Unless you’ve been living under a rock these last few days, you know that a Canton, Ohio Walmart has been under fire after setting up a holiday food drive for its employees.
The drive’s been receiving national press, and after lots of hootin’ and hollarin’, Walmart’s employees finally spoke out saying the drive’s all about employees supporting one another.
But many people aren’t satisfied with that answer and have been pointing fingers at Walmart, the multi-billion dollar corporate company, for not paying its workers enough.
Hollywood’s Ashton Kutcher is among them.
He recently took to Twitter to express his displeasure with the company. By the looks of his tweet *favorites* and re-tweets, many Americans are with him.
Ashton Kutcher: 1. Walmart: 0.
This article appears in Nov 20-26, 2013.
Since he is so concerned about Walmart employees maybe he can give them free passes to his movies.
I refuse to shop at Walmart. Working people should not be living in poverty. It’s simple. PAY YOUR EMPLOYEES A LIVING WAGE! Food drives are for the unemployed and the homeless. AGAIN – PEOPLE WORKING TO SUPPORT THEIR FAMILIES SHOULD NOT STILL BE LIVING IN POVERTY. WTH is wrong with this picture?
Ya know, because that totally effects his life. I don’t know if you people freaking out all over the country realize this or not, but there are MANY other companies that don’t pay their employees fairly. I’m a working person who lives below the poverty line and I got kicked off my food stamps for “making too much” when I got like 5 more hours a week at work…. I don’t support Walmart but leave the damn employees to do what ever they want. They want to help each other then good for them.
Elaina I’d LOVE to know how that’s gonna help benefit the families as a whole? Besides, do they REALLY wanna see any of his movies?
Maybe Ashton can pay all wal mart employees to go see his movies then….if he is oh so concerned.
Protest Walmart and GMO food along with there chinese made products…. all u guys who continue to shop there just makes it a whole lot easier for them to extend there work pratices to other employers. Don’t be mad at Ashton for speaking out for you…. support him and help make a change
I am sorry but Wal Mart is not a career unless you are possibly in the management career ladder. Everyone needs to realize that just because you have a “job” does not mean you will be able to get by. A job is something you do to earn money and a career is a series of connected employment opportunities, where you build up skills at earlier employment opportunities to move you into higher paying and higher prestige employment opportunities later on.
I realize that in today’s economy that it is often difficult for someone to begin a career even with a college degree but that does not mean that the Wal-Marts, McDonald’s, Targets and all the other fast food / retail jobs have to pay a “living wage” for because of this. A store clerk in Wal-Mart I am sure makes close to minimum wage as they should, but if that same store clerk applies themselves and works hard to become an assistant manager then guess what, that average salary is around $46,000 with benefits!
I was in the Army for 8 years of my life and each year during the holidays we had food baskets put together to help the soldiers that had young families and couldn’t afford a nice Thanksgiving dinner, I am sure this still goes on today but you do not hear about it because most individuals in the military are proud people and obviously make sacrifices in their lives. Where are the Ashton Kutcher’s of the world complaining about that?
Hate this about Wal Mart. Yes, it provides many jobs for many people, but it does NOT pay them well…
People should look to COSTCO or Target if they’re looking for a fairer wage, for their time & energy. I think I will stop shopping at Wal Mart for awhile… until they can pay their employees better!
It’s not about Ashton’s MOVIES people, he is concerned for the PEOPLE. Is he not allowed to care?! I’m glad someone cares!
Wal-Mart pays most employees better than hospital and nursing home workers who care for your families in Ohio. I went to school for my job rehabilitating seniors and I make under $9 an hour AFTER a raise and do not get a tax return. I made MORE cashiering and working in the infants dept at Wal-Mart.
So let me get this straight…
Walmart employees having a food drive for Walmart employees and Walmart company isn’t participating…
Quit shopping a Walmart you guys….Just quit…
There are too many greedy corporations out there. Goodwill, for instance, is paying American employees .20-.50¢/hr while the CEOs make $400,000-$500,000 a year in a company that grossed over 5 billion last year. How can a corporation make hundreds of thousands sometimes billions a year while their employees, whom make the corporation rich, are being exploited for minimum wage to keep the rich and greedy in power. Ashton Kutcher getting the attention of the mass media will hopefully shine more light on the subject and possibly help shape people’s perspective on a necessity for change. I still think that he’s part of the. 01% and should do something more than just comment on the issue. That’s only my opinion though.
Ashton kutcher should KNOW what hes talking about BEFORE he speaks. Walmart pays all of their employees more than minimum wage to start out which is more than most companys. They offer benefits and profit sharing for their employees. Most companies do not. I worked for walmart for 18years of my life and was always treated very fairly by walmart. If you have the drive ANYONE can advance at walmart. I think its wonderful that the walmart family takes care of their own. Maybe the ashton kutchers of the world should care more about people like the walmart family does and stop just spouting off about what they dont know.
maybe people need to realize that for capitalism to function well, there NEEDS to be rich and there NEEDS to be poor. Maybe once they’ve come to this realization, that there NEED TO BE POOR PEOPLE, and that *even if* poor people all succeed and become wildly rich, people who they lept over will become the new poor… maybe once that realization happens, we can start asking ourselves how we should be treating the people that the economy depends on, and who are an inescapable side effect of our economic system. Maybe, since there will always be poor people, and it is not a reflection of them as people, we can ask ourselves if the christian thing to do is to treat them with scorn and derision, and call them lazy, or if it’s to treat them with kindness and charity.
Maybe, while we’re at it, we can ask ourselves, since wal-mart is a billion dollar multi-national company, what in the HELL gives them the right to tap in to my tax dollars to subsidize their shit wages.
I have worked at Wal Mart and many other retail companies and Walmart is the ONLY company that started me above minimum wage… Yes that include Target, Burlington Coat Factory, and other jobs. I also was a line cook at Applebee’s and I started at minimum wage, circle K minimum wage, McDonalds minimum wage, Toys R Us minimum wage. Walmart is the only full time job I have ever had also. I think some people should get their facts straight before they spout off at the mouth about a company.
@Cheryl, you aren’t supposed to support your family at a job high school students are qualified for. Get a skill/education or don’t complain about the wage.
@Jamie, “affects” not “effects”
@cquik, “their” not “there”
@andrea, what’s with the overuse of the ellipsis? And why do you have that comma in there?
@cbrbart, You too with the ellipsis. What gives?
@danieldawn, “he’s” not “hes” and proper nouns are capitalized.
@Chris, I can’t begin to tell you how atrocious your punctuation is. My 13 year old niece writes better than you. Again, your argument holds more weight when it is poised, succinct, grammatically correct and does not contain swear words for no reason.
@Chelsea, do you get fired a lot? I have been working for 25 years and haven’t had that many jobs.
You can have opinions but if you can’t express them properly you appear uneducated and lose credibility which clouds your point. Slywy5 and CLEemily (although it should be “peoples'” not “people’s” are a good examples of how to pose an argument succinctly yet eloquently while using proper grammar. And like I said above, nobody should expect to be able to support a family at a job, not a career, a job, that high school kids are qualified for.
Every job I have worked they would collect for an employee that needed things for Christmas! I don’t understand what the big deal really is when they are just trying to help each other. I live in Canton and there aren’t many jobs here. As for Hollywood actors getting involved if you are that concerned why not show up at that store and give the employees a fourth of your last paycheck. It’s reality all over the country!!! I worked for Walmart for 6 years and the pay is over minimum wage.
@JB. You’re a pretentious douche.
@RyGuy29, Pretentious means attempting to impress by affecting greater importance, talent, culture, etc., than is actually possessed. Given that definition, I don’t think this was the appropriate choice of word. Perhaps pompous (affectedly and irritatingly grand, solemn, or self-important) is what you were looking for?
Regardless, I wasn’t personally attacking any of the comments nor the people making said comments. In fact, I specifically referenced two opposing views as examples of well constructed arguments. I am not above criticism from those who can offer it to improve my understanding or performance in an endeavor I have undertaken. As a matter of fact, I seek it, hence my ability to construct a coherent passage.
Why is it viewed as belittling, pretentious or pompous to stress the importance of proper grammar, punctuation and structure of an argument? Perhaps your response to my post is indicative of an attitude all too common in our culture where education and self improvement are traits we do not hold in high enough esteem nor promote amongst our youth.
Or maybe I am just a douche, as you so eloquently stated.
JB
@RyGuy29, congrats on using “you’re” instead of “your” like so many others! That was sincere, by the way.
…get your engineering degree and if you’re lucky; you earn 11/hr.