(Reuters) - Walmart (WMT.N) on Saturday said that it will streamline job titles across its corporate staff, to ensure that it remains competitive.
"We're in the process of updating our approach to campus office jobs to ensure we remain competitive in today’s environment, better reflect the work being done today, while streamlining job titles across our campus office roles," a Walmart spokesperson said in a statement.
While some staff will receive a new job title, their roles, responsibilities, type of work and base pay will not change, the retailer said.
Corporate employees at Walmart and Sam's Club, its warehouse chain, will be reclassified into fewer groups of possible titles, and in some cases, pay changes will go into effect, starting in November.
Stock option awards to the staff will stay the same or even increase in many cases. About 4% of the staff will see a decrease in stock-option awards to ensure compensation is aligned across geographies, Walmart said.
Staff who will see a reduction in stock options will receive a stock grant to account for the change.
The change is "good compensation hygiene," and ensures Walmart is "appropriately rewarding similar levels of work," The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news, quoted Walmart's head of global total rewards Kim Lupo as saying.
Earlier this month, Walmart changed the hourly starting wage structure for entry-level store workers. The change meant that store workers including cashiers, personal shoppers, stockers, self-checkout helpers and associates in departments such as sporting goods or electronics would all receive the same hourly starting wages that are paid at the store, instead of different levels previously.
Workers at three Detroit casinos have voted in favor of authorizing a strike, if necessary, the United Auto Workers (UAW) union and Teamsters said on Saturday.
The UAW, a member of the Detroit Casino Council (DCC) representing workers at the MGM Grand Detroit, Hollywood at Greektown and MotorCity casinos, said workers voted 99% "yes" on Friday to authorize a strike at all three locations if a new contract agreement isn't reached.
The DCC could call for strikes as soon as mid-October when contracts expire, it said in a statement.
Teamsters added that authorization allows Teamsters Local 1038 and four unions representing more than 3,500 workers to call a strike should MGM Grand Detroit, Hollywood at Greektown, and MotorCity casinos fail to deliver fair contracts by Oct. 16.
The Detroit Casino Council is made up of five unions representing casino employees, including UNITE HERE Local 24, UAW, Teamsters Local 1038, Operating Engineers Local 324, and the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters.
The announcement comes as labor unions take advantage of low unemployment to push for higher pay and better working conditions in their talks over new labor agreements.
About 25,000 UAW members working at the Detroit Three automakers - Ford (F.N), General Motors (GM.N), and Chrysler parent Stellantis (STLAM.MI), are already on strike. That has led to the shutdown of five plants, two at General Motors, one at Stellantis, and two at Ford.