Diane Muthig, Local 1
Former Wal-Mart Employee
Oneonta, N.Y.
Diane Muthig worked as a checker at Wal-Mart in Oneonta, N.Y., for two years before she was laid off after the holidays. She thought she could at least look forward to a longevity bonus—but she was wrong.
“They laid me off one day short my being eligible for a $700 bonus,” she said. “They weren’t picking people at random to lay off. They got rid of the more senior people.”
Muthig was further shortchanged after she was let go.
“When Wal-Mart hires you, they bring you in a room and strongly suggest you put in $10 a pay period into company stock. I felt forced to do it,” she said.
During her two years of work, Muthig had put $520 into Wal-Mart stock, but received less than $300 when she was laid off.
Now, Muthig is happy to be working again, but this time back under a Local 1 contract at a Great American store, where she had worked prior to her time at Wal-Mart. In all, she has been a union member at Great American for more than 27 years. She compared her employment at Wal-Mart to her union-protected job.
“Being a cashier at Wal-Mart was terrible. You never got breaks on time. I would flash the light to the supervisor so I could get a break, but I would have to wait and wait,” Muthig said. “One day I mentioned to a co-worker that this place needs a union. She told me, ‘don’t say that, you will be fired on the spot’.”
As a union worker, Muthig was used to regularly scheduled pay increases and affordable health care benefits. She received neither at Wal-Mart.
“When raisers were due, management would do an evaluation and find some fault. Evaluations always seemed to take place right before your raise was due.”
At Wal-Mart, she also had to go without family health care coverage.
“When you get hired, Wal-Mart tells you that you get all these benefits, but they don’t tell you how much it costs. It was $240 a month for single coverage (in 2001). I couldn’t afford even single coverage, but still had to have it. We couldn’t afford to insure my husband (who is self-employed). Thank god he never got sick.”
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