The Anti-union Propaganda of Wally World

The Anti-union Propaganda of Wally World

By Alraune

I came by some information that should not surprise me, but I am a bit taken aback by it. I was speaking with an acquaintance of mine I had not seen for some time, who had just begun working at Wally World a few months ago. After the usual lecture I like to give about overseas merchandise and labor practices I proceeded into my lecture about what I feel is their anti-union stance. What this individual relayed to me was really upsetting, though I suppose I should not be surprised.

My acquaintance said that during orientation they had been subjected to all sorts of "mindless films" (their words), such as how great it is going to be to be able to buy Wally World stocks, but in particular one of those films might interest me. Naturally, I pressed this individual further on this issue as it peaked my interest.

I was told that the title of one of the films they watched was, Protect Your Signature, and that it was given as part of the new employee orientation. The film was about how horrible unions are, how great Wally World's system of doing things is, how unions “trick” individuals into signing legal documents, and what generally sounded to me a whole lot like a tool of anti-union propaganda.

I was informed that the film featured a cast which looked to deliberately represent the ethnic, racial, and economic class make-up of potential employees (in other words, the cast seemed to this acquaintance to be deliberately selected to represent such peoples), and featured them discussing how horrible unions are, how they force you to join them and pay them dues, they do not allow promotions based on individualism but on seniority, and all of the usual attacks. Of course, as I had suspected, the film did not talk about how non-union employers can fire you for any thing, usually have a higher number of safety incidents, tend to subject you to strange schedules and hours, and to work you full time hours at part time wages, which I promptly proceeded to inform my acquaintance about.

My acquaintance then told me that their store manager asked if any of the new employees had been members of a union in the past, and then proceeded to inform the employees being oriented that they (the manager) had a family member who was in a union, and so they knew a little something about unions. According to my acquaintance, this store manager then went on to say that unions do not allow employees to go up the chain of command like Wally World does and that unions do not have an "open door policy" like Wally World, which is, as I know firsthand, a bunch of bull, since I was once a member of a union myself.

Naturally, learning all of this really blew me away. I had no idea that this company was so vehemently anti-union that they would actually force their employees to watch anti-union propaganda films as a condition of employee training! Needless to say, it was an eye opening discussion that really enlightened me to the lengths various corporations will go to screw the little man. I had never heard of any such thing taking place in this day and age, but I now stand educated. It is truly sad to think of how many poor and low income people are being brainwashed into believing unions will hurt them rather than help them as they slave away for slightly more than minimum wage and are worked at or near full time hours for part time wages and benefits.

Peace. Alraune.