The Wal-Mart Leak

Someone inside the higher levels of the Wal-Mart corporation leaked a draft copy of a secret memo sent to the company's Board of Directors recommending how to squeeze employees even further while simultaneously protecting a poor public image (exploiter of wage labor and a burden to public health care). Wal-Mart Watch, a nonprofit group allied with labor unions, received the memo in the mail, which then got into the hands of the NYTimes. Here are some low points:

1. Last year, Wal-Mart earned $10.5 billion profit on gross sales of $285 billion.

2. Full-time Wal-Mart employees earn on average around $17,500 a year.

3. 46 percent of the children of Wal-Mart's 1.33 million United States employees are uninsured or on Medicaid.

4. The memo recommends that employees be forced to pay more for their spouses' health insurance.

5. Also recommends that the company cut 401(k) contributions to 3 percent of wages from 4 percent and also cut company-paid life insurance policies to $12,000 from the current level, which is equal to an employee's annual earnings. (Life insurance, the memo asserted, is "a high-satisfaction, low-importance benefit, which suggests an opportunity to trim the offering without substantial impact on [worker] satisfaction.")

6. "...our critics are correct in some of their observations. Specifically, our coverage is expensive for low-income families, and Wal-Mart has a significant percentage of associates and their children on public assistance."

7. Too many Wal-Mart workers stay around too long: "...the cost of an associate with seven years of tenure is almost 55 percent more than the cost of an associate with one year of tenure, yet there is no difference in his or her productivity." Give a gal a job, and she thinks she can stay forever! Sheesh.

8. Too many Wal-Mart workers are too fat or too sick or both: workers "are getting sicker than the national population, particularly in obesity-related diseases," including diabetes and coronary artery disease. "The least healthy, least productive associates are more satisfied with their benefits than other segments and are interested in longer careers with Wal-Mart. The memo proposed incorporating physical activity in all jobs to "dissuade unhealthy people from coming to work at Wal-Mart."

And This Week's Hypocrisy in Action Award Goes To: Wal-Mart. As soon as the company knew this memo was going public, it rushed on Monday of this week to announce a new health insurance plan for some workers, allowing them to buy in for $11 a month. The company also announced "a sweeping plan to conserve energy" and (my favorite part) said it supported raising the minimum wage.