Opinion
The Scam That Stole Thanksgiving
“Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now”
B ERNIE F OSTER
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Executive Editor
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H ELEN S ILVIS
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B RUCE P OINSETTE
Reporter
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M ONICA J. F OSTER
Seattle Office Coordinator
J ULIE K EEFE
S USAN F RIED
Photographers
The Skanner Newspaper, established
in October 1975, is a weekly publica-
tion, published each Wednesday by
IMM Publications Inc.,
When I think of Thanksgiving
Day, I think of family, gathered
around a table that groans with
turkey and dressing, green beans
and candied yams, mac and cheese
or whipped potatoes, and lots of
other goodies. I look forward to
seeing folks I haven’t seen in a
while, savor the food and fellow-
ship, bring in the late evening over
coffee and pie. Nobody is rushing
out to go shopping – most people
save that for the Friday after
Thanksgiving, often called, Black
Friday, because many stores find
themselves in the black after the
profligate shopping that day.
There have been tragedies asso-
ciated with Black Friday. A few
years back, a Walmart employee
was trampled to death by a crowd
way too eager to get to the con-
sumer goods. There have also
been altercations, bruises, and cuts
as customers have vied for some
of the scarce goods available or for
crazy deals (often only for the first
200 people). Lines often snake
around stores as people wait for a
chance for a bargain.
Now Walmart has upped the
ante. Last year, they opened at 10
p.m. and this year they will open at
8 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. Just
when folks settle down from their
meal and start swapping lies,
someone is going to have to get up
and rush to work so they can serve
those consumers who want to shop
on Thanksgiving Day.
Many of those who will work do
so out of desperation. Many Wal-
mart employees don’t have a full
40-hour shift; some find their
hours adjusted each week.
B ENNETT
C OLLEGE
Julianne
Malveaux
Thanksgiving work will augment
scarce incomes. Just this week, I
talked with a couple whose joint
income at Walmart is $26,000 a
year, partly because neither has a
full week’s schedule.
There are those who ask, “Well,
why do they work there?” as if
there are easy alternatives. But
Walmart is one of our nation’s
largest employers, and they often
set the tone for similar stores such
as Best Buy, Sears and others.
With Walmart opening at 8 p.m.
on Thanksgiving, their competi-
tors will follow because they don’t
want to lose momentum to Wal-
mart.
This is why some Walmart
taken against its employees, and
have initiated a series of protests,
including strikes, rallies, an
online campaign, and other
actions. Their organization, Mak-
ing Change at Walmart, says that
Walmart can help revive our
economy if they will simply offer
workers full-week schedules and
fair pay.
Barbara Ehrenreich captured
the ways that people are forced to
work at a store very much like
Walmart in her book, Nickeled
and Dimed. She wrote about the
workers who were forced to work
“off the clock,” after they had
punched out, or before they
punched in. She wrote about the
low pay. And she wrote about
those supervisors who had made a
deal with the devil – implementing
unfair policies for their own sur-
vival.
When Walmart employees speak
out there is retaliation. They are
fired, or their hours are cut back.
They very swiftly get the message
that speaking out will be pun-
ished. Too many silently seethe at
When Walmart employees speak out
there is retaliation
employees are protesting the way
that Walmart treats its employees.
They want to inform the public of
illegal actions that Walmart has
unfair policies; too dependent on
the little pay they get to raise their
voices.
This is why the Making Change
at Walmart campaign is so impor-
tant. It challenges the notion that
economic growth is dependent on
the exploitation of workers, and
suggests, instead, that paying peo-
ple a living wage is a way to grow
a stable and secure workforce.
Walmart is not the only compa-
ny that prefers to pay its workers
on a part-time basis. Many fast-
food operations do the same thing,
varying hours each week so that
workers have no way of knowing
when they will work. This means
they have difficulty arranging for
childcare with these variable
hours. Of course, that this does
not concern their employers. They
are more interested in their bottom
line, profits.
Many who are aware of the labor
exploitation at Walmart say that
their prices and deals are unbeat-
able, and with their money tight
they have no choice but to seek the
best bargains they can find. Yet
the price of the great deals is
exploitation of another worker.
The action to inform Walmart
customers about Walmart’s unfair
pay and illegal actions allows peo-
ple who shop on Thanksgiving
Day and on other days to make
informed decisions about their
shopping. One of the ways con-
sumers can make a statement is to
stay home on Thanksgiving Day,
enjoying family, giving thanks,
and postponing shopping.
Julianne Malveaux is a Wash-
ington, D.C.-based economist and
writer. She is President Emerita of
Bennett College for Women in
Greensboro, N.C.
415 N. Killingsworth St.,
P.O. Box 5455, Portland, OR 97228.
Telephone (503) 285-5555.
E-mail: info@theskanner.com
Income Inequality Growing in U.S.
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Page 4 The Seattle Skanner
The threat of an impending fis-
cal cliff has sparked intense con-
versations about whether upper
income citizens are paying their
fair share of taxes. But equally
important – and perhaps more
important in the long term – is the
issue of income inequality.
A new report by the Center on
Budget and Policy Priorities and
the Economic Policy Institute, two
Washington-based think tanks,
documents the growing gap
between rich and poor as well as
the rich and middle-class families.
That pattern holds true both
nationally and at the state level.
The report, titled, “Pulling
Apart: A State-by-State Analysis
of Income Trends,” found: “Over
the past three business cycles prior
to 2007, the incomes of the coun-
try’s highest-income households
climbed substantially, while mid-
dle- and lower-income households
saw only modest increases.
“During the recession of 2007
through 2009, households at all
income levels, including the
wealthiest, saw declines in real
income due to widespread job
losses and the loss of realized cap-
ital gains. But the incomes of the
richest households have begun to
grow again while the incomes of
those at the bottom and middle
continue to stagnate and wide gaps
remain between high-income
households and poor and middle-
income households saw only mod-
November 21, 2012
T HE C URRY
R EPORT
George E.
Curry
est increases.”
The poorest fifth of households
“On average, incomes grew by
just 1.2 percent among the middle
fifth of households between the
late 1990s and the mid-2000s, well
below the 8.6 percent gain among
the top fifth,” the report stated.
“Income disparities between the
top and middle fifths increased
significantly in 36 states and
declined significantly in only one
state (New Hampshire.)”
The report contains charts that
show how income equality plays
The major reason for the growing
economic disparity has been the
stagnant wages for workers in the low
and middle-income brackets while
wages of the highest paid employees
have grown significantly
in the U.S. had an average income
of $20,510. The top fifth had eight
times as much – $164,490.
“On average incomes fell by
close to 6 percent among the bot-
tom fifth of households between
the late 1990s and the mid-2000s,
while rising 8.6 percent among the
top fifth,” the report found.
“Incomes grew even faster –14
percent – among the top 5 percent
of households.
A similar gap existed been top
earners and middle-class house-
holds.
out at the state level.
The state with the largest house-
hold income gap was New Mexi-
co, where the bottom fifth
averaged $16,319 annually and the
top fifth of households earned
$161,162, a top-to-bottom ratio of
9.9. New Mexico was followed, in
order, by Arizona, California,
Georgia, New York, Louisiana,
Texas, Massachusetts, Illinois and
Mississippi.
New Mexico also had the great-
est gap between the middle fifth of
households ($51,136) and top fifth
($161,162), a ratio of 3.2. New
Mexico was followed, in order, by
California, Georgia, Mississippi,
Arizona, New York, Texas, Okla-
homa, Tennessee and Louisiana.
Those gaps were even larger
when poor and middle-class
households were compared with
the top 5 percent of all earners. For
example, the income of the top 5
percent of households was 13.3
times the average income of the
bottom fifth. The ratio was more
than 15 times that in Arizona, New
Mexico, California, Georgia and
New York.
According to the report, the
major reason for the growing eco-
nomic disparity has been the stag-
nant wages for workers in the low
and middle-income brackets while
wages of the highest paid employ-
ees have grown significantly.
“The erosion weakness of wage
growth for workers at the bottom
and middle of the income scale
reflects a variety of factors,” the
report noted. “Over the last 30
years, the nation has seen increas-
ingly long periods of high unem-
ployment,
more
intense
competition from foreign firms, a
shift in the mix of jobs from man-
ufacturing to services, and
advances in technology that have
changed jobs. The share of work-
ers in unions also fell significantly.
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