It’s no secret that Walmart is one of the most successful companies in the world. It’s also no secret that they’ve got a bit of less than stellar history when it comes to employee relations.
Actor Ashton Kutcher lashed out on Twitter at Walmart recently, calling out the mega chain for its pathetic treatment of employees who don’t even make enough to provide their families with a Thanksgiving dinner.
Walmart is your profit margin so important you can't Pay Your Employees enough to be above the poverty line? http://t.co/YT8QDmyJ8G
— ashton kutcher (@aplusk) November 19, 2013
The Twitter bomb was a result of news last week that Wal-Mart employees in Canton, Ohio were pitching in to help out fellow employees who would be feeling the economic pinch during the turkey holiday. A nice story of people helping people, but also another ugly notch against how Wal-Mart, a company with a market value of $260 billion, treats its employees.
Walmart’s PR team was all over the Asthton Kutcher tweet, (rightfully so, Kutcher has 15 million Twitter followers) saying “It’s unfortunate that an act of human kindness has been taken so out of context. We’re proud of our associates in Canton.”
Not so fast, Walmart, Ashton Kutcher doesn’t give up that easily.
Ashton replied with “you should be proud of your associates but I’m not sure if they should be proud of you.”
Ooh, burn!
Like any big corporation, Walmart was quick to respond with figures and PR tweets.
More than 350 #Walmart associates are #MovingUp today with surprise on-the-spot promotions: http://t.co/jqtvTGtv01 #WMTJobs
— Walmart Newsroom (@WalmartNewsroom) November 18, 2013
And the follow up from Ashton…
Walmart should be the leaders not the low water mark http://t.co/qdCOZWv0gh
— ashton kutcher (@aplusk) November 19, 2013
You can hate on Ashton as much as you want for being a rich Hollywood actor and attacking an American company, such as Walmart. The fact is though, for all the barley above minimum wage jobs Wal-Mart offers Americans, they’re hurting the American economy 10 fold with carrying almost exclusively Chinese made products.
Via Babble