It really sucks to work at Walmart, what with wages so low, some stores hold food drives for their own employees during the holidays because of how they cannot afford to eat on those crappy Walmart wages. But now it won't suck quite as much because workers won't be forced to whistle while they work to Celine freakin' Dion or Justin seriously??? Bieber. Also, they get a new not-so-strict dress code, so everything's cool!

Among other changes Walmart is adding denim to its khaki or black denim dress code. Until now blue jeans were out and Walmart workers were restricted to white or navy collared shirts with khakis or black pants along with a Walmart’s signature blue vest.

For workers, the uniform changes are not just about comfort. [...]

By requiring employees to wear clothes that they could also wear outside work, companies like Walmart do not have to provide the uniforms themselves. Being able to wear jeans at work allows employees to save money.

You know what else might put a little more money into workers' wallets? More money, maybe? Ah, but let's not rush into things. How is Walmart supposed to guarantee those everyday low prices if its workers are overcompensated so much money they don't even need food stamps anymore to survive? It's not as if those sweet taxpayer subsidies cover all the costs, and it turns out there's not a whole lot of profit in violating labor regulations. Maybe workers could unionize to demand better pay and perhaps even some benefits? But nah, Walmart teaches its employees to not do that, because unions are bad and scary and wrong and Walmart might have to close all its stores if its employees try to bargain collectively.

Besides, Walmart announced in February that it is going to spend A BILLION DOLLARS to raise its wages above the federal minimum wage for some (but not all, don't be ridiculous) of its workers, woo hoo, what a corporate superhero! Pretty generous of the top Fortune 500 company that makes tens of billions of dollars a year, don't ya think? Yes, Walmart thinks so!

[contextly_sidebar id="fs6N3owNpM6H6wrcb8IsdSECHq8Pi5FQ"]

It's all part of Walmart's plan to make sure its employees are real happy, at least happy enough to stop organizing, protesting, and complaining about their lack of benefits and poverty-level wages. But hey, no more making their ears bleed with the Titanic soundtrack, plus jeans, wheeee! This way, everyone wins.

[The Guardian / Fortune]