By Igor Volsky on Nov 23, 2012 at 12:18 pm
Workers at Walmart stores across the country are walking off their jobs to protest the national retailer’s low wages and poor working conditions in an effort to raise public awareness about how the company treats its employees on the busiest shopping day of the year. The strikes, which began earlier this month, are the first in the 50 year history of the company and come just as Walmart reported a 9 percent increase in third-quarter net income, earning $3.63 billion.
Workers are also opposing Walmart’s poor benefits, alleged systematic discrimination against women, and its decision this year to kick off Black Friday on Thursday night. As Fox News reported today, many employees say they fear retaliation for speaking out against the company’s policies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INh0syM0G0o&feature=player_embedded
Walmart filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board in an effort to stop the walk out last week, accusing protesters of violating a law “which prohibits picketing for any period over 30 days without filing a petition to form a union.”
The walk out is being organized by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union and its subsidiary OUR Walmart. Walmart’s 1.4 million workers in the U.S. are not unionized.
Kansas City area workers rallied outside a Roeland Park Walmart. They even sang a song for the occasion. Check it out on the KMBC blog: http://20poundsofheadlines.wordpress.com/2012/11/23/wal-mart-protest-in-song-at-roeland-park/
About two dozen protesters holding signs outside the Roeland Park Walmart on Black Friday. (Thanks to Micheal Mahoney, a very good reporter for KMBC).
No comments:
Post a Comment