That's intentionally context dropping by Think Progress.
Walmart's Sam's Club business is not doing well in competition with Costco. It hasn't been doing very well for years now. You'll notice the Think Progress article avoids any discussion of the context of the Sam's Club business from which the workers were fired.
Here's the hint: Sam's Club closed 63 locations. Do you think they did that to save money on the workers? They didn't just fire workers at the locations, they closed 63 locations.