I've been employed by WM Canada for 6 years. I started as an hourly (minimum wage) associate at the "front end" (cashier) even though that was not the job I applied for online. It took two years of applying for everything on the "wire" before I was successful in obtaining the job I was actually qualified for and had the years of experience to be eligible for more than 'entry level' wages. I didn't receive an increase until my annual review so I applied for a DM position. Got it. Two days later I was advised that DMs were being eliminated. Fast forward to restructuring: Full time employees were 'terminated' and had to re-apply for three jobs, in order of preference. The 'Customer Experience Team' (zoning, store standards and cash as required), the 'Customer Fulfillment Team' (evening and overnight stocking, unloading trucks, binning O/S, rotating shifts), or the 'Customer Value Team' (merchandising, price changes, setting mods etc...). Dairy, Fresh Meat and Frozen depts. were amalgamated under one team leader. "Availability" is now a thing of the past. All employees MUST be available 50 hours per week. Two days off in a row, also a thing of the past. Full timers are only guaranteed 28 hours weekly. Anything less, suspends eligibility for benefits.
Each "team" has a team leader. In my store there were 17 ex-DMs and only 5 team leader positions. Many, many long time employees were offered hourly associate jobs they did not apply for (so much for 'preference'). Wages were frozen. No wage increases for one year. The "New Way of Working" is just another spin on 'Taylorism'. Two A--'t Mgrs., both in their 50s, were fired. One was the corporate WM 'poster child' and the other was the hardest working and most loved A.M. Deferred profit sharing cushions the blow but neither one will be able to secure comparable employment or qualify for E.I. Part timers (most employees) can no longer set availability to accommodate 2nd jobs. Those who were on 'disability', 'maternity', LOA, vacation, or who otherwise missed the 10 day application window, will no longer have jobs after July 29th.