EDITORIAL - As part of an effort to highlight Walmart’s failure to clarify the nature of its announced wage and benefit changes, Making Change at Walmart (MCAW) released the following fact sheet to ensure that local and national media is accurately stating that these wage and benefit changes do not apply to all employees. In addition, MCAW is also highlighting that these wage and benefit changes are being announced even as Walmart closes 63 Sam’s Club stores, resulting in the loss of an estimated 10,000 jobs for Sam’s Club employees.

“The truth matters, and the American people deserve to know that truth about Walmart’s changes. Walmart’s claim of appreciating and investing in its workers is disingenuous at best, and cruel at worst,” said Randy Parraz, director of Making Change at Walmart.

“If Walmart truly appreciated Walmart workers, then it wouldn’t lay off or fire 11,000 employees directly after the holidays, some without any notice. And, it sure wouldn’t pick and choose who deserves a wage increase when tens of thousands of Walmart employees rely on government assistance to make ends meet.”

Walmart Facts: The Truth About Wage & Salary Changes:

• In total, Walmart will likely save an estimated $1.85 billion in taxes annually, but the total amount Walmart is spending on one-time-bonuses nationwide is only $400 million, which is about 2 percent of the company’s estimated cumulative tax savings over the next 10 years.

• Walmart is not giving $1,000 cash bonuses to all workers, only those who have worked at Walmart for 20+ years. Based on Walmart having approximately 1 million hourly workers, the average bonus nationwide will be closer to $400.

• Hourly wages for Alabama Walmart workers making above $11 dollars will stay the same, which, for a Walmart worker with a family of 3 making $11/hr. at 34 hours per week, is still below the poverty level.

• Half, of Walmart’s 1.1 million U.S. workers are part-time hourly associates and will not receive ANY maternity or parental leave benefits.

• Over 11,000 Walmart employees, mostly Sam’s Club workers, were fired or laid off on the very day Walmart announced these so-called wage and benefit changes.

Other Key Facts:

• Between 2013 and 2016, Walmart and Sam’s Club have received taxpayer-funded development subsidies valued at more than $43 million nationwide.

• To see how much Walmart has cost each state in corporate tax welfare, check out Americans for Tax Fairness 2014 comprehensive report, How Taxpayers Subsidize America’s Biggest Employer and Richest Family [page 10, table 1].

• To see how much Walmart has cost each state in public welfare, check out Disclosures of Employers Whose Workers and Their Dependents are Using State Health Insurance Programs by Goods Jobs First, last updated in 2013.