Wal-Mart not employee friendly

I am not a soothsayer, so I cannot accurately predict what will happen to Bath if the Ugly giant appears. I do have a gut feeling, though, that causes me to agree 100 percent with Dr. Ehtisham. The doctor's article plus others I have read reinforces the three reasons I have for not shopping at Wal-Mart.

First is the way that they coerce the companies they buy from into selling for less. This they do by threatening to buy elsewhere for a few cents cheaper. the companies have only one way to reduce their sale prices: hire fewer people, and make them work longer hours without more pay. In some third world countries, this amounts to very long days and pennies per hour.

Secondly, and I am assuming that the magazine articles are not fictional: When they contract to buy a big ticket item from a company, they have an agreement in the contract that the company cannot sell that item to another dealer in the area of their store. Then the small dealer in the area is no more.

My third reason is the way they treat their employees. They are presently being sued to employee discrimination, not advancing women workers and for forced overtime that is not paid for. I have a friend and neighbor in Sunset Harbor, N.C., where I live during the winter months, who is a retired A & P manager. He wished to work about 20 hours week at $5,50 an hour to supplement his retirement and take up some of his free time. Wal-Mart was glad to get him. the first few weeks, he worked three days per week, putting in the 20 hours as he was promised. They soon requested him to work four days, putting in extra hours with no pay for them. He quit. Twenty-five other people quiet the same day.

So, Mrs. Crowell, to answer your question, "Will they hire local people?' Yes, they will be hiring locals every week. they will bring in the supervisory personnel and fill the minimum wage jobs with locals. May I remind you that a household with both parents working full-time for Wal-Mart cannot survive.

I have not been in the local Wal- Marts, so I don't know who is working there. I do know that in the Sunset Harbor area Wal-Marts, most of the workers fit into two generations. The largest number are elderly who obviously are working to make a little extra to fill out their retirement pensions. Most of the rest are young people who are probably still living at home.

Yes, I may be foolish for not saving money by buying at Wal-Mart. Somehow it doesn't seem right to me to support a family who, in a few years, have become the wealthiest people in the world, making their billions on the backs of poor peons who are working extra long days to barely eek out enough to live on.

Clesson Cook 'Bath