Occupy Walmart: Workers Plan Black Friday Protests

Source: The Nation

Walmart workers are planning to mark Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and one of the biggest shopping days of the year, with pickets outside of stores and warehouses across the country.Former and current employees of the giant corporation describe systemic abuse and harassment by management at Walmart stores and warehouses. When asked about their demands, many workers talk about the desire for management to respect and listen to the workers. Our Walmart, a protest group seeking justice and accountability from Walmart, also wants to see the minimum wage raised to $13/hour and for full-time jobs to made available to Associates who want them. Other demands include a dependable, predictable work schedule, affordable healthcare, no discrimination, and wages that ensure no Associate has to rely on government assistance to survive
Walmart is one of the biggest recipients of government subsidies, receiving tax breaks, free land, cash grants and other forms of public assistance, in addition to paying some of its workers so little that they too turn to the federal government for programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).


One day, he cut a fairly large gash in his leg by scraping one of the wooden pallets and his leg started bleeding. When he asked his manager for a bandage, he was told that if his manager gave him one, they'd have to write him up for not being careful enough on the job. Instead, he worked all day with an open wound because he was afraid that one more write up could get him fired.This is part of a system of harassment and intimidation. The worker goes on to explain that Walmart is notorious for telling employees they will be fired upon their first utterance of the word "union," and they are encouraged to not report on-the-job injuries. If the equipment breaks while they're using it, regardless of the cause, the employees will be written up. There are four categories of write ups, and once they get written up four times, they are automatically fired with no questions asked.

Occupy is serving as a hub to connect people to where workers are standing up and speaking out in ways that they can support them," says Espinosa. Upon visiting a Walmart store in Mexico, Espinosa says he saw youth who were bagging groceries there for no wages - only tips. "They're outsourcing abuse of workers all over the world and doing everything they can to create a smokescreen between their brand and the actual abuses that are allowing them to skim profits from working people to pad the CEO's profits."


Read more: http://www.thenation.com/blog/171382/occupy-walmart-workers-plan-black-friday-protests