Walmart boosts starting pay, pledges bonuses
Company is also closing dozens of Sam’s Clubs
NEWYORK » Walmart confirmed Thursday that it is closing dozens of Sam’s Club warehouse stores— a move that a union-backed group estimated could cost thousands of jobs— on the same day the company announced that it was boosting its starting salary for U.S. workers and handing out bonuses.
The world’s largest pri- vate employer said it was closing 63 of its 660 Sam’s Clubs over the next weeks, with some shut already. Ten are being converted into e- commerce distribution centers, according to a company official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss details of the decision publicly.
He said it was too early to say how many people overall would lose their jobs since some will be placed at other Walmart locations or rehired at the e- commerce sites. Making Change at Walmart,
a campaign backed by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, estimates that 150 to 160 people work at each Sam’s Club store, meaning the closures could affect about 10,000 people.
On Twitter, Sam’s Club responded to people’s queries by saying, “After a thor- ough review of our existing portfolio, we’ve decided to close a series of clubs and better align our locations with our strategy.”
Local news reports said Sam’s Clubs stores were closing in Texas, California, New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana and Alaska, among other states.
Earlier in the day, Walmart had cited the sweeping Republican tax overhaul that will save it money in announcing the higher hourly wages, one-time bonuses and expanded parental benefits that will affect more than a million hourly workers in the U. S.
In all, Walmart employs 2.3 million people around the world, 1.5 million of which are in the U.S.
Walmart also announced that full-time hourly U. S. employees can get 10 weeks of paidmaternity leave and six weeks of paid parental leave. Before, full-time hourly workers received 50 percent of their pay for leave. Salaried employees, who already had 10 weeks paid maternity leave, will receive more paid parental leave.
For the f irst time, Walmart also promised to help with adoptions, offering full-time hourly and salaried workers $5,000 per child that can be used for expenses such as adoption agency fees, translation fees and legal or court costs.