Walmart Watch

At the National Retail Federation’s Annual Convention, Walmart made a splash by announcing three new initiatives. While the company’s plans to hire veterans and ‘Buy American’ stole most of the headlines, its third announcement was a major victory for workers who have been coming together for change at Walmart for more than a year.

Speaking at the convention, Walmart US president and chief executive Bill Simon announced that Walmart would make schedules more transparent and provide the opportunity for workers who want full-time work to receive the hours they need.

These changes come on the heels of the largest nation-wide strike the company has ever seen and have been at the heart of OUR Walmart members’ calls since the creation of the worker-led group.

“I’m so happy and proud our hard work and action has paid off,” said OUR Walmart leader Cindy Murray. “We won these gains at my store and now we’re winning them across the country.”

The importance of creating sensible policies around these issues should not be underestimated. As Simon indicated in his speech, “1 in 4 American jobs are supported by the [retail] industry,” 1.3 million of whom are directly employed by Walmart. Inconsistent and nontransparent scheduling practices, along with not giving workers the hours they need to get by, has placed a huge burden on tens-of-thousands of Walmart workers nationwide. If properly implemented, Walmart’s initiative would have a positive impact on the lives of many Walmart workers.

While we remain cautiously optimistic that Walmart is finally starting to hear the voices of its workers, we know that Walmart must still be held accountable for making its new commitment a reality. With $16 billion in annual profits, Walmart can afford to offer quality jobs to its American workers and stop setting low standards for the entire retail industry.

For Immediate Release

Tuesday, January 15, 2012
Contact: Derrick L. Plummer, 202.466.1576

Worker Organization OUR Walmart Responds to Walmart’s Job Announcements

Washington - Today, while speaking at the National Retail Federation conference, Walmart U.S. president and  chief executive Bill Simon made a number of statements about jobs, including that the company would change its part-time scheduling practices.  OUR Walmart, with the support of tens of thousands of supporters, has been calling on the company to create better jobs at the country’s largest employer.

Statement from OUR Walmart member Venanzi Luna:

“Standing up for more hours has been an integral part of the work we’ve been doing and last November during Black Friday, OUR Walmart called on Walmart to address its part-time scheduling policy.  With today’s announcement it is clear Walmart is reacting to the calls for change from OUR Walmart and the tens of thousands of supporters who have been standing up to the company.  We will continue to raise our voices until Walmart is truly acting as the employer and neighbor that America needs.

“Trying to pay the bills by piecing together part-time hours is the reality for tens of thousands of Walmart workers across the country.   And as the largest employer in the country, with more than $16 billion in annual profits, Walmart can afford to do more for American workers.

“Addressing part-time scheduling is a win for Walmart workers who have been calling on the company to address insufficient scheduling, but we need these words to translate into real action, and we will continue to speak out to make sure that Walmart is addressing this problem, not just making a publicity statement.”

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Making Change at Walmart is a campaign challenging Walmart to help rebuild our economy and strengthen working families. Anchored by the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW), we are a coalition of Walmart associates, union members, small business owners, religious leaders, community organizations, women’s advocacy groups, multi-ethnic coalitions, elected officials and ordinary citizens who believe that changing Wal-mart is vital for the future of our country.

In response to the continued flood of support for the #WalmartStrikers, Making Change at Walmart (MCAW) is organizing a network of volunteers and empowering them to take strategic action to ensure workers at Walmart are not retaliated against for speaking out.  On January 17^th, MCAW will hold its first webinar to engage volunteers. These volunteers will engage with the campaign at the local level as activists, organizers or community partners.

This past Black Friday, Walmart workers took courageous action by going out on strike against the world’s largest private employer. As the story broke, we were inundated with messages of support from members and workers around the globe wanting to know how they could lend a hand.

Such coordinated national action by the workers at Walmart would not have been possible without months of organizing and talking to each other through the newly-formed Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart). Now the next step will be for allies to get organized in order to execute focused anti-retaliation strategies to protect the movement’s worker-leaders and carry the momentum forward.

On January 17^th, MCAW will hold its first meeting for volunteers. The webinar will start at 4:15pm EST and is open to anyone who would like to volunteer. You can sign up to attend the webinar here. If you are interested in learning more about the campaign and becoming a local volunteer, but cannot attend the webinar, fill out this form and we will contact you shortly.

Community rose to the call for solidarity on Black Friday by holding nearly 1,200 actions nationwide and raising over $100,000 to support the strikers. It was a historic step forward and made many people, including journalists as well as many workers throughout the Walmart supply chain, question the myth that a company like Walmart was too big for ordinary people to impact.

As the movement continues to grow and work toward real change at Walmart in 2013, community volunteers will be essential to this fight.

Time to get fired up, folks.

This article was originally posted by Demos and written by Amy Traub.

This wasn’t a good week for Walmart. The business model of the nation’s largest private employer is built on a lack of accountability. Walmart’s efforts to externalize as many costs of its business as possible onto taxpayers, its workforce, the environment, its suppliers, and the communities where it operates have enabled it to become one of the nation’s largest and most profitable companies — and left the Walmart heirs among the wealthiest people on earth.

Yet this week, Walmart’s wall of denial was breached in three critical places: the company’s efforts to claim top executives knew nothing about the practice of illegally bribing foreign officials; its ability to dodge accountability for the illicit labor practices of subcontractors it relies on and closely controls; and its success in reaping profits as one of the nation’s largest sellers of firearms while rejecting any responsibility for the epidemic of violence they facilitate; all suffered blows this week. As a result, the powerful company may finally find itself beginning to answer for the consequences of its actions.

First and most obvious is the Mexican bribery case. U.S. law prohibits American companies from bribing foreign officials. Yet, as the New York Times revealed in an exhuastive investigation last month, Walmart systematically violated the law.

Wal-Mart de Mexico was not the reluctant victim of a corrupt culture that insisted on bribes as the cost of doing business. . . . Wal-Mart de Mexico was an aggressive and creative corrupter, offering large payoffs to get what the law otherwise prohibited. It used bribes to subvert democratic governance — public votes, open debates, transparent procedures. It used bribes to circumvent regulatory safeguards that protect Mexican citizens from unsafe construction. It used bribes to outflank rivals.

Walmart’s top corporate officials denied knowing anything about the corrupt practices its Mexican subsidiary was using to attain profitable new store locations. Except that an investigation of internal company documents by U.S. Representatives Elijah Cummings and Henry Waxman reveals that senior executives, including CEO Michael Duke, knew exactly what was going on.

In a letter to the CEO published yesterday, the congressmen noted that “documents obtained by our staffs from a confidential source indicate that you and other senior Wal-Mart officials were personally informed about these bribery allegations on multiple occasions.” In addition to the congressional inquiry, the new revelations may provide more evidence for the mulitple lawsuits Walmart already faces from pension funds and other large shareholders suing the company in an effort to force reforms in its corporate governance.

While Walmart apparently wrings some profits from bribery, a far more central part of its business model is its ability to outsource as many core functions as possible to outside contractors and subcontractors and then demand such tight control and low prices that the ostensibly independent companies are obliged to break the law to meet their terms. Walmart profits from the unjust or illegal labor practices but can deny all responsibility. November’s deadly fire in a Bangladeshi factory supplying Walmart goods – complete with revelations that Walmart was a leader in  blocking efforts to improve fire safety in Bangladesh — is a case in point.

But Walmart’s efforts to distance itself from the practices of its subcontracts suffered a blow this week when a judge ruled that Walmart could be charged as a defendant in a class action lawsuit alleging that a company shipping Walmart goods and temporary staffing agencies that provided workers failed to pay minimum wage or overtime. Walmart continues to insist that it’s not responsible for the actions of subcontractors. Yet, as Josh Eidelson reports in the Nation this week, the plaintiffs point out that “Walmart owns all equipment in the buildings, dictates that they be run in exactly the same manner as Walmart’s non-subcontracted warehouses, and keeps a full-time Walmart manager on site.” In other words, there’s a strong case that Walmart should be held legally liable for any wage theft that occurred at the warehouse. The judge evidently agrees.

Finally, consider the question of gun violence. Walmart is one of the nation’s largest purveyors of firearms, helping to increase the availability of assault weapons across the nation. In 2012, Walmart did 16.8 million background checks for gun purchases, and buyers may have bought multiple weapons with a single check. What did these millions of gun purchasers do with their new weapons? Walmart doesn’t know, and beyond the legally required background check, it disavows any responsibility for the flood of small arms it pours into communities. Yet this week also saw a tiny fissure in that wall of denial: after initially rejecting an invitation from Vice President Joe Biden to participate in a roundtable on gun violence, Walmart reversed its position yesterday and agreed to send a representative to the meeting.  It’s a small crack, but an acknowledgment on the part of the company that it plays a role in the proliferation of firearms used to perpetrate violence.

Facing new demands for accountability as it profits from corruption, exploitative practices by its subcontractors, and gun sales, 2013 is off to a bad start for Walmart. Yet the crumbling of denial may signify good things for the rest of us. After all, while Walmart is a particularly prominent example of corporate greed, it is far from the only multinational corporation that maximizes its own profitability by systematically externalizing its costs onto the rest of us. If Walmart can be made to answer for the consequences of its actions, other demands for accountability may succeed as well.

In a preliminary ruling yesterday, Federal District Court granted a motion to have Walmart listed as a defendant in a class action wage theft lawsuit. The suit alleges that warehouse workers (with Warehouse Workers United) were forced to work 12-16 hour days without overtime pay and with only a lunch break. The addition of Walmart as a defendant is a major victory for those working to hold Walmart accountable for abuses in its supply chain.

Walmart has long employed the tactic of distancing itself from the problematic treatment of workers in its supply and logistics chain by contracting and subcontracting labor. This outsourcing strategy has provided Walmart some shield for criticisms about the conditions in the factories that produce its goods, as well as the warehouses that store these products.

To this end, in a Southern California warehouse which exclusively moved Walmart goods, “workers were employed by staffing companies, which were subcontracted by the logistics company Schneider, which was hired by Walmart” according to a piece in The Nation.

While Walmart’s connections to the facility may be particularly evident in this case, the ruling is nonetheless a major advance in the struggle to hold Walmart accountable for the abhorrent work conditions from which it profits.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, December 14, 2012

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Lynsey Kryzwick, 646-200-5311, lynsey@berlinrosen.com
Jamie Way, 202-721-8015, jway@ufcw.org

WALMART WORKER PROTESTS SPREAD GLOBALLY

 

Workers in 10 Countries Call for an End to the Silencing of Workers at Walmart

 

OUR Walmart and Community Supporters Commit to Continued Protests in 2013

  

Follow the conversation and see photos on Twitter: #WalmartStrikers and @ForRespect and @ChangeWalmart

MIAMI—US Walmart workers were joined by Walmart workers in nine countries on Friday to call for an end to Walmart’s attempts to silence workers for speaking out for changes at the world’s largest employer.  As Walmart workers and community supporters marched in front of a Walmart store in Miami, workers in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Nicaragua, Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Zambia and India held their own rallies, marches, and other actions at Walmart and Walmart subsidiary stores.  During the protests, workers cited the negative impacts that the silencing is having on their families, the economy and the company’s bottom-line.

At the protests across the globe, workers held a moment of silence to honor the victims of the factory fire in Bangladesh that tragically claimed the lives of 112 workers. Recent reports show that Walmart “played a leading role in blocking an effort” to improve electrical and fire safety systems in factories in the country.

“Walmart must stop its attempts to silence those who speak out.  We are standing up for what is right for our families and the global economy,” said Elaine Rozie, an OUR Walmart member from the Hialeah store in Miami Gardens, Fl.  Rozie is a seven-year associate who despite works full-time at Walmart still has to depend on public assistance to make ends meet. “As the largest retailer in the world, Walmart should be setting a standard for good, safe jobs. The benefits of having steady, well-trained workers in stores and along the supply chain will help Walmart improve customer service ratings and its reputation, which is good business.”

“We are inspired by OUR Walmart members who are standing up for a better future for all of our families,” said Louisa Plaatjies, a worker from South Africa. In October, workers from seven countries – where workers all have union representation – launched the UNI Walmart Global Union Alliance to fight for fairness, decent working conditions, and the fundamental human right of freedom of association.  ”We are will continue to stand up with our brothers and sisters in the United States until Walmart starts listening to the workers that keep the store running.”

The global protests held today build on the ongoing calls for change at Walmart. In November, community members and Walmart workers held more than 1,000 demonstrations, including strikes in 100 cities, during the Black Friday shopping rush in protest of the company’s illegal attempts to silence workers for speaking out about the company’s manipulation of hours and benefits, efforts to try to keep people from working full-time and its discrimination against women and people of color.  The Black Friday strike wave came a little more than a month after OUR Walmart leaders held the first-ever strikes against the mega-retailer. In just one year, OUR Walmart has grown from a group of 100 Walmart workers to an army of thousands of Associates across 43 states.

“The Walmart workers may come from different cultures and continents but they are united in their opposition to Walmart’s cynical and systematic squeezing of its employees to maximize profit, be it the US dollar, the South African rand, the Indian rupee, the Argentine peso or any other currency,” said the International UNI Global Union General Secretary, Philip Jennings. “Walmart has gone too far. US Walmart workers have had enough and they are fighting back as we saw on Black Friday and every day since. The Alliance is standing with them not just in solidarity but in strength and in action.”

Workers like Jesus Vargas, who have been illegally fired, targeted by management or other retaliation for speaking out, are also raising their voices.  More than 30 federal charges against Walmart have already been filed, with another 60 allegations against Walmart’s illegal threats currently under investigation.

“Walmart, we will not be silenced,” Vargas said. Vargas, who was unjustly fired for speaking out at his store in California, has filed a federal charge against Walmart. “We are coming together to be heard and to create good jobs that workers in America and across the globe need.”

With so many Americans struggling to make ends meet and Walmart taking in $16 billion in profits and compensating its executives $10 million each, workers and community leaders have been calling on Walmart and Chairman Rob Walton to address the wage gap the company is creating.  At the same time frontline Walmart workers are facing financial hardships, the Walton Family – heirs to the Walmart fortune – are the richest family in the country with more wealth than the bottom 42% of American families combined.

Workers’ concerns about wages and staffing have been affirmed by newly uncovered company pay-plans exposed by the Huffington Post, recent poor sales reports and a new study on wage trends in the retail industry. Huffington Post uncovered what reporters call “a rigid pay structure for hourly employees that makes it difficult for most to rise much beyond poverty-level wages.”  Meanwhile, last week’s sales reports show that understaffing, which affects workers’ scheduling and take-home pay, is also having an impact on company sales. Last week’s sales report showed that Walmart’s comp store sales are about half what competitors like Target reported in the same quarter, continuing a pattern of underperformance by the world’s largest retailer.

As workers and community supporters call for changes at Walmart, a new report by the national public policy center Demos, shows that better jobs at Walmart and other large retailers would have an impact on our economy. A wage floor equivalent of $25,000 per year for a full-time, year-round employee for retailers with more than 1000 employees would lift 1.5 million retail workers and their families out of poverty or near poverty, add to economic growth, increase retail sales and create more than 100,000 new jobs. The findings in the study prove there is a flaw in the conventional thinking by companies like Walmart that profits, low prices, and decent wages cannot coexist.

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Making Change at Walmart is a campaign challenging Walmart to hel prebuild our economy and strengthen working families. Anchored by the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW), we are a coalition of Walmart associates, union members, small business owners, religious leaders, community organizations, women’s advocacy groups, multi-ethnic coalitions, elected officials and ordinary citizens who believe that changing Walmart is vital for the future of our country.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, November 19, 2012

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Lynsey Kryzwick 646.200.5311

WORKER ORGANIZATION FILES FEDERAL CHARGE AGAINST WALMART

 

OUR Walmart Points to Walmart’s Threats to Workers

 

WASHINGTON, DC – In response to illegal threats from Walmart managers and the company’s national spokesperson, OUR Walmart has filed a charge with the federal government seeking immediate intervention.  The charge, filed with the National Labor Relations Board Tuesday afternoon, cites threats by Walmart to attempt to deter workers from participating in legally protected strikes planned for this week, including on Black Friday.  OUR Walmart is an organization of Walmart workers from across the country who are calling for changes at Walmart.

“I want to send a clear message to Walmart: we will not be silenced,” said Mary Pat Tifft, an OUR Walmart member and 24-year Walmart associate from Kenosha, WI.  “As America’s largest employer, we should expect more than threats to our jobs when we speak out for what’s right.  Walmart’s attempt to shut down our protests is one more example of the company’s efforts to silence any opposition that they face.  We will continue to speak out because there are real problems at Walmart that need to be addressed.”

“We are working hard, trying to get ahead and create a better future for our kids,” Tifft said.  ”You would think that we’d be able to do that at the country’s largest employer, but when we speak out about our concerns, Walmart has been trying to silence us.”

The planned strikes, which OUR Walmart members announced would be part of 1,000 store protests on and leading up to Black Friday, are in protest of Walmart’s ongoing attempts to silence workers for speaking out for better jobs. Because the planned strikes are in protest to unfair labor practices like silencing workers through scheduling changes, reductions in hours, and even firings, workers are legally protected under federal labor law.

“Freedom of speech and freedom of association are basic rights for all Americans,” said Rev. Eric Lee, President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.  “We cannot allow our country’s largest employer to threaten their employees’ rights in closed-door meetings or in the national news media.  Walmart workers should know that we support them.”

On Monday evening, Walmart spokesperson David Tovar made threats to Walmart workers on national television. “There could be consequences,” Tovar said on CBS Evening News of workers who do not come in for scheduled shifts on Black Friday.

“I saw David Tovar from Walmart on the evening news telling me and my coworkers that there would be consequences if we went on strike,” said Dan Hindman, an OUR Walmart member from California who was interviewed on CBS Evening News.  ”Yes, some of my coworkers are afraid, but this kind of intimidation by Walmart management is an example of why we are going on strike.  I know my rights, and I’m not afraid to protest against the way this company has retaliated against workers who are speaking out for what’s good for our families.”

In stores across the country, workers have been facing threats from managers.  Workers from a store in Fairfield, Calif., recount their manager telling them: “Home office gave me the freedom to say whatever I want.  If any one of you walks off the job or participates in an action on Black Friday that results in the loss of store sales you will be fired and sued.”

“Walmart appears to be issuing serious threats to employees to stop them from exercising their rights under the law,” said Erin Johansson, Research Director, American Rights at Work.  “These charges should be investigated swiftly by the NLRB as concerted activity is a protected right. Walmart’s breach here is serious, and needs to be addressed immediately.”

Walmart workers have been speaking out about the company’s manipulation of hours and benefits, efforts to try to keep people from working full-time and their discrimination against women and people of color, but rather than listening to the concerns facing 1.4 million Walmart workers, Walmart has attempted to silence them. Some workers have also been speaking out about the early start of Black Friday sales – on Thanksgiving Day –which will keep many retail workers from being able to spend the holiday with their families.  Watch a video from Walmart workers on why they’re standing up or follow the conversation on Twitter at #WalmartStrikers.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, November 20, 2012

FOR MORE INFORMATION:    Dawn Le: 202-549-6798, Lynsey Kryzwick: 646-200-5311

As Black Friday Approaches,

STRIKES AND PROTESTS BY WALMART WORKERS, SUPPORTERS SPREAD

Pico Rivera, Calif. workers who set off wave of walkouts in October walk off their jobs once again; one of 1,000 protests in run-up to Black Friday

PICO RIVERA, CALIF.—As Black Friday nears, Walmart workers and community supporters are beginning 1,000 nationwide non-violent protests leading up to and on Black Friday, including strikes, rallies, flash mobs, direct action and other efforts to inform customers about the illegal actions that Walmart has been taking against its workers.  As part of the protests, Walmart workers walked off the job Tuesday morning in Pico Rivera, just outside Los Angeles, in protest against the company’s attempts to silence workers who speak out for better jobs. In October, the workers in Pico Rivera were the first group of Walmart associates to go on strike in the company’s history.

Last week, the 1,000 protests kicked-off with warehouse workers from Southern California and Walmart workers from San Leandro, Calif., Seattle, and Dallas walking off the job. Workers in the Washington DC area joined them yesterday in going on strike.  Walmart workers from cities across the country have announced additional strikes in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, Milwaukee, Washington DC, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Louisiana and Minnesota in the upcoming days.

“We’re not trying to shut down business, we are supporting our co-workers who speak out for better working conditions,” said Yesenia Yaber, a two-year Walmart Associate in Chicago, Ill. “These Associates have been speaking out for changes that will help all Associates help our families and make Walmart stores better places for our customers to shop.  Yet, Walmart reacts by attempting to silence them. No one wants to strike, we want to work, but we can’t continue under Walmart’s threats and retaliation.”

Workers’ concerns about wages and staffing have been affirmed by newly uncovered company pay-plans exposed by the Huffington Post, poor sales reports and a new study on the retail industry.  Huffington Post uncovered what reporters call “a rigid pay structure for hourly employees that makes it difficult for most to rise much beyond poverty-level wages.”  Meanwhile, last week’s sales reports show that understaffing, which affects workers’ scheduling and take-home pay, is also having an impact on company sales. Last week’s sales report showed that Walmart’s comp store sales are about half what competitors like Target reported this quarter, continuing a pattern of underperformance by the world’s largest retailer.

“Walmart is doing everything in its power to attempt to silence those who speak out.  But nothing—not even this baseless unfair labor practice charge—will stop us from speaking out,” said Colby Harris, a Walmart associate from Lancaster, Texas, in response to Walmart’s frivolous unfair labor charge and the number of charges filed by workers against the company.  “Unfair labor is working full time and living in poverty. Unfair labor is seeing your health care premiums skyrocket year after year. Unfair labor is being denied the hours needed to support your family. Unfair labor is being punished for exercising your freedom of speech and association. Walmart workers know what unfair labor is—because we endure it every day. So until Walmart listens to our concerns, we will continue to speak out. We will continue to stand up when Walmart attempts to silence those who speak out. We will continue to demand respect.” 

As workers and community supporters call for changes at Walmart, a new report from the national public policy center Demos, shows that better jobs at Walmart and other large retailers would have an impact on our economy.  A wage floor equivalent of $25,000 per year for a full-time, year-round employee for retailers with more than 1000 employees would lift 1.5 million retail workers and their families out of poverty or near poverty, add to economic growth, increase retail sales and create over 100,000 new jobs. The findings in the study prove there is a flaw in the conventional thinking by companies like Walmart that profits, low prices and decent wages cannot co-exist.

“Walmart has forgotten about families,” said Larry Gross, the Executive Director of the Coalition for Economic Survival in Los Angeles, Calif. “Thanksgiving day scheduling, poverty paychecks, and unaffordable healthcare are all evidence of Walmart’s disregard for the 1.4 million workers that keep its doors open and shelves stocked.  We should expect more from the country’s largest employer.”

Walmart workers have been speaking out about the company’s manipulation of hours and benefits, efforts to try to keep people from working full-time and their discrimination against women and people of color, but rather than listening to the concerns facing 1.4 million Walmart workers, Walmart has attempted to silence them. Some workers have also been speaking out about the early start of Black Friday sales – on Thanksgiving Day –which will keep many retail workers from being able to spend the holiday with their families.  Watch a video from Walmart workers on why they’re standing up or follow the conversation on Twitter at #WalmartStrikers.

With so many Americans struggling to make ends meet and Walmart taking in $16 billion in profits and compensating its executives $10 million each, workers and community leaders have been calling on Walmart and Chairman Rob Walton to address the wage gap the company is creating.  At the same time frontline Walmart workers are facing financial hardships, the Walton Family – heirs to the Walmart fortune – are the richest family in the country with more wealth than the bottom 42% of American families combined.

Countless civil rights, immigrant rights, women’s rights and religious groups, including Color of Change, National Alliance of Latino, African and Caribbean Communities, Interfaith Worker Justice, and the National Organization of Women, are organizing their members in support of Walmart workers.  Online, individuals have been adding support and planning protests on their own, starting new Facebook pages, groups and events.  Through the Corporate Action Network, activists are “adopting” stores where they can inform shoppers about the struggles that Walmart workers are facing.

In October, OUR Walmart leaders held the first-ever strikes against the mega-retailer.  At that time, workers walked off their jobs in more than 12 cities and with the support of national and local leaders, held protests at more than 200 stores. Since then, workers have walked off the job in Richmond, CA and Dallas, TX, and support for OUR Walmart, the associate organization calling for change, has continued to grow.

Striking warehouse workers, who move billions of dollars of merchandise for Walmart, joined the call to speak about the retaliation they have experienced for speaking out against unsafe working conditions, including extreme temperatures, broken and unsafe equipment and inadequate access to clean drinking water.  The workers from the Inland Empire, outside of Los Angeles, held a 15-day strike that included a six-day, 50-mile pilgrimage for safe jobs in September.

 

Energy around the calls for Walmart to change its treatment of workers and communities has been building.  In just one year, OUR Walmart, the unique workers’ organization founded by Walmart Associates, has grown from a group of 100 Walmart workers to an army of thousands of Associates in hundreds of stores across 43 states. Together, OUR Walmart members have been leading the way in calling for an end to double standards that are hurting workers, communities and our economy.

 

The alleged Mexican bribery scandal, uncovered by the New York Times, has shined a light on the failure of internal controls within Walmart that extend to significant breaches of compliance in stores and along the company’s supply chain.  The company is facing yet another gender discrimination lawsuit on behalf of 100,000 women in California and in Tennessee, and a wage theft class action suit in Chicago. In the company’s warehousing system, in which Walmart has continually denied responsibility for the working conditions for tens of thousands of people who work for warehouses where they move billions of dollars of goods, workers are facing rampant wage theft and health and safety violations so extreme that they have led to an unprecedented $600,000 in fines.   The Department of Labor fined a Walmart seafood supplier for wage and hour violations, and Human Rights Watch has spoken out about the failures of controls in regulating suppliers overseas, including a seafood supplier in Thailand where trafficking and debt bondage were cited.

 

Financial investors are also joining the call for Walmart to create better checks and balances, transparency and accountability that will protect workers and communities and strengthen the company.  At the company’s annual shareholder meeting in Bentonville, OUR Walmart member Jackie Goebel brought a stadium full of shareholders to their feet applauding her call for an end to the short staffing that’s hurting workers and customer service.  Goebel was one of four Associate-shareholders who proposed a resolution calling for the reining in of executive pay. The resolution received unprecedented support from major pension funds that voted their shares against Walmart CEO and members of the board this June, amounting to a ten-fold increase and overall 1 in 3 shares not held by the Walton family against the company’s leadership.

 

These widespread problems have also thwarted Walmart’s plans for growth, particularly in urban markets.  Calling the company a “bad actor,” New York City mayoral candidates have all been outspoken in their opposition to Walmart entering the city without addressing labor and community relations’ problems.  This month, the city’s largest developer announced an agreement with a union-grocery store at a site that Walmart had hoped would be its first location in New York. In Los Angeles, mayoral candidates are refusing to accept campaign donations from the deep pockets of Walmart, and in Boston, Walmart was forced to suspend its expansion into the city after facing significant community opposition.

 

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Making Change at Walmart is a campaign challenging Walmart to help rebuild our economy and strengthen working families. Anchored by the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW), we are a coalition of Walmart associates, union members, small business owners, religious leaders, community organizations, women’s advocacy groups, multi-ethnic coalitions, elected officials and ordinary citizens who believe that changing Walmart is vital for the future of our country.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, November 15, 2012

FOR MORE INFORMATION:    Dawn Le: 202-549-6798, Lynsey Kryzwick: 646-200-5311

 

As Black Friday Approaches,

WALMART WORKERS FROM STORES AND WAREHOUSES BEGIN TO STRIKE

1000-Store Protests Begin with Warehouse Workers from Southern California and Walmart Workers from Seattle and San Leandro Walking Off the Job

National Leaders, Local Activists Commit to Supporting Strikes, Protests and Online Actions

As Black Friday approaches, Walmart workers and warehouse workers walked off the job Wednesday and Thursday in protest of the company’s attempts to silence workers who speak out for better jobs. Warehouse workers from Southern California walked off the job Wednesday morning; Walmart workers from San Leandro, California walked off the job Wednesday afternoon; and this morning, Walmart workers from Seattle joined them.

This afternoon, Walmart workers from cities across the country announced that these strikes are the first of 1000 protests, including more strikes, rallies and online actions, at Walmart stores leading up to and on Black Friday.  Workers announced upcoming strikes and protests in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, Milwaukee, Washington DC, as well as workers walking off the job in Oklahoma, Mississippi, Louisiana and Minnesota.  The group held off announcing the specific dates of the protest out of concern that Walmart would use it as an opportunity to try to silence the workers’ voices.

“No matter how hard we work, my husband and I can’t catch up on our bills,” said Charlene Fletcher, an OUR Walmart leader from Duarte, California.  Charlene and her husband Greg both work at Walmart. Greg has been there for six years, and Charlene began 2-1/2 years ago. They have two young children, ages 2 and 5.  “We just found out that we are both scheduled to work on Thanksgiving Day instead of being home with our kids.  It’s heartbreaking to miss the holiday with them, and it’s just one more way that Walmart is showing its disregard for our families. But when our co-workers speak out about problems like these, Walmart turns their schedules upside down, cuts their hours and even fires people. We’re going on strike for an end to Walmart’s attempts to silence its workers.”

The announcement call was hosted by OUR Walmart members: Charlene Fletcher, of Duarte (Los Angeles County), Calif., Sara Gilbert of Seattle, Wash., Colby Harris of Dallas, Tex., and Cayt Lawley in Arkansas. They were joined by David Garcia, a warehouse worker in Southern California, and Dan Schlademan, Director of the Making Change at Walmart campaign.

Walmart workers have been speaking out about the company’s manipulation of hours and benefits, efforts to try to keep people from working full-time and their discrimination against women and people of color, but rather than listening to the concerns facing 1.4 million Walmart workers, Walmart has attempted to silence them. Some workers have also been speaking out about the early start of Black Friday sales – on Thanksgiving Day –which will keep many retail workers from being able to spend the holiday with their families.  Watch a video from Walmart workers on why they’re standing up or follow the conversation on Twitter at #WalmartStrikers.

With so many Americans struggling to make ends meet and Walmart taking in $16 billion in profits and compensating its executives $10 million each, workers and community leaders have been calling on Walmart and Chairman Rob Walton to address the wage gap the company is creating.  At the same time frontline Walmart workers are facing financial hardships, the Walton Family – heirs to the Walmart fortune – are the richest family in the country with more wealth than the bottom 42% of American families combined.

National leaders, including Dr. Julianne Malveaux and Lyle “Butch” Wing from Rainbow PUSH, joined the call to share their support for the striking workers.  Countless civil rights, immigrant rights, women’s rights and religious groups, including Color of Change, National Alliance of Latino, African and Caribbean Communities, Interfaith Worker Justice, and the National Organization of Women, are organizing their members in support of Walmart workers.  Online, individuals have been adding support and planning protests on their own, starting new Facebook pages, groups and events.  Through the Corporate Action Network, activists are “adopting” stores where they can inform shoppers about the struggles that Walmart workers are facing.

“Walmart’s workers are dedicated to giving 100 percent to the jobs that they do,” said Deepak Bhargava, Executive Director of the Center for Community Change. “The company must be as dedicated to its workers as it is to its profit margin.”

In October, OUR Walmart leaders held the first-ever strikes against the mega-retailer.  At that time, workers walked off their jobs in more than 12 cities and with the support of national and local leaders, held protests at more than 200 stores. Since then, workers have walked off the job in Richmond, CA and Dallas, TX, and support for OUR Walmart, the associate organization calling for change, has continued to grow.

Striking warehouse workers, who move billions of dollars of merchandise for Walmart, joined the call to speak about the retaliation they have experienced for speaking out against unsafe working conditions, including extreme temperatures, broken and unsafe equipment and inadequate access to clean drinking water.  The workers from the Inland Empire, outside of Los Angeles, held a 15-day strike that included a six-day, 50-mile pilgrimage for safe jobs in September.

Energy around the calls for Walmart to change its treatment of workers and communities has been building.  In just one year, OUR Walmart, the unique workers’ organization founded by Walmart Associates, has grown from a group of 100 Walmart workers to an army of thousands of Associates in hundreds of stores across 43 states. Together, OUR Walmart members have been leading the way in calling for an end to double standards that are hurting workers, communities and our economy.

The alleged Mexican bribery scandal, uncovered by the New York Times, has shined a light on the failure of internal controls within Walmart that extend to significant breaches of compliance in stores and along the company’s supply chain.  The company is facing yet another gender discrimination lawsuit on behalf of 100,000 women in California and in Tennessee, and a wage theft class action suit in Chicago. In the company’s warehousing system, in which Walmart has continually denied responsibility for the working conditions for tens of thousands of people who work for warehouses where they move billions of dollars of goods, workers are facing rampant wage theft and health and safety violations so extreme that they have led to an unprecedented $600,000 in fines.   The Department of Labor fined a Walmart seafood supplier for wage and hour violations, and Human Rights Watch has spoken out about the failures of controls in regulating suppliers overseas, including a seafood supplier in Thailand where trafficking and debt bondage were cited.

Financial investors are also joining the call for Walmart to create better checks and balances, transparency and accountability that will protect workers and communities and strengthen the company.  At the company’s annual shareholder meeting in Bentonville, OUR Walmart member Jackie Goebel brought a stadium full of shareholders to their feet applauding her call for an end to the short staffing that’s hurting workers and customer service.  Goebel was one of four Associate-shareholders who proposed a resolution calling for the reining in of executive pay. The resolution received unprecedented support from major pension funds that voted their shares against Walmart CEO and members of the board this June, amounting to a ten-fold increase and overall 1 in 3 shares not held by the Walton family against the company’s leadership.

These widespread problems have also thwarted Walmart’s plans for growth, particularly in urban markets.  Calling the company a “bad actor,” New York City mayoral candidates have all been outspoken in their opposition to Walmart entering the city without addressing labor and community relations’ problems.  This month, the city’s largest developer announced an agreement with a union-grocery store at a site that Walmart had hoped would be its first location in New York. In Los Angeles, mayoral candidates are refusing to accept campaign donations from the deep pockets of Walmart, and in Boston, Walmart was forced to suspend its expansion into the city after facing significant community opposition.

 

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Making Change at Walmart is a campaign challenging Walmart to help rebuild our economy and strengthen working families. Anchored by the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW), we are a coalition of Walmart associates, union members, small business owners, religious leaders, community organizations, women’s advocacy groups, multi-ethnic coalitions, elected officials and ordinary citizens who believe that changing Walmart is vital for the future of our country.