Black Friday: UNI tells morally bankrupt Walmart to change its ways
Pressure is growing on Walmart management to change its anti-worker culture. After a week of international protests organized by the UNI Walmart Global Union Alliance and the announcement that Walmart CEO Mike Duke is to stand down, the campaign is ramping up across the United States on Black Friday.
1500 Black Friday rallies mark one of the largest mobilisations of U.S. working families in history. Tens of thousands of Americans are coming out in support of Walmart workers in Los Angeles, the Bay Area, Seattle, Sacramento, Miami, Minneapolis and Washington, D.C. and elsewhere.
The protesters speak with one voice, calling on Walmart to end illegal retaliation and publicly commit to improving labour standards, including providing workers with more full-time work and a living wage of $25,000 a year. This was the same message that UNI Global Union General Secretary Philip Jennings sent to the new incoming Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, who is the current President and CEO of Walmart International.
Jennings wrote to McMillon, “Walmart workers in many countries have voiced concerns about their employment conditions. Low wages make it difficult for them to support their families. Inadequate benefits such as health and accident insurance leave workers and their families vulnerable. The imposition of part-time work, casual employment contracts or – as in the case of Walmart’s 1.4 million U.S. workers – no contracts at all, means that workers have no employment security.”
Jennings told McMillon that his appointment was an opportunity for Walmart to turn the page and do the right thing for its workforce in the U.S and beyond. He emphasised that UNI Global Union was open to constructive dialogue with Walmart.
As calls for change intensify, academics, business experts and think tanks are presenting ways that Walmart can increase workers’ wages without costing taxpayers, customers or the business a dime. A Fortune article pointed to investors wanting change – Walmart could easily raise wages by 50 percent without affecting its stock value. And public policy organisation Demos released a report this week finding that Walmart could easily pay every employee $14.89 , without raising prices by simply not buying its own stock to further enrich the Walton family.
Jennings concluded, “The facts speak for themselves, Walmart can afford to change.”
Read: “The workers who bring you Black Friday,” in The Nation
Read: “Why the fight against Walmart matters” , op-ed in the Huffington Post by Joe Hansen, the International President, United Food and Commercial Workers Union.
Read: 6 Things To Keep In Mind While Shopping On Amazon Black Friday
For more information on Black Friday protests, visit www.BlackFridayProtests.org and follow the conversation and see photos at @ChangeWalmart, #WalmartStrikers and changewalmart.tumblr.com.