Prometheus 6

The company was trying to keep to a defined pay scale, but some managers had given workers raises that moved them above the limits. That had to be corrected, he said, because the company had to compete with other chains on wages as well as prices.

Shoppers Short-Circuit Retailer Over Firings
By Amy Joyce
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 5, 2007; D01

When Carole Fisher read the news in March that Circuit City fired 3,400 employees so it could replace them with lower-paid workers, she knew one thing: She would never shop there again.

"They weren't going after the big guys, they were going after the little guys again," said Fisher, 71, of Ellicott City. "It seems to me the little guy gets screwed pretty routinely when a company is having trouble."

Although she needs to replace her kitchen television, she'll shop elsewhere. It will be her little way of trying to fix what she thinks is wrong with corporate America.