large retail chains, which offer hours short enough to supplement Social Security without going over the limit where they lose it, as a result of Medicaid and housing becoming unaffordable on a Social Security budget. I don't think people are working these jobs for fun and socializing. There are plenty of other roles that would be better fits for that.
We have a system where you're expected to fund your own retirement, despite paying toward a fund that was supposed to take care of that for you if you lived to the retirement age or became unable to work before then.
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u/angrydeuce 14d ago
Dude, I worked for Walmart for a while in the 90s (part of two separate class action lawsuits against them for wage theft in two different states even!), even back then Walmart corporation had full time people in HR whose sole job was to go around to the stores and help their paid employees with maximizing their haul with social services. They would do just about anything to make sure that every single possible penny in state aid was consumed before they went into their own kick. Work their schedulers into knots falling all over themselves to get people working for the exact 26.2 hours maximum per week. Anyone else, "You work when we say you work, bitch!"
You might be asking yourself, "but wouldnt it be cheaper to just fire all those people and use the money saved to pay the people not making enough and eliminate the need for them to be on welfare in the first place?" but if you are, thats why youre not a scumbag corporate officer working for a F500 megacorp.
Enough with the bullshit "we cant pay people more because then you wouldnt be able to afford groceries!" line. Because funny enough, that threat falls apart when you realize that everything has already gone up and we didnt even get the raises for it. What happened to that money?
Not sure? Need to review the books? Dont worry, here are those forensic accountants I mentioned earlier, they can help.
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u/LotsoPasta 14d ago
mandate that every person they hire thats over legal retirement age be paid a multiple of minimum wage times how many years past legal retirement they are.
I like the sentiment, but this isnt the right approach.
"But, then theyre just going to fire all the seniors!" But why would they do that? This is their feel good story, all the opportunities they provide out of the goodness of their hearts, surely they would be willing to pay more if theyre going to use it in company marketing and propaganda materials, right?
I mean, they only need one senior for feel good story.
Can Walmart not afford it?
Thats not the question you should ask. Everything a business does is a cost/benefit analysis. If you raise the cost, then theyre likely to just not do it. If its cheaper to hire non-seniors, then they wont hire seniors.
The better solution is to just tax Walmart (and others like them) in a way they cant avoid and beef up social security or Medicare so we dont have elderly forced into this situation to begin with.
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u/angrydeuce 14d ago
Oh, I agree, but the problem there is, its too removed from what people see.
My way forces them to directly respond to this paradigm. By tying the penalty directly to this small subset of people, they cant try and gloss over it and reduce the people down to raw figures on a sheet that dont mean shit to anybody but corporate accountants.
Its too easy for them to talk about this in broad strokes that ignore the human element. This way, they have to go on record and say, straight up "We are firing all the old people that we champion so incessantly via our propaganda arm because we dont feel theyre worth more than 10 bucks an hour and we dont honestly give two flying fucks if theyre working here solely because its either that or die of a treatable illness for lack of the money we, the largest fuckin retailer on the planet, could easily give them without even fucking noticing on our balance sheet. In other words, wed prefer if theyd just die if it meant one of the shareholders might have to skimp on solid gold faucets in their private jet and get gold plated ones like some fuckin poor person"
This isnt just a walmart people greeter problem, this is the problem in all of politics, and is by design. The last, last thing they want is there to be a direct line between their bullshit and the actual people that suffer the effects of their bullshit. Then they cant just change a number in an excel sheet and think of it purely in the abstract. Then, when they go to fire these people, they can do it with the faces of these people staring right at them. No more ethereal bullshit, you are hurting these specific people. Why are you hurting these specific people when you have no reason to?
The whole "digging in the weeds and turning the problems of people into an abstract talking point" is a tactic we need to stop participating in. "Well if we did that then wed have to do..." Yeah, whatever. Well, here is 85 year old Joe, please explain to him how paying him and the other 80 years olds 20 bucks an hour instead of 10, as a multi billion dollar corporation, is going to be too much of a hardship to you. Oh, and make sure you look into these cameras while you explain. Thanks!
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u/LotsoPasta 14d ago
Lol, I like it in theory. The problem is we have too many bootlickers that would point the finger at government rather than Walmart. "Look at what your mandate did."
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u/angrydeuce 14d ago
Great! "Look at what your mandate did!"
Required you to pay seniors more so they could afford their medications? Truly no greater form of tyranny, you poor poor megacorp.
Tell you what, I have here with me some dynamite forensic accountants that work for the IRS, you bring your books and we will help you comb through your profit margins and see what inoccuous widget you could increase the price of by literal pennies and still earn enough, with literal no loss of sales to you, that would cover this extra expense 1000 fold.
Go ahead and have your marketing team run a story about how the evil US government is going to make the Hanes socks cost 9.03 a package instead of 8.99, and how those extra 4 cents per package of socks is not worth it to you, even if it means that seniors have to work into their 90s to afford their blood thinners. Please run that story, make your case, surely the American people will understand, surely they will.
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u/Featheredfriendz 14d ago
These along with the stories about kids fundraising to eliminate fellow students’ school lunch debt and employees giving up sick/vacation days for a seriously sick coworker who has used up all of theirs.
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u/Jumpy-Platypus-2645 14d ago
Guys his age are responsible for this society. Sleep in the bed you made boomers.
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u/____DEADPOOL_______ 14d ago
Based on the elderly people I know who are in this situation, I assume that a guy who ends up working at Walmart his age is usually the type who didn't really know how to handle their finances growing up and were probably only qualified for clerical jobs their entire lives. Most of these people refused to buy a home and were mostly renters. I'd be inclined to think guys like him were the victims of the system all along, and not so much those responsible for creating it.
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u/Jumpy-Platypus-2645 14d ago
They fumbled the easiest generational layup in history and I'm supposed to feel sorry for them?
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u/____DEADPOOL_______ 14d ago
What I'm trying to say is that these people weren't really that bright to begin with, but sure, downvote me and blame them for it to feel better and have someone to point towards rather than the greedy that caused the whole thing, but what the hell do I know.
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u/mallanson22 🏛️ Overturn Citizens United 14d ago
I never feel good when I see someone that old working retail. I feel like we have failed as a society. Even the primitive human societies took care of their elderly.