Last week, Walmart announced the launch of a new scheduling system for hourly employees in 650 of its smaller Neighborhood Market stores across the country. The new system aims to improve customer service during peak shopping times. The retail giant plans to expand the system to all of its 4,600 U.S. stores after this testing period.
Making Change at Walmart (MCAW) issued the following statement in response to the new scheduling system, which does not address the problem of inadequate hours for Walmart workers:
“Here we go again with another PR statement that does not match the reality hard-working Walmart workers face,” said Jess Levin, communications director for MCAW. “Walmart workers deserve fair and flexible scheduling, but it is not at all clear whether the announced changes, which seem to emphasize customers only, are going to fit the bill. Everything Walmart says about how it treats its workers should be taken with a huge grain of salt. They have promised workers better wages and better hours before, and not delivered. We hope this time is different.”