Posts
Another reason to avoid Walmart! I know they are developing sustainability standards (that you have to pay thousands of dollars to have input on), but they are encouraging sick employees to work at their stores. And in doing so, spreading the flu to countless shoppers everyday.
According to Momsrising,
"The New York Times just reported that, "At Wal-Mart, when employees miss one or more days because of illness or other reasons, they generally get a demerit point. Once employees obtain four points over a six-month period, they begin receiving warnings that can lead to dismissal." 2 That's right, calling in sick gets you a demerit at Wal-Mart."
And we wonder why there are more emergency room visits and poor health outcomes in the United States. It is because people working close to the poverty level, in dead-end jobs like at Walmart, can't afford to take a sick day, and can't afford to lose their jobs. Then, they get seriously sick, and have to go to the ER and have worse outcomes than if they took the time to get healthy before the situation deteriorated.
I agree with Momsrising: "We think the real demerits should go to Wal-Mart for their sick days policy: It's bad for their employees, customers, and for public health."
Well said.
Let's give them a Dermerit for not taking care of their workers and public health. The signatures collected will be delivered to Walmart executives by Momrising.
A change in Walmart's policy could have a wide reaching effect. Again, from Momsrising:
"If we're serious about stopping the spread of the flu (and preventing all the costs associated with so many people getting sick), we need employers to step up and make sure their policies support employees making the right decision to stay home when they're sick. As one of the largest employers in the country, Wal-Mart's policies affect a large portion of our population. The way they handle the flu is has a huge impact on our nation's health and financial security."
Thanks to Momsrising for alerting me to this important public health issue. When you are sick, you shouldn't also have to worry about losing your job!
image: Ron Dauphin's on Flickr under Creative Commons
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Walmart Spreading the Flu: Sick Days = Demerit (and potential job loss)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I'm not surprised at all. Also, I have a friend who works at McDonalds. One of the workers was so sick with the flu, she could barely stand up. She begged her supervisor to let her go home and stop preparing other peoples' food. The supervisor refused and made her work in the back so customers couldn't see how sick she was. Shameful. Both Walmart and McDonalds are such huge monopolies, they will not go under if their employees call in sick. They are closing schools because of illness, they ought to do an audit and close Walmarts if a certain percentage of the employees come to work sick!
carrie www.thereusesite.com
Wow, that's a terrible policy. It does seem like the company's been making progress in some areas, but they still have a long way to go.
Thank you so much for posting this and linking to our action! We really appreciate you spreading the word.
Anita, MomsRising.org
You bet, Anita! I support the good work on Momsrising.
Kirsten, I was saddened to read this because I had recently posted on the new sustainability index from Walmart-- one step forward, two steps back?
Carrie, that is truly shameful. And we wonder why so much of our food sickens us, especially fast food. Ugh. Thanks for commenting!
Post a Comment