Walmart Strikers Prepare For Black Friday Protests Across Country
DALLAS -- On Thanksgiving afternoon, as freshly stuffed Americans
prepared for the shopping bacchanal known as Black Friday, hundreds of
Walmart workers readied themselves for a wholly different experience:
joining strikes and labor actions planned for the next two days at some
1,000 Walmart stores around the country.
Here in Dallas, as well as in Miami and the San Francisco area,
Walmart employees were planning to walk off work and demonstrate early
Thursday evening, as shoppers began to arrive in pursuit of the
ultra-cheap deals known as doorbusters. The strikers sought to protest
low wages and a lack of benefits, while also challenging what they
allege has been a pattern of Walmart's retaliation against workers who
try to organize. They hoped to use the Black Friday spotlight to sway
shoppers to their side.
"It's a question of education," said Josue Mata, a maintenance worker
at Walmart in Wheatland, Texas, and a member of OUR Walmart, the labor
group that is coordinating the strikes. "We have to show people that
we're not just a crazy bunch of protesters."
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Support Walmart Black Friday Strikers!
Posted 5 days ago on Nov. 17, 2012, 1:50 a.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
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Support the Walmart Black Friday Strikers!
It's time to take a stand and support the workers who are standing up to live better through an unfair labor practice strike.
Walmart workers decided to strike on Black Friday
after they were targeted for retaliation for speaking out about
substandard work conditions and treatment last month in the first ever
walk out in the history of the company.
We ask you to help us feed the workers who will walk out on the company next week on the biggest shopping day of the year.
https://www.wepay.com/donations/walmart-strikers-food-fund
The workers are demanding the following from Walmart:
Improve Workers’ Lives
Pay a minimum of $25,000/year and guarantee quality, affordable health
coverage for all Walmart associates and workers in the company’s US
distribution chain.
Rebuild Communities
Sign on to a national community benefits agreement that ensures as
Walmart expands into new markets, it strengthens communities, protects
the environment and is responsible for the well-being of its employees
in its retail stores and US supply and distribution chain.
Put Its Promises in Writing
Agree to a global labor agreement guaranteeing the fundamental human
right of freedom of association for all of its associates and instruct
their suppliers to do the same, and recognize and negotiate with OUR Walmart.
Elevate Global Living Standards
Establish a legally binding global responsible contractor policy
requiring contractors and subcontractors to provide living wages, worker
safety protections, and respect basic human and labor rights, including
freedom of association and freedom from racial and gender
discrimination.
How can I support in other ways?
You can join solidarity actions throughout the United States. Find
out which solidarity actions are being organized and the store employees
that are participating by going to the Corporate Action Network event page.
“The only thing workers have to bargain with is their skill or their
labor. Denied the right to withhold it as a last resort, they become
powerless. The strike is therefore not a breakdown of collective
bargaining-it is the indispensable cornerstone of that process." -- Paul Clark
Click here and support the Walmart Black Friday strikers today!
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