Walmart Workers Threaten Strike on Black Friday, Stores' Busiest Day

Veröffentlicht: 11 Oktober 2012
Google translate: 
Bloomberg's Daily Labor Report says that Walmart workers are not ruling out taking strike across the United States on Black Friday on November 23 - the day after Thanksgiving.



Head of UNI Commerce, Alke Boessiger said, "The Walmart workers are showing bravery and tenacity and taking the fight to Walmart management in Bentonville outside of yesterday's shareholders meeting but just as significantly to the stores where they can effect Walmart's bottom line. These workers are not asking for the moon, only a voice on the job, decent work conditions and fair pay. One of there biggest grievances is Walmart's policy of cutting hours and effectively squeezing workers out. In the past they have been too afraid of retaliation by the management to speak out but now they have found their voice. Black Friday could be the final tipping point."



In an article in the Daily Labor Report, Alicia Briggs wrote,


"Although nonunion employees of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. from 12 cities walked off the job Oct. 9 and 10, the United Food and Commercial Workers announced during a conference call Oct. 10 that the campaign could gain momentum, coming to a head the Friday after Thanksgiving, one of the heaviest shopping days of the year, if the retailer does not meet workers' demands."





Briggs went on to say, "Striking workers and national leaders said the group has committed to engaging in a wide range of nonviolent activities on Black Friday, including rallies, flash mobs, direct action, and other efforts to inform customers about what they call the illegal actions that Wal-Mart has been taking against its workers."




The Daily Labor Report article quoted Dallas Walmart worker Colby Harris,

“We're giving them a deadline of Black Friday, We want what we feel we deserve. We're not going to stop until our demands are met. It's not hard to convince people [to join] the strike. [For] those people who haven't joined, they realize themselves if Wal-Mart was doing what it was supposed to do, we wouldn't have an OUR Walmartnext hit organization.”
Striking workers are a part of the Organization United for Respect at Walmartnext hit (OUR Walmartnext hit), They are being backed by the new UNI Walmart Global Union Alliance which was launched in Los Angeles last week.



For more information see:

See Alliance blog: http://www.uniglobalunion.org/Blogs/walmart.nsf/

See Alliance Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/UNI-Global-Union-AllianceWalmart/