Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor

Just don't give me your old and fat-assed (and presumeably unhealthy)! At least that is what Wal-Mart says. This comes on the heels of yet another debate I was having regarding shopping at Wal-Mart vs. Target. I'm a Target person (though if they keep supporting pharmacists who want to deny women access to birth control, they will lose my dollars too) but many swear by Wal-Mart. I'd guess that any number of obese people swear by Wal-Mart too. They just better not expect to get a job there. While I understand that they want to maintain healthcare costs, this company does everything it can to ensure the largest profit possible no matter who gets ripped off in the process.

The paper said in the memorandum Susan Chambers, Wal-Mart's executive vice president for benefits, also recommends reducing 401(k) pension contributions and wooing younger, and presumably healthier, workers by offering education benefits.

The memo is quoted as expressing concern that workers with seven years' seniority earn more than workers with one year's seniority, but are no more productive, said the paper, which posted the memo on its Web site (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/26/business/26walmart.ready.html ). To discourage unhealthy job applicants, the paper said, Chambers suggests Wal-Mart arrange for 'all jobs to include some physical activity (e.g., all cashiers do some cart-gathering),'

The memo also proposed that employees pay more for their spouses' health insurance, called for cutting the company's 401(k) contributions to 3 percent of wages from 4 percent and for cutting company-paid life insurance policies.

The memo acknowledged that Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, had to walk a fine line in restraining benefits because critics attacked it for being stingy on wages and health coverage. Chambers in the memo acknowledged 46 percent of the children of Wal-Mart's 1.33 million United States employees were uninsured or on Medicaid.