A Canton, Ohio Wal-Mart employee food drive has sparked concerns about how much the company's employees are compensated The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported Monday.
"(I felt both outrage and anger," Norma Mills, a Canton resident who neighbors the store, and an organizer with Stand Up for Ohio told The Plain Dealer. "Then I went through the emotion of compassion for the employees, working for the largest food chain in America, making low wages, and who can't afford to provide their families with a good Thanksgiving holiday,". "That Wal-Mart would have the audacity to ask low-wage workers to donate food to other low-wage workers -- to me, it is a moral outrage."
The Wal-Mart location has bins in its employees-only section for staff members to give their associates food for the Thanksgiving holiday.
"This store has been doing this for several years and is for associate(s) that have faced an extreme hardship recently," Kory Lundberg. A Wal-Mart spokesperson told The Plain Dealer.
"It is for associates who have had some hardships come up," Kory Lundberg, a Wal-Mart spokesperson told The Plain Dealer. "Maybe their spouse lost a job. This is part of the company's culture to rally around associates and take care of them when they face extreme hardships."
The drive has proven beneficial to employees who cannot afford, and are in need of food items.
"It took a burden off me. I didn't have to worry about how I was getting my turkey to feed them Thanksgiving dinner," Wal-Mart employee Erica Reed told The Plain Dealer.
Reed was out $500 because her childrens' father became incarcerated. This therefore made it difficult for her to feed the siblings.
According to Time, Wal-Mart in-store and online sales decreased 0.3 percent following the third fiscal quarter, which concluded Oct. 31. The number represents the company's third consecutive drop over the last three quarters.
