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Ten current or recently fired Walmart workers have been arrested in Washington, DC for peaceful civil disobedience near the retailer’s downtown office. The workers say they were protesting after the company fired or disciplined more than seventy workers for going on strike.



Now the Making Change at Walmart campaign, which challenges Walmart to help rebuild America’s economy and to strengthen working families, says unless the company reinstates the fired staff and publically commits to paying fair wages by Labor Day, it will face “some of the most intense actions it has seen to date.”



U.S. unions have called on Walmart to publically commit to paying its workers a minimum real wage of $25,000 annually to enable them to raise a family, and to immediately end the company’s attempts to suppress workers’ rights by reinstating the fired Walmart workers who were unjustly targeted for standing up and rescinding their punishment.



Brandon Garrett, one of the arrested workers, says his own protests came about after he realised he could not afford to support himself and his sick mother.



“I did well in high school and loved sports. I became a collegiate athlete and my future looked bright. That’s when my mom got sick. She wasn’t able to support herself, so I made a tough choice. I moved home and got a job at Walmart to help support my mom.



“I soon found that Walmart didn’t pay me enough to get by. We were constantly understaffed and stretched thin. Worst of all, we were treated with such a lack of respect they made you feel like you weren’t even a human being.



“That’s why I decided to stand up. I went on a legally protected strike in June and travelled all the way to Walmart’s headquarters in Arkansas to defend my co-workers’ right to stand up.



“But when I got home, Walmart fired me. I’m not the only one. Since June, Walmart has fired or disciplined more than 70 of us for standing up. The company has written us up, cut our hours, bullied us, called the cops on us and even fired us for going on strike.



“We’re not backing down. On August 22nd, we peacefully demonstrated in front of Walmart’s office in Washington, DC calling on the company to reinstate the illegally fired workers.”



Walmart is the world’s largest retailer. Making Change at Walmart says Walmart receives $16 billion in profits and has the wealth of the bottom 42 per cent of Americans combined in the pockets of the Walton family who owns the company.



Head of UNI Commerce, Alke Boessiger said:



"We condemn these arrests in the strongest terms and call on Walmart yet again to respect the rights of the workers that drive its phenomenal success.



"Walmart is without doubt the largest and most powerful retailer in the United States and the world. Its profits are higher than the GDPs of most countries but still its owners refuse to set an example by being a good corporate citizen or paying workers enough to raise a family. Is this really too much to ask?"



The Making Change at Walmart campaign, which is led by UNI affiliate union UFCW, is asking the public to write to Walmart and its owners the Walton family calling for a fair wage for employees and to reinstate the fired workers. The message can be sent here: http://action.changewalmart.org/page/s/ARealWage