Stand With Wal-Mart
Strikers on Black Friday, Nov. 23 at 7:30 AM at UFCW Local 400, 4301 Garden City
Dr., Landover, MD 20785/a block from the New Carrollton Metro. The workers have
been speaking out for good jobs with decent pay, regular hours, affordable
healthcare and respect, but instead of working with them to make changes,
Wal-Mart has attempted to silence and retaliate against them for speaking out.
Their jobs have been threatened, their hours cut, their schedules
changed. Some of them have even been fired. They will not be
silenced. A continental breakfast will be provided. Lunch will also be
provided upon return to the union office. Visit
The Pledge of
Resistance intends to hold a support demo on Fri., Nov. 23 at 10 AM. Meet
outside Einstein Bagels, 901 Goucher Boulevard,
Towson, MD 21286. Call Max at 410-366-1637.
Walmart Retaliates Against Black
Friday Activists
November 22, 2012 |
As Black Friday approached, the honchos at Walmart, the
largest employer in the United States, found themselves at a loss to respond to
a nationwide rebellion within the ranks of their near-captive workers -- people
who work for an average
wage of $8.81 per hour[3], according
to The
National Memo, often in areas where Walmart is the only game
in town for a job if you don’t have a college degree (or even if you do). And
so it seems they started making stuff up, and pulling strings -- in at least
two locations -- to get local police to do their bidding.
Across the country this Friday, Walmart workers and their supporters are conducting rallies and protests at or near Walmart stores, as shoppers line up in the pre-dawn hours for a crack at the super-bargains that are the retailer’s Black Friday hallmark.
For more than six months, two groups linked to the United Food & Commercial Workers union have been working on behalf of Walmart employees, demanding a living wage, a humane level of benefits, reasonable hours and an end to the company’s legendary retaliation against workers who seek to unionize and put an end to its abusive labor practices [4], including wage theft. Walmart employees number 1.4 million, and, as Catherine Ruetschlin of Demos reports, it is the country's largest single employer [5] of African Americans.
Across the country this Friday, Walmart workers and their supporters are conducting rallies and protests at or near Walmart stores, as shoppers line up in the pre-dawn hours for a crack at the super-bargains that are the retailer’s Black Friday hallmark.
For more than six months, two groups linked to the United Food & Commercial Workers union have been working on behalf of Walmart employees, demanding a living wage, a humane level of benefits, reasonable hours and an end to the company’s legendary retaliation against workers who seek to unionize and put an end to its abusive labor practices [4], including wage theft. Walmart employees number 1.4 million, and, as Catherine Ruetschlin of Demos reports, it is the country's largest single employer [5] of African Americans.
The groups, OUR Walmart [6] and Making
Change at Walmart [7], are relying largely on social media campaigns
to organize what are expected to be thousands of Walmart workers walking off
the job today. Aiding in the organizing are former Walmart employees, such as
Alex Rivera, who claims he was fired by Walmart in Orlando this September for
joining the OUR Walmart campaign, according to a report by The Nation [8]'s
Josh Eidelson.
On Wednesday, Rivera was handcuffed by Orlando police -- in
front of his former colleagues -- when he entered the store in which he was
formerly employed, because, Eidelson writes, Walmart managers appear to have
falsely told police that the store had a “no tresspassing” order against the
former Walmart “associate,” as the mega-retailer calls its employees.
From Eidelson’s article [8]:
From Eidelson’s article [8]:
According to Rivera and an OUR Walmart organizer who
accompanied him to the store, Rivera was leaning over to drink from a water
fountain when a police officer grabbed his arm without warning, put him in
handcuffs and led him to an office. Rivera said that the officer told him that
Walmart management had informed the police that Rivera had previously signed a
written trespassing warning obligating him not to return to the premises.
Walmart “lied to the police officer.…” said Rivera. “That’s why they handcuffed
me.”
Rivera says that he was released when the store managers were
unable to provide police with a copy of the warning, and police realized they
no such document in their own records.
Meanwhile, in St. Cloud, Fla., Vanessa Ferreira walked off the job in another Walmart store after she was disciplined for the first time in her eight-year tenure as a cake decorator in the store’s bakery department, an action she’s convinced Walmart managers took against her because she is a known member of OUR Walmart.
After she walked off the job, reports [9] the Huffington Post’s Dave Jamieson, Walmart managers had police evict Ferreira and several family members from the store, allegedly for “trespassing,” telling her she was not welcome back on the premises until after Black Friday. After Ferreira filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board claiming that the retailer was infringing on her right to organize, Jamieson writes, a Walmart spokesperson said the trespassing warning had been issued to Ferreira in error.
Ferreira told Jamieson that she took the action because, unlike most of her fellow “associates,” she could afford to, on account of her husband’s income.
From Jamieson’s report [9]:
Meanwhile, in St. Cloud, Fla., Vanessa Ferreira walked off the job in another Walmart store after she was disciplined for the first time in her eight-year tenure as a cake decorator in the store’s bakery department, an action she’s convinced Walmart managers took against her because she is a known member of OUR Walmart.
After she walked off the job, reports [9] the Huffington Post’s Dave Jamieson, Walmart managers had police evict Ferreira and several family members from the store, allegedly for “trespassing,” telling her she was not welcome back on the premises until after Black Friday. After Ferreira filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board claiming that the retailer was infringing on her right to organize, Jamieson writes, a Walmart spokesperson said the trespassing warning had been issued to Ferreira in error.
Ferreira told Jamieson that she took the action because, unlike most of her fellow “associates,” she could afford to, on account of her husband’s income.
From Jamieson’s report [9]:
As much as she loves her job, there's plenty Ferreira doesn't
like about her employer. According to Ferreira, Walmart's wages are too low
for workers to survive on [10], and the company keeps too many of its
employees on part-time status, leaving them to rely on government assistance to
get by.
"They pay low wages, then the taxpayers pick up the tab for food stamps and Medicaid," Ferreira said. "They need to take care of their people. They need to be responsible to their workers."
"They pay low wages, then the taxpayers pick up the tab for food stamps and Medicaid," Ferreira said. "They need to take care of their people. They need to be responsible to their workers."
According to a study [11] by Good Jobs First, a labor-supported group,
Walmart, in state after state, either tops the list, or ranks among the top
five companies whose employees receive their health care from
government-financed programs for the poor such as Medicaid, and just as high
among those whose workers are enrolled in a food stamp program.
In Confessions of a Wal-Mart Hit Man, a bonus scene from Robert Greenwald’s groundbreaking film, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, a former Walmart manager talks of how he stopped taking his meal in the store staff lunchroom because of the discomfort of eating in front of workers who took their lunch break with no food, presumably because they could not afford a mid-day meal. (See video at the end of this piece.)
A recent study [5]from Demos demonstrates how a living wage paid to Walmart workers would help the overall economy, with only a negligible impact on prices.
The Black Friday actions -- a day of protests and rallies outside or near Walmart stores -- follow a two-week strike [12] in September at a California Walmart warehouse, where workers alleged retaliation from managers for organizing with an affiliate of the Change to Win Coalition, and an October walkout at a Chicago Walmart facility, to which police in riot gear [13] were dispatched to quell a peaceful protest.
Two weeks ago, Walmart filed its own NLRB complaint against the United Food & Commercial Workers, seeking an injunction against the planned Black Friday actions. The complaint failed. A week later, UFCW-affiliated OUR Walmart group filed a complaint with the labor board against Walmart, alleging retaliation against workers involved in the OUR Walmart campaign.
Even if you’ve never set foot near a Walmart store in your life, today’s actions offer a host of ways to get involved in the fight for fair pay and benefits. The AFL-CIO blog, among other Web sites, offers a list of ways [14] to get involved.
In Confessions of a Wal-Mart Hit Man, a bonus scene from Robert Greenwald’s groundbreaking film, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, a former Walmart manager talks of how he stopped taking his meal in the store staff lunchroom because of the discomfort of eating in front of workers who took their lunch break with no food, presumably because they could not afford a mid-day meal. (See video at the end of this piece.)
A recent study [5]from Demos demonstrates how a living wage paid to Walmart workers would help the overall economy, with only a negligible impact on prices.
The Black Friday actions -- a day of protests and rallies outside or near Walmart stores -- follow a two-week strike [12] in September at a California Walmart warehouse, where workers alleged retaliation from managers for organizing with an affiliate of the Change to Win Coalition, and an October walkout at a Chicago Walmart facility, to which police in riot gear [13] were dispatched to quell a peaceful protest.
Two weeks ago, Walmart filed its own NLRB complaint against the United Food & Commercial Workers, seeking an injunction against the planned Black Friday actions. The complaint failed. A week later, UFCW-affiliated OUR Walmart group filed a complaint with the labor board against Walmart, alleging retaliation against workers involved in the OUR Walmart campaign.
Even if you’ve never set foot near a Walmart store in your life, today’s actions offer a host of ways to get involved in the fight for fair pay and benefits. The AFL-CIO blog, among other Web sites, offers a list of ways [14] to get involved.
The video below, Confessions
of a Wal-Mart Hit Man, features a former general manager for the company speaking of
the ways managers cheated workers out of wages they had earned, rigged a vote
against a union in the company's Annapolis, Md., store, and how hard it was to
eat in the staff lunchroom, where workers took their breaks with no food,
because they couldn't afford to buy lunch. The video is a bonus scene from
Robert Greenwald's documentary: Wal-Mart:
The High Cost of Low Price.
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org
[2] http://www.alternet.org/authors/adele-m-stan
[3] http://www.nationalmemo.com/walmart-faces-black-friday-strikes/
[4] http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/culture/6615/wal-mart_faces_a_new_round_of_historic_strikes..._but_why_now/
[5] http://www.alternet.org/economy/black-friday-americans-can-enjoy-low-low-prices-without-suffering-slave-wages?paging=off
[6] http://forrespect.org/
[7] http://makingchangeatwalmart.org/2012/11/02/resources/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=resources
[8] http://www.thenation.com/blog/171281/walmart-ex-employee-was-handcuffed-front-workers#
[9] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/21/walmart-strikes-black-friday_n_2174166.html?utm_hp_ref=business
[10] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/13/walmart-strike-memo_n_1962039.html
[11] http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/corporate-subsidy-watch/hidden-taxpayer-costs
[12] http://labornotes.org/2012/09/strikes-expose-hazards-walmarts-supply-chain
[13] http://labornotes.org/2012/10/strike-supporters-shut-down-illinois-walmart-warehouse
[14] http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Organizing-Bargaining/Join-Walmart-Workers-for-Black-Friday-Actions
[1] http://www.alternet.org
[2] http://www.alternet.org/authors/adele-m-stan
[3] http://www.nationalmemo.com/walmart-faces-black-friday-strikes/
[4] http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/culture/6615/wal-mart_faces_a_new_round_of_historic_strikes..._but_why_now/
[5] http://www.alternet.org/economy/black-friday-americans-can-enjoy-low-low-prices-without-suffering-slave-wages?paging=off
[6] http://forrespect.org/
[7] http://makingchangeatwalmart.org/2012/11/02/resources/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=resources
[8] http://www.thenation.com/blog/171281/walmart-ex-employee-was-handcuffed-front-workers#
[9] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/21/walmart-strikes-black-friday_n_2174166.html?utm_hp_ref=business
[10] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/13/walmart-strike-memo_n_1962039.html
[11] http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/corporate-subsidy-watch/hidden-taxpayer-costs
[12] http://labornotes.org/2012/09/strikes-expose-hazards-walmarts-supply-chain
[13] http://labornotes.org/2012/10/strike-supporters-shut-down-illinois-walmart-warehouse
[14] http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Organizing-Bargaining/Join-Walmart-Workers-for-Black-Friday-Actions
Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center,
325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email:
mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master
class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the
battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the
subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their
lives." Eugene Victor Debs
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