Dissident Walmart Workers Threaten Strikes And In-Store Protests On Black Friday

Image courtesy of (OUR Walmart)

(OUR Walmart)

Unhappy Walmart employees, backed by the United Food and Commercial Workers union, are continuing to agitate for reform at the mega-retailer. In a conference call with media outlets yesterday, members of the group OUR Walmart outlined their plans for Black Friday, which include another strike, protests, public awareness campaigns, and flash mobs. Presumably these actions will be for the benefit of customers waiting in line overnight for rock-bottom prices on TVs and blenders.

Employees in Southern California affiliated with OUR Walmart walked off the job last week to protest retaliation against employees who organize among themselves or talk to union representatives. Employees in Dallas, the San Francisco Bay area, the Washington, D.C. area, and Miami have now organized their own strikes this week. A group of protestors traveled to the company headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas to protest a meeting of investors and analysts in town to discuss the company’s plans to provide customers with same-day delivery.

OUR Walmart is a union-backed group asking Walmart to make changes such as fairer pay, no discrimination, greater access to company health benefits, fair and consistent scheduling, and more attention to worker safety, especially in warehouses. Black Friday is their deadline for Walmart to respond to their demands.

“We feel like if they refuse to listen to our proposition we will make sure that on Black Friday we will take action inside and outside of stores,” one would-be reformer from the Dallas area told reporters.

Walmart Black Friday Strike: Workers Threaten To ‘Take Action’ On Retailer’s Busiest Day [Huffington Post]

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