Wanting Wal-Mart's $12-an-hour jobs
Somerset residents worry retailer won't come
By Chris Guy
Sun reporter
Originally published January 20, 2006
PRINCESS ANNE // Folks around here aren't too sure about the politics of Wal-Mart up in Annapolis, but there is one thing that pretty much everybody in this Eastern Shore county seat can agree on: 800 jobs at a mammoth retail distribution warehouse would be a boon.

And another thing: $12 an hour is not chump change in Somerset County, Maryland's poorest jurisdiction, which for decades has seen a steady decline in the traditional stalwarts of the local economy, farming and seafood.



Now, a week after the Maryland General Assembly overrode Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s veto of a bill requiring Wal-Mart to spend more on employee health care, residents are waiting for the other shoe to drop - wondering whether the controversy might push the world's largest retailer to put its big distribution center someplace else.

"We have a labor force who work with their hands, and there is absolutely no question that Somerset County needs the jobs," says Sharon Harris, who with her husband, Bill, runs a hardware store here and another in nearby Pocomoke City.

Wal-Mart officials have been talking for more than a year about building a 470,000-square-foot distribution center outside Princess Anne. But last spring, after the General Assembly passed the health care bill, the company said it might wait an additional two or three years before buying a 170-acre property a couple of miles south of town. The company has remained tight-lipped since Democrats overturned Ehrlich's veto last week.

"Right now, we are weighing our options," Wal-Mart spokesman Nate Hurst said after the vote. "This bill certainly sent a message to the business community, and companies like ours are taking a step back and wondering how business-friendly Maryland is." Hurst would not say when the company would decide whether to go ahead with plans for the warehouse.

The governor's office has invited economic development officials from Somerset and the other Lower Shore counties to a meeting in Annapolis today to talk about job-growth prospects in the wake of the override. Ehrlich administration officials say they have not learned anything about the company's plans since the vote.

Daniel K. Thompson, Somerset County's economic development chief, worked with state officials for two years to lure Wal-Mart. He says that losing the distribution center - which would be located next to one of the county's largest employers, the Eastern Correctional Institution - would be a blow to the region, including Virginia's Eastern Shore.

"I'm just hoping the state and Wal-Mart can work something out," Thompson said. "This is the Eastern Shore, and it is different. These would be meaningful jobs. People on the Western Shore need to realize that."

Thompson is quick to point out that with an unemployment rate of nearly 6 percent and a median household income of $27,848 in Somerset, attitudes might be different from those in more affluent parts of the state.

The bill, crafted by Democrats, requires companies with 10,000 or more employees in Maryland to spend 8 percent of their payroll on health benefits, a mark met by the state's other large employers. Ehrlich, Maryland's first Republican governor in more than 30 years, came to Princess Anne last spring to veto the bill.

Sen. Paul G. Pinsky, a Prince George's County Democrat who fought for the legislation, said Wal-Mart chose the Somerset County site for the distribution center because it is a desirable location. He said he hopes the company won't reverse its plans.

"I think people on the Eastern Shore deserve a decent wage and health care," Pinsky said. "We do not think that anybody in the state should have to give in to corporate blackmail."

Some longtime residents say they have seen improvement in Somerset's economy in recent years as Princess Anne becomes something of a bedroom community for Salisbury, the Shore's largest city, and waterfront condominiums seem to sprout overnight in Crisfield.

"It is a little better now with more construction jobs," says Oliver Wigfall, who has worked as an electrician for 10 years at the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore - Somerset's largest employer, with 950 jobs. "But if we're ever going to get more stores, more restaurants, all the things you have in other places, we have to have more jobs."

Twenty-year-old Ashley Frakes, a clerk at Harris' hardware store here, will be going to UMES on a full scholarship to study marine biology. But she says a lot of her friends who graduated from Washington High School haven't been fortunate enough to get that kind of financial help.

"Wal-Mart would mean a lot to kids around here," Frakes says. "Twelve an hour would help."

At the Main Street Cafe, owner Robin Travis thinks Wal-Mart would make a dent in local unemployment.

"With them here, there just wouldn't be any excuse for not working," Travis says. "You come in a county this size with 700 or 800 jobs and it really has an impact. I just hope Wal-Mart doesn't get pissed off and go someplace else."

Harris says she doesn't "buy the whole Chamber of Commerce spin" about Wal-Mart and marvels that she can pay a share of the medical insurance costs for her 10 workers at the hardware stores if the world's largest retailer balks.

Still, she hopes the company decides to come.

"It's pretty simple in this area - $12 an hour to start looks really good to a lot of people," Harris says.
[Edited 1/20/06 6:55am]

sorry guys

12 bucks an hour is 12 bucks an hour.... someone somewhere needs that money

meltwithu said:

8% is apparently too much to ask. they prefer for the state to cover their employees through Medicaid and Health Choics. wonder what that brings your $12/hr down to?

and to answer your question - my soul is not for sale, and most certainly not to Walmart. (but y'all knew that... )

that's more than i make . . .

people gotta eat it doesnt have to be temporary.

local walmart ... here

after working it's people to the ground during the holidaze as to bring in about a million a day ( i have a friend in the main office )

just laid off 150 of those hard workers

Damn, 12 bucks an hour! That's Trump money.

On second thought, I think I'll go spill some hot coffee on my crotch at a fast food restaurant and sue their asses. They don't have to know that my genitalia is superhuman, impenetrable to all earthly forces.

Mach said:

That's why the help wanted signs say "seasonal work". Most stores hire people for the busy season and then let them go when the Holidays are over.

lovemachine said:

over 1/2 those #'s wernt "seasonal " workers ...


i have noticed that you talk to most people here like 5 yr olds that have far less knowledge then you

it so cute of you to do that

lovemachine said:

and most folks who get these 'seasonal' jobs understand that it will happen when the rush is over. people as a whole want service, especially when its the holiday time (we would talk hella bad about them if there was only 4 people working during a time like that) yet, we say its unfair when they have to lose their job after that time is over. to keep those workers there all year would be expensive for us, prices would go through the roof, we dont want that either - do we ?

nakedpianoplayer said:

or friend Mike ... one of the workers laid off... has worked for them since they opened a few yrs ago ...

a new 30 yr old district manager thinks this store can be run with 80 less full time workers... ( and possibly laying off 20 more )

not temp holidaze workers hired 2 months ago ... but people that have worked there for yrs

Mach said:

did mach just get snippy ?????


i dont think i've EVER seen that happen

Mach said:

well that is sad

hate to see folks lose any job, let alone one that they have had for years.

but, why would a company get rid of workers they have had forever, and replace them with workers that they plan to pay 12 dollars an hour ???? seems like a stupid decision.

nakedpianoplayer said:

:Omg: that was snippy ?

honestly it just makes me laugh ... and it may be all in my perception but many of his comments seem like he is talking to kids that have no knowledge ...

as i said...it's so cute that he talks to adults in such a way



ps ...i didnt mean to seem snippy

nakedpianoplayer said:

i dont think the local store is one that is planning on hiring soon ...

does seem odd


and OH HELL NO I woud not sell my soul ...it isnt even taken INTO a walmart the rare times i may go in ...

i leave my soul in the car jamming to Prince so i can become human as soon as i get outta that hella rat race

my company generally lays off folks after the holiday, BUT, if you came in, say November, and showed a little dedication and worth, you are generally retained and someone less desirable is let go. no smart company will let go of a good employee, no matter when they are hired.

Mach said:

see and i was gonna start a thread talking about how the world MUST be comming to an end since mach had got an attitude

girl, do you EVER get mad ????

nakedpianoplayer said:

ahhhhh



but not often and not about surface things such as a walmart thread

and not via people that assume they may know me or anything about me really

i got super pissed off yesterday ...or so i thought... then i realized it wasnt mad at all...it was pain



i really dont get mad ...often if at all

guess it's not in my makeup ...

i think i need to see a shrink now



wait...i am a shrink

My local wal-mart's quite a bit away from my dorm, and i'd walk there if it meant i'd get $12/hr. now, how long i could last working retail again is another story entirely