Shouldn't there be some link between knowledge, skills, abilities, and responsiblity and wages. On the surface the Walmart idea has merit. Minimums and maximums sound like a good idea in the name of income disparity, particularly if is is carried through to the most senior levels of the company and not simply the associates.

There is plenty of room for Walmart in its net operating income percentages to start paying better wages and providing major medical insurance to its employees rather than have 30 to 40% of its workforce on partime so they don't have to pay benefits. Keep in mind that Walmart is a major contributor to this nation's trade deficit in that it encourages vendors to go to China for product if the vendor cannot meet the price Walmart wants to pay. About 10% of our $220B trade deficit with China is attributable to Walmart. This means more U.S. manufacturing jobs being lost while Walmart hires those unemployed workers at a fraction of what they were earning. Result, more employees seeking Medicaid benefits for medical care, more food stamps and other social welfare benefits being supported by the local taxpayer while Walmart enhances its Operating Statement and keeps fringe benefits to a minimum. The morale in the individual stores is terrible and there is a general contempt for the entire Walmart management by most employees.

It's all based on the pay for performance. In every business a job position is only worth so much expense (salary). What you will see is Wal-mart refine this as the time goes on. Longivity Pay bonus' to capped out associates will be following this soon enough........

Yes, the WMT spoksperson did give the caps the company positive spin. And the writer of the article typically countered with the usual extreme liberal leftist marxist spin. The very thought that someone would have exert a little more effort to earn more money is beyond the thought process / comprehension of these idiots.

I think the pay cap is a great idea. I worked for Walmart for 7 years and there were individuals who were dead-beats making more than me simply because they were there longer....Worked slower, and just didn't care how the job looked. Yes, this upset me alot. With more money comes responsibilities as in the military. I say it's about time Walmart gets with the program................

Wage caps are a great idea now the demoralized workforce has nothing to look forward to so they have no reason to work better or harder. Costco can provide pay and benefits to there workers and still Walmart cant? It seems its time to apply Walmart principals to Walmart's management. There is way too much pork up there. They could cut cost by reducing the legal department by stop taking legal action against towns that don't want them and go someplace else and not force themselves on those communities.

May the pencil pushers at WM get lead poisoning.

well wal-mart hasdone it again.They have just opened the door for the union to come in,I worked for them for 25plus years.I am retired glad i quit when i did.I would hate to think i had worked forall those years and didnt get a cost of living raise. who came up with this idea?MR.Sam would really be disappointed with how the company has changed with its employes status.They are not considered associates any more.THey are just workers who can be replaced.

I work currently work for wal-mart (wish I didn't) and have for 9 years. In the last six moths I've seen walmart push a strict computerized scheduling where people have lost hours (ie full time people being scheduled 34 -36 hours alot)and many long term associates work shifts like 2-11 where associates hired in the last moth come in 9-6 or 10-7. I've seen rediculous cut backs in how many shift we have, and some's jobs have been eliminated causing them to take other jobs at less pay. And now they have put caps on pay. I have a friend that that has been there several years longer than me and she is over her pay cap (I'm only a few years away). She is in the highest pay scale in the store and has nowhere else to go. I work very hard and am dedicated to doing the best that I possibly can. She works harder and does more than myself. But now what reason does she have to perform at such a high level. She will never get another raise, standard rate or otherwise. She will probably work as hard anyway but it just is wrong how walmart treats its workers. WalMart doesn't deserve her. !!!

By the way things not mentioned in the article is that since she is already over her pay cap, she was informed if she ever takes a job in a lower payscale, that instead of her pay being dropped the difference in the pay scales, her pay will be set at the cap for that scale. Same goes if you transfered to another walmart even in the same job. Something else not mentioned is that walmart is also eliminating any system for a merit raise. So no matter how much better your performance may be than what is expected of you, you cannot earn any addition income.

We had a morning meeting yesterday, Older Associates were crying and saying Wal-Mart is trying to push out older Associates......that is the way it looks.
Will Lee Scott and Susan Chamber's pay be capped also ......if so when will the associates know what they are capped at ,soon I hope.
This is the only time in my career at Wal-Mart I am ashamed to say I am an associate.....Union talk is very much going on at my store.......

The last comment said that some had to quit Wal-Mart and take lower paying jobs, I thought that wasn't possible. Salary caps are normal in every position in most companies. Even executives have salary caps. I'm tired of hearing the Wal-Mart bashing. If you don't like their benefits or company policies don't work for them. If they lose enough employees, or can't hire new ones, that will drive their pay scale up and change company policy.

IT IS AMAZING TO ME HOW A PAY RAISE OF 6 PERCENT CAN BE NEGATIVE TO THOSE WHO RECEIVE IT. THE COMPLAINTS OF THESE EMPLOYEES ARE REASONS FOR THE POLICY OF FREELY LETTING PEOPLE QUIT. IF THEY ARE SO UNHAPPY, WHY DONT THEY?? THE PUBLIC AND THE COMPANY WOULD BE FAR BETTER SERVED!!!!

in reply to SRS comment: It certainly is possible. Last month they restructured our cash office. The cash office manager position was eliminated and she was offered a severence package or she had to take a job at a lower pay, because there were none at level 7. They reduced the office help by about 2 or 3 people and the ones who hadn't been in there as long had to take other position and they lost pay. What is so bad is most didn't get any additional money when they changed to this pay grade system last year, but if you drop down grades they will take money away. As in my position a level 6, if I dropped back to where I was before I was a 6 I would loose more than I got originally and now with the pay cap it is would be even more. And I and other can't just quit, well at least not imediately. But I am looking because I have seen things change much for the worse in our store rapidly in the last six months and according to our store manager there are several more things coming. Also, I personally feel if they wanted to cap the pays maybe they should have considered caping pays as new associates came in. That way it would be up front for them when being hired and not just wait till someone has been there 15 years and say were are never going to pay you anything else.

I have been an associate with Wal*Mart for 4 years so the new pay scales will have little affect on me. I will neither get a raise nor have to drop my pay because of it. There are others at my store who are less fortunate. We had a situation in our cash office like the one SS refered to, as well. Also our overnight support manager position was eliminated. The lady in that position was a very hard worker with many years with the company. Her reward for those many years was to take a step down with a large drop in pay. My question is if the company wants it's associates to strive to climb up to higher positions with more responsibility why are they eliminating those positions. Just a thought...

And another thing to be clear about. My Mom works at Walmart and has for 18 years. She is a department manager and guess what - she gets $14.24/hr. That amounts to just over $29000/year. And this is a department manager!!!

I'm telling you - Walmart really does suck. Who has any incentive any more? Why bother working hard - certainly not harder!!!!

My spouse has worked for Walmart for over seven years. Associates at her store were being told today of the new caps. Today, there was already talk about the possibility of unionizing. I've already suggested to her that selling her stock at this time might be the best way to go, because if they do start unionizing, the value of her stock will plummet! I am a member of a major union myself, and with this latest news I know that Walmart policy makers have opened Pandora's Box.

Once again it's jump on Wal-mart time. I get tired of hearing that Wal-Mart forces it's way into towns and destroys their economy. How many of you complainers actually get out and vote for the city officials who clear the way for Wal-Mart to establish a new store? If you don't like it get off your duff and do something about it instead of complaining after the fact! Another point you might want to consider is the ability of this supposed evil company to have two and three times the numbers of necessary people apply for work with them at the start-up. No one is ordering these people to quit existing jobs to come to Wal-Mart but it happens everytime; and in my town the other decent grocery store in town is doing just fine thanks. We're even building a new college campus. As far as the pay caps go I say... IT'S ABOUT TIME!! I've worked for Wal-Mart for five years now, at several locations(ease of transfer is a big plus). I can't tell you how many people I've known who have settled into one position (especially Dept. Mgr.) and continue to make the highest wages for just continuing to breath and show up. Any job is only worth a finite amount to the functioning of the company no matter how long or well you've been doing it. You wouldn't pay a man more money to shovel snow off your drive than you would pay a doctor to perform surgery on you just because the first man had been shoveling drives longer. That kind of backward thinking is just not good business. Before you all got bent out of shape you folks should have researched the entire program. Wal-Mart is substancially increasing our bonuses that are based on sales for each individual store. It will amount to much more than my annual increase and is based on a sound business principle. If you want more make more. Increase sales to cover the cost of that extra money you want. If you owned your own company you'd be all for this idea. Why not Wal-Mart? And by the way, moving up the ladder isn't the only way to increase pay. Associates can advance to positions that require more technical knowledge but they have to apply themselves and take an interest in their own future. No one is forcing these people limit their prospects. Don't blame your employer for what your not doing to improve your lot in life. I plan to stay with Wal-Mart more now than before the caps because it will hopefully get the dead weight up and moving or gone. SMART MOVE GUYS!! KUDOS TO THE HEAD HONCHOS FOR HAVING THE GUTS TO FINALLY DO THIS.

This is a terrible program for all Wal-Mart associates who work hard for the company. The company
should not give any raises to the associates who always call out weekly or have poor attendance records. With the current program everybody gets the same pay raise during a evaluation before their
anniversary date.The company would save a lot of money by not giving any pay increases to dead beat
associates.This is another classic case of the good
associate getting screwed over because of management
not taking action against all the laid back associates who get away with not performing their jobs to the best of their abilty. Let the associate
who does not want to perform their job duties stay at the same pay level for life. More associates will
be leaving the company with this policy in place. If
I was looking for a new job an was told there was a
wage cap I would be a fool to accept a job at Wal-mart.Some people are not management material. I now
believe a union is needed for the benefit of all good
associates to get what they deserve.(fair treatment)

I have read all the comments posted and agree with most of these people.
The moral is very low my store also.
I am a 10 years employee. I am 68 and plan to retire soon.

Everyday something new comes down that pipeline .

My other half works for Wal-Mart...and I have been employed by Wal-Mart at various times in my retail career.

I think it is interesting that Wal-Mart has capped salaries as an incentive for employees to move into progressive positions in their careers. First, understand that Wal-Mart's Assistant Manager's training corp comes primarily from OUTSIDE it's stores. Second, if you are a Department Manager and decide to enter the Manager Training Program...you will take a wage reduction. Wal-Mart will argue that with Bonus Plans...your salary has the POTENTIAL to be greater then it was as a Department Manager. The only problem with the plan...is that MANY Assistant's do not see that BONUS. BONUS plan's rely on store performance...and don't let their numbers fool you...Wal-Mart does not always see real same store sales growth.

While working with a supplier of Wal-Mart's, I have spoken with Wal-Mart DM's and Str Mgr's and THEY will tell you what is up. The truth is...if Wal-Mart can get older high salary employees out of the system...then they will save money. Wal-Mart seeks to bring down payroll expenses by pushing the most experienced individuals off it's payroll. They can then bring in less expensive people to do those jobs. What young man or woman wouldn't want to move up from being a Cashier to Department Mgr. That small $1.50 raise they will get to carry. They might be able to fix that sagging wall in the trailer they are living in. The loss of Trained Associates will be much less of a strain on Wal-Mart's checkbook then a 15 year, experienced, trained associate making $15.00.

But, you know what? This is all OK. Wal-Mart is not omnipotent. There have been other retailers before them that have fallen by the wayside...Woolworth, Montgomery Ward, Service Merchandise, K-Mart. All of these mentioned were US institutions. They are either gone or on slow decline now. Wal-Mart will be to the same fate someday...somewhere. You can not continuously expand, cap salaries, have poor customer service...without running your coffers and your staff to the ground.

So, I laugh at Wal-Mart's corporate gang of fools. I could write a novel about the things I have been priviledged to hear. You can fool some people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all of the time.

Worked for WalMart as manager just long enough to know it was a terrible place to work and Sam would be turning over in his grave. Do all you still shop at WalMart? Proud to say I haven't needed to buy a thing there, can shop local and find everything we really need just fine with better quality, better choices and no loss in the family budget! Wish more of America would do the same and we would have more American jobs here and smaller trade deficit one $ at a time.