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Wal Mart to lay off 13,000 workers

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Bob

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Wal-Mart Cuts Over 13,000 Of What It Calls Jobs | The Onion - America's Finest News Source
Business
Wal-Mart Cuts Over 13,000 Of What It Calls Jobs

February 9, 2010 | Issue 46?06
Walmart


BENTONVILLE, AR?Retail giant Wal-Mart has announced in recent weeks that, effective immediately, it is cutting as many as 13,000 of what it somehow has the audacity to refer to as "jobs" from its corporate payroll.

According to Wal-Mart representatives, the, for lack of a better word, positions will be cut from the company's underperforming Sam's Club division. Analysts reported that Monday's layoffs marked one of the largest so-called downsizings of what can hardly even be termed employment in the company's history.


"Obviously, it is a sad day whenever we have to let go of any of the people we have dehumanized so thoroughly that we can barely muster the will to describe them as employees," Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke told reporters. "However, this is a business, and we must do what we can to stay competitive while still paying our existing workforce what we actually refer to with a straight face as wages."

Sources inside the company confirmed that roughly 1,200 people will be forced to leave what one might very charitably characterize as their careers in the neon-lit dungeon known as the membership recruitment office. In addition, another 10,000 worn husks of human beings will be relieved of what it literally induces pain to say are their job responsibilities handing out free in-store samples to customers.

"We tried to solve the problem by cutting what is hard for me in good conscience to even call benefits," Duke said. "We even tried negotiating with what we would probably refer to as the workers' union if, in fact, they even had such a thing. But ultimately, our only feasible option, financially, was to make what I'm going to just lie and call a very hard decision and let go some of the faceless drones that I condescendingly refer to in public as members of our 'corporate family.'"
Enlarge Image Jobs Chart

"There's no way I can actually say what I am about to say without literally inducing deep, hearty peals of unbelieving laughter from anyone within earshot," he added. "But all those laid off should still hold their heads up high."

Thousands of what it just feels really, really wrong to describe as anything other than wage slaves have responded to the layoffs with strong objections.

"It doesn't seem fair, after all the time I put in with this abusive prison state regarded for some reason as a company," said former membership recruiter Robert Weldon, 46. "Obviously, this is going to severely reduce the overall quality of the unceasingly grim reminder of financial hardships that I call my life."
 
If the Onion is truly America's finest news source, we are seriously in trouble. :blink:

This article has different numbers on the layoffs.

Wal-Mart Lays Off 700 To 800

BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. began laying off workers at its northwestern Arkansas headquarters Tuesday morning.

http://www.4029tv.com/money/18682143/detail.html

In a press release issued to "All Home Office associates," Wal-Mart Stores Inc. President and CEO Mike Duke said "organizational structure" changes would affect 700 to 800 workers.

Those 700-800 home office positions would include jobs in merchandising, real estate, marketing and support divisions in Wal-mart U.S., Sam's Club merchandising and some corporate functions, according to the company.

"The restructuring will not impact store and club operations," according to the press release.

"Starting today, and over the next few weeks, you will be hearing from your leaders about some important changes designed to align our staffing and organizational structure to increase operational efficiencies, support our strategic growth plans and help reduce our overall costs," Duke wrote.

Duke said the discount retailer was treading through "unprecedented times" but was "uniquely positioned to help Americans weather the economic storm."

Duke said that each individual position was carefully considered before it was cut.

"I can assure you that we will treat them with care and dignity and help support them during their transition, consistent with our basic beliefs and respect for the individual," Duke wrote.

Wal-Mart and Sam's Clubs have about 30,000 employees in northwestern Arkansas, including about 14,000 at their Bentonville headquarters.

"If you plunk it against their worldwide (employment), 2.2 million, it's not that much," Ed Clifford, president of the Bentonville-Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce, said.

Wal-Mart began issuing the layoffs in Bentonville around 9 a.m.

One Wal-Mart employee said that a group of employees was called into a meeting Thursday morning and told they were being laid off and would receive severance pay through April.

"Completely out of the blue, out of the blue," said Susan Archibald. "They just said my area was eliminated."

Archibald worked in the marketing department and had been with Wal-Mart for a total of 13 years.

"I'm just kind of still in shock right now, not bitter or upset with the company. It is what it is, but I don't know if it's really hit me yet," said Archibald.

"Wal-Mart has always been a company that achieves efficiencies, so what they're looking at in terms of their business model, is they're looking at a certain group of jobs that they don't feel are leading to growth right now," said Jeff Cooperstein, an economist for the University of Arkansas.

But that cost-saving measure has left hundreds of former employees like Archibald in the dust, searching for new jobs elsewhere.

"Just trying to cope with it and stay as positive as I can, because getting upset isn't going to help anything right now," said Archibald.

About 5 percent of the workforce at the Wal-Mart home office has been let go.

Wal-Mart said in a release that the reductions at the home office will allow for additional management positions beings created elsewhere.

The Morning News of Northwest Arkansas also reported the number of employees laid off is about 700.

Wal-mart Press Release: http://www.4029tv.com/news/18683097/detail.html
 
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If the Onion is truly America's finest news source, we are seriously in trouble. :blink:

This article has different numbers on the layoffs.
The Onion is satirical.

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Onion"]The Onion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

Sources inside the company confirmed that roughly 1,200 people will be forced to leave what one might very charitably characterize as their careers in the neon-lit dungeon known as the membership recruitment office. In addition, another 10,000 worn husks of human beings will be relieved of what it literally induces pain to say are their job responsibilities handing out free in-store samples to customers
 
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