Stranger things have happened in this world, but this one may not be all that it is being portrayed to be by Walmart and I'm not condemning Walmart either.
Wal-Mart suddenly closed five stores in four states on Monday for alleged plumbing problems.
The closures could last up to six months and affect roughly 2,200 workers in Texas, California, Oklahoma, and Florida, CNN Money reports.
What makes this interesting, and raises the age old argument that there are no co-incidences in life, is that these five stores just happen to be stores where employees were active in holding Black Friday protests in 2012 for purposes of unionizing Walmart. So, if you believe in co-incidences, the five stores probably did have plumbing problems arise all at the same time. However, if you are cynical and question the possibility of multiple chain co-incidences then you may just have a hard time with Walmart's explanation of plumbing problems and other as yet unknown problems that may or may not be affecting these five Walmart stores.
Now, to be fair, I believe Walmart has every right to close any of their stores for any reason or no reason at all. It is, after all, a corporation that must look out for the best interests of its owners in the form of shareholders, many of which are ordinary people with 401K retirement funds that are invested in Walmart stock, whether they work for Walmart or any other business. That's just the way corporate ownership is constituted. Anyone who has the money can buy into and become shareholders of any public corporation they are interested in and it then becomes the job of the corporate governance to run the business in the best interest of the owners.
Now this is just wild speculation on my part, but I'm thinking there is more to this story than mere maintenance practices on the part of Walmart. I'm thinking there just may be an ulterior motive on Walmart's part. Perhaps Walmart is sending some of its employees a message, that being, if you really don't like the working conditions at Walmart, including their wage structure, employee benefits, and advancement opportunities within Walmart management, then just maybe Walmart is not the place to be.
Walmart pays more than comparable businesses and has better employee relations than most comparable unionized businesses. Yet there are some Walmart employees that want to portray Walmart as some evil giant that must be regulated and brought to it knees through unionization and all that implies. Is Walmart to stand idly by as outside union organizers enlist Walmart employees to do their dirty work? Let's not forget that all is fair in love and union wars, so let's see how this war plays out. I don't know about you, but I'm curious as Hell.
Read more on these five Walmart store closing at Business Insider and decide for yourself Walmart's motivation and their absolute right to close stores, or at least shut them down temporarily, for whatever reason.
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