Bernie Sanders handed over his Twitter to Walmart workers, and they sounded off on declining store hours, the Walton fortune, and the retail giant's time-off policy
- Sen. Bernie Sanders spoke at Walmart's shareholders meeting on Wednesday.
- He's there to support a shareholder proposal to include hourly employees on the company's board.
- In the run-up to his Bentonville excursion, Sanders posted a number of video testimonials from different Walmart employees.
- "The Waltons make $25,000 a minute, and most of the workers do not make that in a year," Walmart associate Cynthia Murray said in a video posted to the senator's Twitter account.
- "We've invested $4.5 billion in four years on increased pay, expanded health benefits for full and part time associates, put in place a debt free college plan and have created 200 training academies across the country to help associates develop transferable job skills," Walmart spokesperson Kory Lundberg said in a statement to Business Insider.
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Sen. Bernie Sanders is speaking out about Walmart's labor practices on Wednesday, at the retail giant's shareholders meeting, no less.
The senator from Vermont is no stranger to criticizing Walmart and its founding family, the Waltons, calling on the company to raise its hourly minimum wage from $11 to $15 and to include hourly employees on the corporation's board.
But this time, he's not alone. In the run-up to the shareholders meeting in Bentonville, Arkansas - which Sanders is attending on the invitation of Walmart employee and labor rights activist Cat Davis - the senator posted a number of testimonials from current and former Walmart employees on his Twitter account.
"Working at Walmart is a weird experience because on the one hand you have associates and customers that you love and that you love helping and when it comes to being a team, the team that I have at Walmart is one of the best I've ever worked with," an associate only identified as Cade said in a video posted to Sanders' Twitter.
"Unfortunately that level of respect and teamwork doesn't follow through with management sometimes. I feel like management sometimes puts aside safety in order to be more productive."
In a statement to Business Insider, Walmart spokesperson Kory Lundberg disputed Sanders' characterization of the company.
"We've invested $4.5 billion in four years on increased pay, expanded health benefits for full and part time associates, put in place a debt free college plan and have created 200 training academies across the country to help associates develop transferable job skills," Lundberg said.
Eight other current and former Walmart associates also weighed in on Sanders' Twitter account.
"So much disrespect, favoritism," an associate identified as Janie said, describing her four years working in a Walmart store. "It was just awful."
An anonymous speaker whose face was blurred out in the video alleged that the US subsidized the Walton family by providing public benefits to struggling Walmart employees.
Lundberg told Business Insider that the fact that some Walmart employees are on government assistance is a result of the company's refusal to discriminate against people receiving public benefits.
"Like most retailers, a small percentage of our workforce comes to us on public assistance and we don't discriminate against these workers," Lundberg said. "We hire them, train them and give them the chance to earn a paycheck and are immensely proud of their work ethic and their success in supporting themselves and their family."
Other employees complained about Walmart's culture, the retailer's treatment of employees with disabilities, declining store hours, and the time-off policy.
In 2018, Walmart implemented a new scheduling system that "allows associates to view schedules, swap shifts with other associates and even pick up unfilled shifts," according to a Walmart blog post that Lundberg sent to Business Insider.
Walmart also altered its time-off policy in February, creating a protected PTO bank for employees and adding cash bonuses for good attendance.
"Under the new policy, eligible hourly Walmart associates can earn an additional 25% on the quarterly cash bonuses they currently receive based on store performance," reads a Walmart blog from February, which Lundberg emailed to Business Insider.
This isn't the first time Sanders has gone up against Walmart. Back in November, he co-sponsored the Stop Walmart act with Rep. Ro Khanna of California. The legislation would force the retailer to raise its minimum hourly wage to $15 or suffer the consequence of being banned from buying back stock.
"The Walton family that owns Walmart is the wealthiest family in America," Sanders said in a video posted on Twitter. "They're worth about $174 billion. And my message tomorrow is as simple as it can be. You're the wealthiest family in America. Pay your employees a living wage."
Lundberg said in a statement that Walmart is an inclusive employer that doesn't exclude potential hires based on poor credit histories, education requirements, or criminal records.
"We create opportunity in communities across the nation, in some cases for people that are too often ignored," he said. "By removing barriers to entry, Walmart gives workers the chance to join the workforce, learn important and transferable job skills, while earning a pay check."
Here's the full statement from Walmart:
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