Romney points to "Staples" as his "success" story. Thousands of minimum wage jobs with no benefits, no health care. People can only survive by getting Food Stamps. But Republicans want to cut the food stamps too.
I guess the Republican "option" is "let him die". Guess we should listen to what they are telling us.
Lair
Staples Benefits, Staples Employee Benefits Info
Well of course Staples is going to say they are a "great place". You believe everything every company tells you? The benefits they are describing are for "upper management", not regular workers.
Let's go ahead and look a little deeper:
Let's start of with a list of "minimum wage" nation wide to give us some perspective:
List of U.S. minimum wages - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Let's look at what the employees say:
Staples Hourly Pay | Glassdoor
See? They are telling us what their wages are. Looks pretty minimum, doesn't it?
Now, what kind of comments do they give:
“FT positions dumped to save money, kept as PT, no benefits”
Current OS Associate
Pros – Close to home, small group (and getting smaller!) who generally get along, reasonable managers who will work with you (at least in my store).
Cons – After 8 years in OS, my FT position was reduced to PT; happened to others in other departments, seasoned good employees shafted so company wont have to pay benefits. The PT medical is a joke. Morale too.
Would not recommend this company to a friend
Staples - FT positions dumped to save money, kept as PT, no benefits | Glassdoor
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American Sweatshops: Widespread and Thriving; Barely Surviving the Most Stressful, Lowest-Paying Job of My Life
When I told the Staples store manager that I wanted a full-time job, he informed me that initially I would have to work on a temporary, part-time basis, without any benefits. I found out later that numerous other employees at the store who had worked there from two to seven years were still in "part-time," status.
This arrangement is highly advantageous for the retailers. They minimize or avoid paying fringe benefits such as life and health insurance, retirement benefits, overtime or differential pay for Sunday work. When I told the manager that I wanted to work as many hours as possible, he told me that every employee at the store asks for that. The maximum he ever allowed me to work was 31.5 hours a week. Most often it was in the 21 to 26 hour range.
So at $7.25 an hour for a 31.50-hour workweek I grossed $228.38. After deductions for Social Security, Medicare and federal, state and local taxes, my net take home pay was $178.48. This translates to a net of $9,281 a year.
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Now if you go to someplace like "Businessinsider", you get a "glowing report" of this company. But seriously. 20 hours a week for all these benefits? And for the family? And discounts? Who could believe that? That's just something put out there for ignorant right wingers to point to and say, "See how wonderful they are?" It's pure fantasy.
Staples
Workers at this office products company need to work just 20 hours per week to gain access to most benefits. Medical, dental, life, vision and disability insurance are offered to workers and their families, including same-sex spouses and domestic partners. Perks at Staples abound, with team members receiving discounts on theater tickets, wireless products and services and online retailers.
8 Companies That Give Part-Time Workers Awesome Benefits - Business Insider
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Staples Inc. (SPLS) - Balance Sheet - TheStreet
Number of Employees: 51542
Number of Part Time Employees: 36240
That leaves only a little over 15 thousand employees that are full time. This is so they won't have to pay for benefits.
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In case it's not clear, FT means "full time employee" and PT means "Part time employee".
See, the company is getting rid of full time employees and making everyone part time. You get two part timers and you don't have to pay benefits. Plus, you can exaggerate the number of jobs and fool ignorant right wingers into believing what that company is telling them because they won't actually go look to find out. But thank God for us Liberals. Looking out for you and trying to educate you even if you need to be dragged kicking and screaming. Believe me, it's for your own good. When a situation is this complicated, go read about it. Find out what's going on. Then we can debate.