Sam’s Club, Labor Department and Unions

You might be wondering what Sam’s Club, the labor department and unions in general have to do with each other (specially in this blog)?

Let me start with what prompted this entry.  Dan (rather not divulge his last name) started work at Sam’s Club in Eagan, Minnesota about eight years ago.  He is a male in his late fifties, married with two children.  Early in life he was struck with Polio, a crippling decease.  Due to this unfortunate event, he wears special shoes to take into account the difference in length of one of his legs.  About ten years ago Dan suffered a heart attack.  Apparently he recovered from it.  He also had a double bypass.

Up to a month or so ago, Dan used to work in the bakery at Sam’s Club in the Eagan store.  He started work early mornings, most of the time no later than 05:00 AM.  Dan is a very responsible and by all accounts a good employee.  He was proud of his job and what he did.  A few months ago, during a review, he was cited as an exemplary worker.  Life for Dan was good with the exception that the intense work, plus the changes in temperature from the ovens to the coolers started taking toll on him.  Given the number of years of service he was making about $16.00 per hour.  Most of the weeks he would be given forty hours.  During slow months he would be scheduled a few less hours.

About two months ago he decided to move to a different position.  He just could not take the amount of work he had to do.  A break, at least that was what he thought, occurred.  A full-time opening for a “greeter” opened.  If you have been to Sam’s Club, greeters are people that welcome customers and check their membership cards and when customer leave, they check the number of items printed on the receipt against the actual items in the cart.  Quite less strenuous that lifting heavy loads, changes in temperature, etc.  Dan moved to his new position with his seniority and about $16.00 per hour wage.

Several of his friends mentioned to Dan that he had positioned himself as a target.  Starting greeters make $8.00 per hour.  He should be careful and watch his back.  As soon as he started his new assignment he realize that his friends and some of his coworkers had told him was true.  He just kept doing his job with a smile.

Management at Sam’s Club started giving him schedules that changed almost every day.  Sometimes he started early mornings, other days around noon and others in the afternoon.  The schedules were posted a day or two in advanced.  Dan though this was happening because he was starting as a greeter and within a few weeks he would get a better work schedule.

Early this week he had one day off.  The day before he checked his schedule and as usual wrote it down.  He had to start at 01:00 PM the day after.  The day after he went to work and noticed that the schedule had been changed while he was off.  He had to start at 10:00 AM instead of 01:00 PM.  He went to speak with his manager.  The manager told him that he was responsible for his schedule.  Dan explained the sequence of events and the manager told him to take his post.

When he was done that day, the same manager told him that it was inconceivable that he did not show up to work at the scheduled time and he did not call in with a reason.  Apparently the manager had a problem with short-term memory.  Dan was told to pick up his last paycheck.  After eight years he had been fired because he showed up for work based on the last schedule posted before he took off.

Dan wanted to talk with the store general manager.  She was not available.  The day after Dan called her and explained what had happened.  She told Dan that she understood but that was his side of the story.  She could not believe that a manager would change the schedule during his day off.  What the general manager did tell him is that due to his eight years of work she could surely hire Dan back without his seniority at $08:00 per hour.  What kind of business is Sam’s Club running?

Dan is going to go back and see what can be done in the short term.  He cannot believe that after eight years of hard work he was set up by some punk managers to be fired.  This is when unions come into play.  Dan does not belong to a union.  Not sure if Sam’s Club has a union at all in that store.  I personally disagree with the concept of unions.  All unions in this country should be abolished.  On one end you have large corporations (e.g., Sam’s Club) that want to reduce costs and increase profits at the expense of customers and employees and the United States by promoting companies to develop and manufacture in China.  On the other end of the spectrum you have union workers that want to take home huge wages working as little as possible.  Both ends need strong regulation.  I always thought that the Labor Department was the advocate for employees.  There is no need for unions; the well-paid public employees at the labor department should make sure incidents like the one that happened with Dan would not go unnoticed.  Sam’s Club should be fined, the managers reprimanded, and Dan should get his job back.  What are the changes of this happening?

Sam’s Club and Wall-Mart have a history of abuse with employees.  The mentality that nothing is personal it is just business reins.

Hopefully someone at the State of Minnesota Labor Department will take notice of this blog and would start an investigation and make things right for Dan, his family and all Naïve Americans.  You do not know when your employer will turn against you and your family in the name of business.