5 Detroit Schools' Offering Classes in How to Work at Walmart

[BrandonCarr39]

February 12, 2010
http://www.alternet.org/story/145653/

Walmart has been widely condemned for offering its employees only low-paying, dead end jobs. Even President Obama criticized Hillary Clinton during the 2008 presidential campaign for having served on Walmart's board and stated that the firm ought to pay "a living wage."

In inner-city Detroit, however, where the unemployment rate is estimated at an astonishing 50%, the prospect of a Walmart job may appear far more attractive.

Four inner-city Detroit high schools have decided that employment with Walmart is an opportunity worth training their students to pursue. The schools have teamed up with the giant merchandiser to offer a for-credit class in job-readiness training that also includes entry-level after-school jobs.

According to the Detroit Free Press, the principal at one of the schools optimistically suggested that "the program will allow students an opportunity to earn money and to be exposed to people from different cultures -- since all of the stores are in the suburbs."

The announcement of the program outraged Donna Stern, the Midwest coordinator for the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration & Immigrant Rights And Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN). "They’re going to train students to be subservient workers" she told the Free Press. "This is not why parents send them to school."

Detroit area schools have cooperated on projects with Walmart in the past. Last summer, Walmart sponsored a letter-writing contest in which students could win classroom supplies, and at Christmas Walmart donated presents to needy students in a Detroit suburb.

Neither of those acts of corporate generosity, however, carried the same racial overtones as training inner-city students for a career as suburban Walmart store clerks. The fact may be that Detroit's schools are now desperate enough to accept help wherever they can find it.

The school district has been running badly in the red, and though emergency financial manager Robert Bobb has already closed 29 schools as a cost-cutting measure, it was reported this week that "the 84,000-student Detroit Public Schools could face additional layoffs and about 40 more school closings."

Detroit's teachers have also been chafing at a contract accepted by their union that forces them to make involuntary long-term loans to the school district out of their paychecks. A Detroit Federation of Teachers union meeting on Thursday broke down in chaos after members tried to put the question of recalling the union president on the agenda.

[GBMelBlount]

Call me old fashion but perhaps they could sneak in a little reading, writing & arithmetic while their at it.....

[SteelersinCA]

What happens when walmart leaves Detroit?

[GBMelBlount]

Originally Posted by SteelersinCA

What happens when walmart leaves Detroit?

Classic.

I imagine they would replace it with a course on how to work at a fast food establishment.

...and raise taxes on the existing businesses to make up for the lost revenue.

I remember stopping in for lunch at a KFC on Livernois Ave. in Detroit back in 80's and there was bullet proof glass up at the registers.

[steelerdude15]

Detroit is a dead city. Gotta love the Burgh, it will never die...

[fansince'76]

Originally Posted by GBMelBlount

I imagine they would replace it with a course on how to work at a fast food establishment.

That's easy - act disinterested, cop a bad attitude and screw up everyone's order.

[Gnutella]

Originally Posted by GBMelBlount

Classic.

I imagine they would replace it with a course on how to work at a fast food establishment.

...and raise taxes on the existing businesses to make up for the lost revenue.

I remember stopping in for lunch at a KFC on Livernois Ave. in Detroit back in 80's and there was bullet proof glass up at the registers.

I took a trip to California three years ago, and after I landed at LAX, I picked up my rental vehicle and stopped by a Jack In The Box nearby. The counter was behind a six-inch-thick panel of clear bulletproof resin, and there were two slots at the bottom of it: a small one to place your money in, and a large one to deliver your food.

[fansince'76]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

I took a trip to California three years ago, and after I landed at LAX, I picked up my rental vehicle and stopped by a Jack In The Box nearby. The counter was behind a six-inch-thick panel of clear bulletproof resin, and there were two slots at the bottom of it: a small one to place your money in, and a large one to deliver your food.

[YOUTUBE]hM8qT9Xop5k[/YOUTUBE]

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

[steelreserve]

Originally Posted by TNewman41

The announcement of the program outraged Donna Stern, the Midwest coordinator for the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration & Immigrant Rights And Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN).

Why is that? This is affirmative action at its best. Right now, Wal-Mart is staffed by 90% white trailer trash. Now they're going to make it half trailer trash and half 'hood rats. Talk about diversity in action.

[GBMelBlount]

Originally Posted by fansince'76

That's easy - act disinterested, cop a bad attitude and screw up everyone's order.

Perhaps the bulletproof glass is to protect the patrons.