A few threads on this board have caused me to post something I think is very, very important for teachers everywhere:
Walmart gives tens of millions of dollars every year to Teach for America.
Walmart gives a lot of money to all the reform efforts we (rightly) complain about on here--in Colorado, they poured millions into a (thankfully failed) voucher initiative in Douglas County.
Walmart pours lots and lots of money into local school board elections across the entire nation, supporting reform candidates who want to eliminate due process for teachers and de-professionalize teaching.
Walmart gave big bucks to the following governor campaigns: Scott Walker, Rick Scott, Kasich, Pence, Chris Christie, LePage.
Is it worth it to a teacher to save a few cents, or even a few dollars? Is it okay to contribute to the people who are actively undermining and attacking your profession? And if a teacher decides yes, it is worth it, at what point does it become NOT worth it? How many teachers, and how many communities, have to be hurt by Walmart before teachers decide it's not a store whose threshold they should cross? Is it okay to ignore all the rotten things this retailer does because they sell school supplies for less than Target? (And they really don't). Is it okay to throw your profession under the bus so you can buy something for your granddaughter for a couple of bucks less?
If you don't like Teach for America, if you don't like corporate ed reform, and if you don't like the parade of wacko governors we've seen, then it really doesn't make sense to shop Walmart. Paying a few cents less for something, IMO, is not worth it. Our profession is under terrible attack right now, and Walmart is squarely behind the attacks.
I also agree, but it's hard when it's the only "big box" in your area. Or it's the store that your own school district does a majority of their buying from.
I have the option to shop at many places since we moved to Virginia. However, my small town in North Carolina offered few options, so I shopped at Wal-Mart. Should I suffer through the indignity of 6+ years of salary freezes ever again, I may be forced to do so again.
I disagree with almost all of their business practices and have definitely decreased the amount of shopping I do there now. Unfortunately, I know many colleagues don't have the option, either because of convenience or finances.
Last edited by JulieG04; 07-15-2016 at 06:16 AM..
Reason: left out a word
Does that mean you aren't voting for Hillary either?
Quote:
Alice Walton, donated $353,400 to Clinton’s “Victory Fund.” The six-figure donation contrasts Clinton’s campaign messaging as a workers’ ally. Walmart stands out for its oppressive labor practices and corporate greed behavior. Before that Alice Walton contributed $25,000 to the Ready for Hillary political action committee.
A few years ealier...
Her Senate campaign returned a $5,000 contribution from a Wal-Mart Political Action Committee, although ABCNews.com discovered another $20,000 in contributions from Wal-Mart executives and lobbyists.
And according to Huffington Post, Hillary was on the board at WalMart !!!!! Small world!
at Walmart for the reasons you listed above. I did not have all that information.
I can't because I already refused to shop at Walmart because of their other terrible business practices. I try as much as I can to support local family businesses.
I'm on board with the Walmart boycott. I made the decision about 10 years ago to make no exceptions and haven't stepped foot in there since. My initial concern was the taking over of local businesses and the habit of leaving huge empty box stores when they decide to open up a "bigger and better" store. There are so many reasons to leave the place alone.
I'm on board with the Walmart boycott. I made the decision about 10 years ago to make no exceptions and haven't stepped foot in there since. My initial concern was the taking over of local businesses and the habit of leaving huge empty box stores when they decide to open up a "bigger and better" store. There are so many reasons to leave the place alone.
I haven't shopped at WM in many years, first because of concerns similar to what Timeforbed mentioned above. Also, because I read Nickeled and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. Learning about their ed policy was just icing on the cake.
Considering I won't shop at Target due to their ridiculous bathroom policies, I will continue to shop at Walmart. As for "wacko" governors, I call them Republicans. How about all the wackos who support common core? However, I will say I am a private schoolteacher, so much of what you talk about really does not affect me.
I don't shop in any non-union store. I also read Nickeled and Dimed and that sealed the deal. I wish my coworkers would stop shopping at Walmart due to their support for Teach for America and that they are nonunion. As for Target, I've used their bathroom plenty of times and came out unscathed.
People won't shop Target because of bathroom policies?
If you check only NC has the policy of no transgenders in bathroom that are not their natural born gender. All other states do not have this law, so Walmarts and every other store has the same bathroom policy as Target.
I think the safety of restrooms relies on where you are more than which store. In cities, where my DD lives it is not uncommon to see someone shooting up in a Walmart store, where I live it would almost never happen. Besides there has even been a case where a rolling meth lab was operating in a Walmart women's bathroom. The world has gone crazy, you can't even make this stuff up.
*not blaming Walmart for what people do in their bathroom, just stating how crazy people are.
I should have added more to my message. I do shop mom and pop stores when I can even if it means paying more. I do most of my shopping at the local grocery store. I prefer dining at individually owned restaurants, not chains. I wish we still had a corner pharmacist.
...Walmart has not stated what their Br policy is. Also, I do not believe any store has to implement a gender identity policy, but certain stores have come out in support of it.
Not really trying to start a debate, but wanted to express my feelings on Walmart vs. Target.
Interesting thread. I don't shop at WalMart as much as I do at Target just because I can't stand the lines. I was not aware of Wal-Mart's anti education stance, this has been very enlightening.
I'm also in CO. Maryteach, where do you shop? I admit I go to Walmart a lot, even though I'm aware of their education involvement. The only other semi-comparable choice (not an expensive specialty store like Sprouts) seems to be King Soopers, and their prices are sky high in comparison. I am completely shocked at how much I spend every time I go to King Soopers...I can buy things for two recipes and end up spending $40. I don't like supporting Walmart but the reality is it's the only store I can shop at on a budget. I'm single and IMO teacher salaries in this area don't even come close to matching the COL (I'm from the Midwest, so maybe my perception is skewed).
I really didn't know about this. I've always had reservations about Walmart for many other reasons. The fact is that it is so much cheaper than our local grocery store. It is a bit far away, so I don't go there that often. I certainly will not shop there now. What a disgusting company. I want to read Nickled and Dimed. Then again, a lot of us are probably living it.
Also, I no longer buy school supplies with my own money. I've done spending thousands of my own money on my job. I really am in heavy debt.
Thanks for posting on this topic. I wish more people cared.
Also, I no longer buy school supplies with my own money. I've done spending thousands of my own money on my job
Me too! When I first started teaching I spent tons of my own money on my classroom and school supplies. I gradually started backing off a few years ago and now refuse to spend any of my own money on my job, especially since IMO I'm not getting a fair professional salary for the COL in my area. No other profession is spending money to buy their own supplies. Nothing will change if teachers continue to self-fund their classrooms. I haven't spent a dime on my classroom in two years. And you know what, my classroom hasn't fallen apart either!
Considering I won't shop at Target due to their ridiculous bathroom policies, I will continue to shop at Walmart.
Walmart destroys communities, ruins small businesses, pays people so little they are forced to go on public assistance, buys most of their junk from overseas thereby destroying more american jobs....
and you're so worried that a TG person may be peeing next to you? so worried that you'll support the above just so you don't have to shop somewhere where a TG might be in the can with you?
BTW, I'm one of those whackos that supports common core.
mlany large businesses, but they do supply jobs. Also, Walmart pays the same to new employees as Target -$10/hr. Other than being in certain positions (i.e. Managers), cashiers and stockers aren't jobs you have to support a family. They're entry level jobs.
As far as Target's bathroom policy, it's not about peeing next to a trans person. If they look like a woman, I probably wouldn't even notice they were trans. It's the part where all they have to do is "feel like a girl" and are allowed to use the br. This means a man, dressed like a man, looking like a man, not actually feeling like a woman can pee next to me or my daughter, and yes, I have a problem with that!
(As far as the term "wacko," I used it to quote the original writer.)
I'm so glad there are teachers out there looking out for one another and not afraid to speak up. We are now living in a time where our profession is not respected and we are being abused more and more every year.
No more Wal-Mart (even though they do sell 24 packs of crayons for like 25 cents). We just need to keep speaking up.
Teachers' Lives Matter...We are under attack from every direction and eventually we will be treated no better than a Wal-Mart employee (Charter Schools are already doing it...trust me).
You are so right. In my district, we are not getting paid a fair salary either. We've had years with pay freezes, lay off, no money, and abuse. Our contract is crapped on, by our bosses. Some teachers get a class set of iPads when others don't even have a document camera and are still using overhead projectors. I get most of my technology from grants. I've written over 40 grants in ten years. I'm done with that, too. Begging, publicizing, thanking donors, taking pictures, maintaining supplies, and all that.
If our kids are too lazy to bring a pencil to my room, they can use an old pen or crayon. I really am so done with them borrowing from other kids or just giving them a handout. I've seen countless boys (never the girls) break a new pencil for no reason. Yep, those were pencils that I bought and sharpened. I sound bitter, but I guess I am. At what other job do people have to spend so much money. I buy hand sanitizer, books, tape, pens, markers, and other things for myself that I end up sharing with students.
We are now expected to teach with no real resources. They took away our textbooks and now make us use some crappy online curriculum. We are expected to photocopy everything with a machine that is constantly in pieces because of the heat. We have no AC and only have one staff bathroom on our floor. It is always occupied. Sometimes I feel like we have no human rights. We have to cover during our planning (sometimes at the last minute.) I'll be damned if I am going to buy PAPER and PENCILS anymore. Yep, we also are expected to do all these projects, but have no paper except copy paper that we have to steal. I actually had students staple it together to make a poster. Sad.
Anyone employed at a school with a union should get a copy of the expenditures and see how much of your dues goes for things/issues/candidates/props on the ballot you may or may not agree with. So, I understand where you are coming from.
Walmart does also gives a LOT of money to nonprofits. In 2013, they gave over 311 million to charities.
Walmart does also gives a LOT of money to nonprofits. In 2013, they gave over 311 million to charities.
and they destroy small businesses, pay their people crap wages, don't give anyone full time because they don't want to pay benefits, and their owners receive astronomical compensation. And that $3.1 mill?? it gets taken right off the top of their profits... so yeah pardon me if I don't stand up and do a rah rah.
There are (but maybe not anymore since they've been outed) Walmart locations that literally hand their new employees forms for getting govt. bennies since they pay them crap. So, along with all the other crappy things they do, you and I are subsidizing their decision to pay crappy wages so they can keep more profits for themselves.
I have no problem with people being rich... a lot of you would say I am rich because I have over $1 million in semi-liquid assets and another 1/2 million in real estate equity. I get that large, publicly held companies are closely tied to pensions and retirement savings and investments that school districts, cities, etc. make. But this GROSS level of hoarding wealth is pathological and I would not support it for ten seconds.
BTW, Target... brought into the conversation by someone above... also gives a lot to charity... double the amount of their pre-tax profit that Walmart does.
Last time I checked, this was a free country. That means I can shop where I want, when I want and with who ever I want. I could care less if Wal-Mart funds those things. What they choose to do with their profits is their business. I'm sure if you looked into the financials of every major business in the United States they all have questionable "donations" to causes you don't agree with. As for Teach for America, I'm not so sure why teachers are so mad about it. I have had a number of friends go through Teach for America and they were placed in the most horrible schools in the United States, because *shocker* no one else wanted the job. If you are unhappy with how much you are being paid, go find another profession. You can't have it both ways. We work 187 days a year. If you worked 300 days a year, you would be paid more.
avoid Walmart. I won't go there by choice, but have been there with relatives, and a couple of times on camping trips when we desperately needing something and they were the easiest choice in unknown territory.
I can count those times on both hands over the last decade.
Walmart - what they fund, how they impact local businesses and healthy downtowns, how they treat (or mistreat) their employees, their efforts to kill public education (MY JOB!), their crappy merchandise, et cetera...is anti-American in my opinion. So I choose not to patronize them.
Oh, and on the "union" comment? Not sure about elsewhere, but we have choices on where our union monies go here in Oregon, and how/on what they are spent. I don't have to give any dollars to political issues I don't agree with.
Sorry, but with a comment like this, I wonder if you are even a teacher:
"We work 187 days a year. If you worked 300 days a year, you would be paid more."
I don't know about you, but I average as many, if not more hours, than ANY other person I know in ANY other profession. We don't get paid for all those extra hours required with teaching! We don't even get paid what we are worth for the 187 days per year!
I've been thinking about this - I've avoided Walmart for a long time for a variety of reasons. However, this year instead of families buying supplies off a list, they pay school fees and I as the teacher use that money to buy all the supplies. So I'm not shopping with my own money, and I have an obligation to use that money as efficiently as possible.
Walmart has the least expensive supplies in my area, so I kind of feel like I have to shop there for student supplies. For my own stuff, I'll go elsewhere.
I have been able to avoid the place this year. I found some great deals on amazon and at target. However, I'm sure with any big corporations they still have their own issues. I just do not like the huge department stores, target is as big as I will go.
I agree with lovemyjob7777. I have some serious issues with some of Target policies but I have decided I will shop where i can get the best value for my dollar because there probably isn't a business anywhere that I would agree with 100%. As far as businesses undermining public education, I think we as educators need to get over ourselves. I get so tired of hearing educators gripe about evaluations and such because employers are evaluated in every business. There will always be plenty of kids to educate and I believe very strongly that parents should have a choice because well, they are the parents and are ultimately responsible for their children. I believe if we, as educators, do our jobs it all works out in the end.
Get over themselves? Teachers have many evaluations and most of us have no problem with them at all. Now using student scores as part of the evaluation? No and parents need to get over themselves and get educated on the real problems of public education . The lack of knowledge about what happens in our classrooms is astounding .
Walmart heirs are backing Hillary in the election.
Quote:
The heirs of late Walmart founder Sam Walton are backing Hillary Clinton for president.
Collectively, the leading members of Arkansas' Walton family have given about $714,000 to the candidate and the Democratic Party during the current election cycle, federal records show.
> 
07-15-2016, 05:32 AM
There are so many reasons to leave the place alone.
