"Walmart, the largest private employer in the world, with 2 million employees, received one of the largest tax breaks under the new Trump administration tax plan that cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent."
Walmart closes
63 Sam’s Club locations, lays off thousands of employees.
By Trévon Austin
13 January 2018
Walmart, which owns Sam’s Club, is closing 63 Sam’s Club stores
across the country, reducing the number of stores from 660 to 597. According
to Business Insider,
12 of the units will be converted into eCommerce distribution centers. Some
stores have already closed and others will be closed within the next few weeks.
Many employees were not informed that their store had closed
before showing up to work Thursday morning. Employees arrived at their stores
only to find the doors locked and a notice posted announcing the closing.
According to Business Insider,
police officers even turned away workers at some stores.
Sam’s Club CEO John Furner notified employees of the closures in a
company-wide email sent Thursday.
“After a thorough review, it became clear we had built clubs in
some locations that impacted other clubs, and where population had not grown as
anticipated,” he said. “We will be closing some clubs, and we notified them
today. We’ll convert some of them into eCommerce fulfillment centers—to better
serve the growing number of members shopping with us online and continue
scaling the SamsClub.com business.”
Some employees were told of the closings via notices that were
sent through FedEx on Thursday.
“FedEx showed up at my door with a package from Sam’s Club and I
was thinking that maybe it was my W-2,” Nic Townsend, an employee of a
Sacramento, California Sam’s Club, told Business
Insider. “It was a letter saying they are closing down. ... I’m
unsure of what to do. I have a baby and a mentally sick mother. I’m lost. I’m
heartbroken. I’m scared.”
A Walmart official has stated the closures will affect
approximately 9,400 employees. Three of the locations being closed are in
Puerto Rico, leaving hundreds without jobs in the wake of the devastation
wrought by Hurricane Maria.
The closures were announced on the same day Walmart said its
minimum wage for hourly employees would increase from $9 an hour to $11 an
hour, following the passage of the Trump administration’s legislation slashing
the corporate income tax. The company also promised its employees a one-time
bonus of up to $1,000 based on tenure, and a number of benefits such as
increases in paid maternal and parental leave.
The claim that Walmart deserves praise for the small bump in its
starvation level wages is little more than depraved. The new pay scale leaves
workers’ income far below the federal poverty level for a family of four,
itself an absurdly low number.
Nevertheless, the media fueled excitement and praise for Walmart’s
wage increases, portraying the move as a win for workers and a precursor to
greater economic growth. Walmart’s decision was cynically credited to the Trump
administration. “Trump’s Tax Bill Prompts Walmart To Raise Starting Wage, Give
$1,000 Bonuses To Some Employees,” Newsweek declared in its headline. CNBC
stated, “Walmart’s workers will soon reap the benefits of the recent tax law
changes.”
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders celebrated the
company decision, while Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka tweeted, “Thanks to the
passage of historic tax cuts, American workers and their families are winning!”
Trump shared a video of Fox Business discussing the wage increase and declared,
“Great news, as a result of our TAX CUTS & JOBS ACT!”
Multiple companies have announced increases in wages or benefits
to their employees since Congress passed the tax bill last month. The hike in
wages is a ploy used to divert attention from the right-wing, anti-working
class tax plan and “trickle down tax reform.”
The mass layoff of Sam’s Club employees exposes the ruthless
character of corporate management and its utter disdain for the rights of
workers. According to Fox Business, Walmart is also expected to cut 1,000
corporate jobs this year. Indeed, any additional costs incurred as a result of
the pay increases being doled out by Walmart will likely be more than offset by
the cost savings achieved through store closures and mass layoffs.
Walmart, the largest private employer in the world, with 2 million
employees, received one of the largest tax breaks under the new Trump
administration tax plan that cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21
percent. Despite the closure of stores across the country, Walmart shares have
gained about 60 percent in the past two years.
By one estimate Walmart stands to benefit to the tune of $2.2
billion a year from the cut in the corporate income tax rate. Walmart said its
planned wage increases would cost $700 million annually.
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