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Caption: Member of OUR Walmart asking CEO Doug McMillon when Pico Rivera workers will be reinstated.

After two weeks of protests in many parts of the United States, OUR Walmart group leaders gathered in Arkansas where the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting was held. Workers in the United States and other countries continue to struggle for fair and living wages and the opportunity to work full time.

In the United States, although Walmart announced it would increase staff salaries, workers today continue to struggle with their difficult situation: extremely low wages and in most cases, depend on government assistance programs to get by. In addition to this, employees who were notified at the last moment about the closing of five of the company’s branches have not been giving a solution regarding their employment status. They have not been relocated and the company says that they have closed down “indefinitely”.

On the other hand, also in Bentonville several workers gathered under the slogan "The Waltons can afford it and their employees deserve it." It is publicly known that Walmart has the resources to increase salaries. The Walton family, in particular six of the empire’s heirs, have doubled their wealth in recent years, reaching US$ 148.8 billion dollars at the expense of workers.

Company shareholders have pressed for a chairman without ties to the Waltons. However, as the Walton family controls more than fifty percent of the shares, Rob Walton’s son-in-law was named the new chairman.

Despite the problems at Walmart, workers continue fighting to improve their working conditions. The OUR Walmart group presented several proposals and put forward their demands to the shareholders.