Walmart
is defending a holiday food drive for needy store associates at one of
its Ohio stores, saying the workers are voluntarily helping colleagues
who are experiencing "unforeseen hardships."
In a photo that is being distributed on the Internet by Our Walmart, a
labor group that receives funding from United Food and Commercial
Workers International Union that is pushing Walmart to unionize its
employees, several large plastic bins behind the scenes of a store in
Canton, Ohio, are shown with signs that read: "Please donate food items
here so Associates in Need can enjoy Thanksgiving Dinner."
Kory Lundberg, a spokesman for Walmart, said this store of about 300
employees has been hosting a holiday food drive for a few years.
"Quite frankly, a lot of people in that store are frustrated and
offended that this is reported in a way besides other folks rallying
around each other," Lundberg said.
Last year, he said there were about 12 people who benefited from the program.
"I couldn't be prouder of people in that store helping in a tough situation," he said.
"They set the tub up for associates and managers to donate items for
associates for things beyond their control," Lundberg said. "It shows
these associates care for each other. This isn't every day run of the
mill stuff -- maybe a spouse has lost a job or lost a loved one, or
maybe a natural disaster has hit."
Lundberg said Walmart has a company-wide program called The Associates
in Critical Need Trust that is a non-profit 501(c)(3) to provide
financial assistance to associates who are experiencing hardship.
Associates can donate to the trust, either through a payroll deduction
or voluntary, direct contributions. In 2008, the trust made more than
160 grants to Walmart associates every week. "Since its inception, more
than 50,000 associates have sought help through the trust for themselves
and their families this way," Walmart says on its website.
In the Canton store associates nominate co-workers with hardships to management to receive food donations.
"They're not the same program but symbolize the same thing: the
importance of the company taking care of its people," Lundberg said."There's one lady in the store I talked to last week and she was helped
out by this program last year," Lundberg said. "The situation came
because she stopped receiving child support payments. Nobody plans for
that. This store rallied around it."
Lundberg said he did not know if other Walmart locations had similar
programs, but some of its other stores may have similar voluntary
efforts.
"I'm not aware of anybody else doing this, but again we have 4,000
locations. Last week I wasn't aware this was done. I wouldn't be
surprised if many of our stores are doing something," he said.
Lundberg said that no one in the store knows who the food donations will
go to because the store management delivers the items to their homes.
"Nobody knows who's receiving benefits. It's a really neat thing that store is doing," he said.
Scott Stringer, of Dayton, Ohio, who supports the Our Walmart movement,
was critical of the food drive in Canton, which is about 180 miles
northwest from his store.
When asked for his reaction to Walmart's defense of its food drive
program in Canton, Ohio, Stringer, 27, said, "The way I feel is that if
Walmart feels we're taking such a nice story and making it seem bad, I
would say associates are united. We take care of each other, but my
question to Walmart is, 'What are you doing to take care of us?'"
Stringer has worked for Walmart for five years.
When one of his co-worker's homes burned down within the last year,
Stringer said his colleagues started a collection plate so she could
stay at a hotel and start rebuilding her home.
"Walmart didn't do that. We did that. The workers have always been united. Why isn't Walmart uniting to take care of us as well?
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