And if you fired every cashier you'd have no one to sell anything today. Yeah you could back up from wherever, but the same exact thing could be said of flow.
The whole argument is silly, and I'm just a guest now. Having worked most everywhere in my store, minus recieving, signing, AP, and backroom (helped withe everything but never had a dedicated shift) here's how I'd rank your stress and difficulty of position:
1) GSA
2) Guest Services
3) Cashier
4) PA
5) Flow
6) Plano
6) Fitting room/operator
7) Sales floor
8) Cash Office (after training and getting comfortable, which would jump up pretty high)
I'm probably missing some workcenters I've done but this is just illustrative. Someone on this board probably has a list that is the exact mirrored opposite of mine. It's subjective.
The argument about which workcenter being eliminated would have the least or most immediate impact is likewise specious and mostly just a dick measuring contest. Eventually eliminate any major workcenter in the store and you'll cause problems, replenishment and front end are probably the two most critical to keeping things moving. You need to have product to sell and you need someone to sell it.
Anyway the paygrade thing was what started this, and that boils down to whatever corporate feels is worth a (largely symbolic) paygrade boost. Target is hardly a bastion of smart decisions when it comes to paygrades. Flow or starbucks making the same as a CO-trained GSA is hilarious in my opinion, but someone will probably disagree with that. In the end making the same as a hardworking cashier shouldn't be offensive to another TM working a solo effort elsewhere, at least in my opinion. What's much more insulting is the base wage in the first place.
