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Showing Original Post only (View all)Walmart rattled by growing unrest ahead of Black Friday's strike [View all]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/20/walmart-unrest-black-friday-strikeNo Thanksgiving: members of Our Walmart are campaigning for reform of the mega-chain's ultra-low-wage employment practices. Photograph: Jonathan Alcorn/Reuters
On Friday, Americans by the millions will crowd into big-box retail shops to take advantage of bargains on wide-screen TVs and other electronics necessities, as well as luxuries all marked down in order to draw them in and have them line up outside in advance of the doors opening. And now, as we've learned, several chains plan to open at 8pm on Thanksgiving day itself.
The greatest irony of "Black Friday", as it's known, is that it's seen as a celebration of consumerism, instead of a sign of desperation: when a Walmart worker was crushed to death by a Black Friday crowd in 2008, the news was accompanied with moralizing about American greed, rather than any discussion about low wages in the US.
Would people be so desperate for bargain shopping at already dirt-cheap places like Walmart if they themselves were making a decent living?
This year, Black Friday at Walmarts around the country will be marked by something other than just ultra-low prices. Workers, members of a labor union-backed organization called Organization United for Respect at Walmart (Our Walmart) will be striking and, along with their allies, holding rallies and actions to support the effort. Walmart has managed to go 50 years without a strike; many unions have tried and failed to organize workers. But in just a month and a half, the strikes have spread to stores across 12 cities, and Walmart is worried: the company has filed an unfair labor practices charge with the National Labor Relations Board.
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Agreed. This is just another in what is, hopefully, a growing trend of people
Egalitarian Thug
Nov 2012
#2
A lot of people don't purchase something like a TV until the old one craps out
Fumesucker
Nov 2012
#4
Happened to me, the day of an NBA Final. I went to a small local store, went home with a TV.
WinkyDink
Nov 2012
#39
Thanksgiving celebrates one of the greatest land grabs in the history of mankind. So
coalition_unwilling
Nov 2012
#44
When I hear 'family values,' I reach for my gun. Just kidding! - n/t
coalition_unwilling
Nov 2012
#43
Big K&R. This is a big deal and deserves high praise and recognition. nt
riderinthestorm
Nov 2012
#19
I can't believe they are filing an unfair labor practices charge against anyone
gollygee
Nov 2012
#35
Walmart’s alleges UFCW union is responsible for illegal “representational” picketing
Kolesar
Nov 2012
#51