Wal-Mart China staff face relocations, pay cuts

Wal-Mart is to restructure its management system in China which may result in 1,400 staff – 2.5% of its total workforce in the country – relocating or getting pay cuts, the Wall Street Journal reported. The US is retailer is altering its five-tier management system, primarily by cutting jobs at middle-manager level. “There are no layoffs,” said Jonathan Dong, a spokesman for Wal-Mart China. “If someone wants to go somewhere else [outside Wal-Mart], that is their decision.” The company stressed that the changes were intended to improve efficiency and maintain growth. Wal-Mart continues to expand in China despite the global economic crisis. It has opened 23 stores in the country so far this year, having opened a total of 30 locations for 2008 as a whole. The company employs more than 54,000 people in China, not including workers at Trust-Mart, the Taiwan chain it took a 35% stake in two years ago.