Business

Next Up for Wal-Mart Pay Raises: Department Managers

Published

9 years ago

June 2, 2015

In this Feb. 17, 2009 file photo, shoppers leave a Wal-Mart in Danvers, Mass. Wal-Mart is raising starting wages for more than 100,000 U.S. department managers and workers in its deli and other specialized departments, the company said Monday, June 1, 2015. (AP Photo/Lisa Poole, File)

ANNE D’INNOCENZIO, AP Retail Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Wal-Mart is raising starting wages for more than 100,000 U.S. department managers and workers in its deli and other specialized departments.

The moves mark the next wave of pay raises by the nation’s largest private employer, which has been under pressure from labor-backed groups for the treatment of its workers. In February, it announced it was increasing minimum wages for entry-level and long-term hourly employees to at least $10 an hour by next February. That increase affected 500,000 of its 1.3 million U.S. workers.

The wage hikes are part of a $1 billion program at Wal-Mart that also includes improving training and offering employees more control of their schedules. The company is hoping that by investing in its workers, its customer service will improve, and ultimately that will encourage shoppers to spend more, helping to perk up sluggish sales at its U.S. division.

In February, Wal-Mart said it would be raising wages for its department managers but didn’t offer many details.

Wal-Mart told The Associated Press late Monday that department managers of complex and service-oriented jobs in areas like produce, electronics and auto care, will start at $13 per hour and top out at $24.70 per hour, beginning next month. Starting next February, they will be paid at least $15 per hour. Previously, the pay range was from $10.30 to $20.09. Meanwhile, those managers of less-complicated departments like clothing, and consumer products like paper towels and luggage, will earn from $10.90 to $20.71 per hour. Previously, they earned from $9.90 to $19.31.

Labor advocates claimed the raises as a victory but called for more.

“Today’s wage announcement, like the last one, falls short of what Walmart workers need in order to raise their families,” the UFCW International Union said in a statement.

Wal-Mart is phasing out the position of zone managers, and reassigning those jobs at its stores to assistant managers or department managers in a bid to offer front-line workers more control over how their areas should be run. At the same time, it’s adding up to 8,000 more department manager jobs.

“There’s a lot of excitement about the new department managers, the level of ownership they take,” Kristin Oliver, executive vice president of people for Wal-Mart’s U.S. division said. She noted the company is testing the new department managers in about 450 of the more than 4,500 stores it operates in the U.S., and the results are encouraging.

Wal-Mart, which is based in Bentonville, Arkansas, also said late Monday that those workers in specialized areas like the deli sections or the wireless areas will earn a wage range of $9.90 to $18.81 per hour. Previously, they started at around $9.20 and topped out at $18.53.

The company had said in February that it was increasing the pay band for its entry level workers like stockers, cashiers and cart pushers. They now will make anywhere from $9 to $17.55. Previously, they made anywhere from $7.25 to $15.15 per hour.

The first wave of raises that took effect in April raised Wal-Mart’s the average full-time hourly wage to $13 per hour, up from $12.85. And the average part-time hourly wage rose to $10 per hour, up from $9.48. Oliver said Wal-Mart is still working on how those numbers will change with the latest wave of increases.

Wal-Mart’s current average is still below the $14.65 average that hourly retail workers in a non-supervisory role earn, according to government data that includes people who work at auto dealers and other outlets that would likely pay more than discounters like Wal-Mart. But it’s above the $9.93 average hourly pay for cashiers and low-level retail sales staff, according to Hay Group’s survey of 140 retailers with annual sales of at least $500 million.

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Follow Anne D’Innocenzio at — https://twitter.com/adinnocenzio

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Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

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3 hours ago

April 19, 2024

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Business

V.P. Kamala Harris: Americans With Criminal Records Will Soon Be Eligible for SBA Loans

Speaking in Las Vegas on Jan. 27, Vice President Kamala Harris announced a forthcoming federal rule that will extend access to Small Business Administration (SBA) loans to Americans who have been convicted of felonies but have served their time. Small business owners typically apply for the SBA loans to start or sustain their businesses.

Published

3 days ago

April 16, 2024

Oakland Post

On her daylong trip, Harris was joined by Horford, SBA Administrator Isabella Guzman, Interim Under Secretary of Commerce for Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) Eric Morrissette, and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev).

By California Black Media

Small business owners typically apply for the SBA loans to start or sustain their businesses.

Harris thanked U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV-04), the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, for the work he has done in Washington to support small businesses and to invest in people.

“He and I spent some time this afternoon with business leaders and small business leaders here in Nevada. The work you have been doing to invest in community and to invest in the ambition and natural capacity of communities has been exceptional,” Harris said, speaking to a crowd of a few hundred people at the Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Hall in East Las Vegas.

“Formerly incarcerated individuals face significant barriers to economic opportunity once they leave prison and return to the community, with an unemployment rate among the population of more than 27%,” the White House press release continued. “Today’s announcement builds on the Vice President’s work to increase access to capital. Research finds that entrepreneurship can reduce recidivism for unemployed formerly incarcerated individuals by as much as 30%.”

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G.O.P. Lawmakers: Repeal AB 5 and Resist Nationalization of “Disastrous” Contractor Law

Published

3 days ago

April 16, 2024

Oakland Post

File Photo: Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher (R-Yuba City)

By California Black Media

Republican lawmakers gathered outside of the Employee Development Department in Sacramento on Jan. 23 to call for the repeal of AB5, the five-year old California law that reclassified gig workers and other independent contractors as W-2 employees under the state’s labor code.
Organizers said they also held the rally to push back against current efforts in Washington to pass a similar federal law.

“We are here to talk about this very important issue – a battle we have fought for many years – to stop this disastrous AB 5 policy,” said Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher (R-Yuba City).
Now, that threat has gone national as we have seen this new rule being pushed out of the Biden administration,” Gallagher continued.

On Jan. 10, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a new rule providing guidance on “on how to analyze who is an employee or independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).”
“This final rule rescinds the Independent Contractor Status Under the Fair Labor Standards Act rule (2021 IC Rule), that was published on January 7, 2021, and replaces it with an analysis for determining employee or independent contractor status that is more consistent with the FLSA as interpreted by longstanding judicial precedent,” a Department of Labor statement reads.
U.S. Congressmember Kevin Kiley (R-CA-3), who is a former California Assemblymember, spoke at the rally.

“We are here today to warn against the nationalization of one of the worst laws that has ever been passed in California, which has devastated the livelihoods of folks in over 600 professions,” said Kiley, adding that the law has led to a 10.5% decline in self-employment in California.

Kiley blamed U.S Acting Secretary of Labor, July Su, who was the former secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency, for leading the effort to redefine “contract workers” at the federal level.
Kiley said two separate lawsuits have been filed against Su’s Rule – its constitutionality and the way it was enacted, respectively. He said he is also working on legislation in Congress that puts restrictions on the creation and implementation of executive branch decisions like Su’s.
Assemblymember Kate Sanchez (R-Rancho Santa Margarita) announced that she plans to introduce legislation to repeal AB 5 during the current legislative session.

“So many working moms like myself, who are also raising kids, managing households, were devastated by the effects of AB 5 because they lost access to hundreds of flexible professions,” Sanchez continued. “I’ve been told by many of these women that they have lost their livelihoods as bookkeepers, artists, family caregivers, designers, and hairstylists because of this destructive law.”