Wal-Mart workers plan Black Friday walkout


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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- A group of Wal-Mart workers are planning to stage a walkout next week on Black Friday, arguably the biggest holiday shopping day for the world's largest retail store.

The walkout builds on an October strike that started at a Wal-Mart in Los Angeles and spread to stores in 12 other cities. More than 100 workers joined in the October actions.

One of the workers who plans to join next week's walkout is William Fletcher, who works at a Wal-Mart in Duarte, Calif.

Fletcher, who also participated in the October strikes, claims Wal-Mart cut his hours after he asked to move from the receiving department to another division because of a knee injury. He has since switched departments.

"I kept asking myself, 'when is the retaliation for speaking our mind and acting on our rights going to stop?' " he said. Wal-Mart did not have an immediate comment in response to Fletcher's claim.

The union-backed groups OUR Walmart and Making Change at Wal-Mart, and a watchdog group Corporate Action Network, are calling on the nation's largest employer to end what they call retaliation against employees who speak out for better pay, fair schedules and affordable health care.

On Black Friday, the organizations expect 1,000 protests, both at stores and online.

Organizers have planned a social medial blitz, mobilizing workers through Facebook pages, a YouTube video, Twitter and Tumblr. They're also using online platforms to collect donations to sponsor striking workers. So far, the campaign has raised more than $22,200.

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I worked at Fry's about 3 years ago, and I can say without a doubt that we were treated like **** on Black Friday.

I was called into work very early and then given a 4 hour lunch after which I had to return and work from 2 PM to 2 AM with yet another 3 hour lunch in the middle. I carpooled to work, so I didn't have a way to go home and return. And when you add it all up, I didn't make much more than I usually did working there for 1 day.

I quit Fry's and Dec. 24th was my last day there. It was the best Christmas present I've ever had.

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I feel for anyone who has to work Black "Thursday" now. As someone who has worked retail for 3 years now for a smaller company. I know what the holidays can be like. I love it and I despise it at the same time. I love the foot traffic and all the interesting customers, but at the same time you have customers high on stress that really can let out some anger. Most don't know what its like working during the holidays and how hectic / exhausting it can be. My store does not do a Black friday sale because they don't think we should be over spending our selves for stuff we don't really need or over spending for others. Its a normal day for us, but customer come in angry that day because they feel they are entitled to a sale because everyone else is doing it.

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I'm so glad I'm not in retail anymore. I have very little patience for people who think that just because you work at a store that you don't deserve to be treated like a fellow human being. Many people these days simply aren't raised to have any manners.

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I've never worked in retail, but I can more than relate from six years working in pubs & clubs. Bank Holidays / Any random celebration = Black Friday styled molestation. In fact, the last club I worked at had a student night that was 5 hours of utter hell. It was like a bank holiday every single Monday for 4 years. No matter how stressful or chaotic my current job gets, I will never go back to working in a public-facing role - it's just not worth the hassle. I'll clean toilets before I work in any industry like that again!

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Wal-Mart Stores Inc is taking its first legal step to stop months of protests and rallies outside Walmart stores, targeting the union that it says is behind such actions.

Wal-Mart filed an unfair labor practice charge against the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, or UFCW, asking the National Labor Relations Board to halt what the retailer says are unlawful attempts to disrupt its business.

The move comes just a week before what is expected to be the largest organized action against the world's largest retailer, as a small group of Walmart workers prepare to strike on Black Friday, typically the busiest shopping day of the year.

"We are taking this action now because we cannot allow the UFCW to continue to intentionally seek to create an environment that could directly and adversely impact our customers and associates," Wal-Mart spokesman David Tovar said on Friday. "If they do, they will be held accountable."

more: http://www.foxbusine.../#ixzz2CRSFzbk2

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Wal-Mart Stores Inc is taking its first legal step to stop months of protests and rallies outside Walmart stores, targeting the union that it says is behind such actions.

Wal-Mart is very anti-union for obvious reasons.

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Indeed...considering they already pay fair wages and provide decent healthcare coverage for full-time associates they should be anti-union...the prices of goods would skyrocket if the union moved in.

I was offered a job man years ago...just stocking shelves that would have paid $12 an hour with insurance after 90-days. I turned it down since I had a better offer already doing something more aligned with my interests.

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I sympathize, I'd probably walk out too, but why not just quit if they're jerks, go work somewhere else it's a fee country. I chose not to shop at Walmart so I don't support shenanigans like the worker mentions

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If they walk out, I'd close the store, shut it down, put a new store up in another town.

This isn't skilled labour, this in a minimum wage job, with minimum wage skills, don't like it, work somewhere else.

Now if there are safety violations, then ya, strike.. But outside of that, suck it up.

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America?s biggest retailer may be in for an unexpectedly painful holiday season. Protesting low wages, spiking health care premiums, and alleged retaliation from management, Wal-Mart Stores workers have started to walk off the job this week. First, on Wednesday, about a dozen workers in Wal-Mart?s distribution warehouses in Southern California walked out, followed the next day by 30 more from six stores in the Seattle area.

The workers, who are part of a union-backed employee coalition called Making Change at Wal-Mart, say this is the beginning of a wave of protests and strikes leading up to next week?s Black Friday. A thousand store protests are planned in Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, Minnesota, and Washington, D.C., the group says.

In a conference call with reporters on Thursday, workers who were either planning to strike or already striking explained their situation. ?We have to borrow money from each other just to make it to work,? said Colby Harris, who earns $8.90 an hour after having worked at a Wal-Mart in Lancaster, Tex., for three years. ?I?m on my lunch break right now, and I have two dollars in my pocket. I?m deciding whether to use it to buy lunch or to hold on to it for next week.? He said the deduction from his bimonthly pay check for health-care costs is scheduled to triple in January. In 2013, Wal-Mart plans to scale back its contributions to workers? health-care premiums, which are expected to rise between 8 percent and 36 percent. Many employees will forgo coverage, Reuters reports.

Sara Gilbert, a manager who was striking in Seattle, called in on her cell phone: ?I work full-time for one of the richest companies in the world, and my kids get state health insurance and are on food stamps,? she said.

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I'm so glad I'm not in retail anymore. I have very little patience for people who think that just because you work at a store that you don't deserve to be treated like a fellow human being. Many people these days simply aren't raised to have any manners.

Said the last generation, and the generation before, and the generation before that, and so on, and so fourth...

@Topic: Not surprised by this at all really, Wal-Mart strike me as a company who love to **** the little guys.

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Said the last generation, and the generation before, and the generation before that, and so on, and so fourth...

@Topic: Not surprised by this at all really, Wal-Mart strike me as a company who love to **** the little guys.

You mean by creating thousands of jobs? Yea... ****ty company.

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You mean by creating thousands of jobs? Yea... ****ty company.

Sorry you misunderstood...

It's good to create jobs, but not to treat the bottom employees like garbage, Wal-Mart are one of the largest companies on the planet, I thought they'd be willing to help a little more. Though I guess I'm the fool since they're just another company willing to screw people over.

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Sorry you misunderstood...

It's good to create jobs, but not to treat the bottom employees like garbage, Wal-Mart are one of the largest companies on the planet, I thought they'd be willing to help a little more. Though I guess I'm the fool since they're just another company willing to screw people over.

trust me, walmart has every right to treat bottom employees like garbage because bottom employees are completely unreliable. They call in all the time. They often times just stop showing up. They don't work all that hard. I worked there for 3 years and my wife is still there after eight. They are right to assume that new employees are **** until they prove otherwise.

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Indeed...considering they already pay fair wages and provide decent healthcare coverage for full-time associates they should be anti-union...the prices of goods would skyrocket if the union moved in.

I was offered a job man years ago...just stocking shelves that would have paid $12 an hour with insurance after 90-days. I turned it down since I had a better offer already doing something more aligned with my interests.

I'm sorry but no they don't pay a good wage, I worked there for two years and when I left I was making $6.50 an hour. After the two years I worked there if I wanted insurance it would have been close to half my paycheck and it covered nothing. The only people I know that made anywhere near $12 were people who worked there for years and of course management.

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Indeed...considering they already pay fair wages and provide decent healthcare coverage for full-time associates they should be anti-union...the prices of goods would skyrocket if the union moved in.

I was offered a job man years ago...just stocking shelves that would have paid $12 an hour with insurance after 90-days. I turned it down since I had a better offer already doing something more aligned with my interests.

nightstock was a good gig. it's what I was doing.

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I'm sorry but no they don't pay a good wage, I worked there for two years and when I left I was making $6.50 an hour. After the two years I worked there if I wanted insurance it would have been close to half my paycheck and it covered nothing. The only people I know that made anywhere near $12 were people who worked there for years and of course management.

there's a $2 differential for nightstock. So he was really offered $10. The $2 would disappear if he transferred to days. Still $10 + 2 for a level 3 job isn't bad. What job did you work? Were you a greeter? sales associate? cashier? and when did you have this job? Ten years ago? Did you ever try to bargain for a higher wage? Whether you know it or not employers actually like employees who value their own time because that means they are more likely to value company time too. You could have probably talked them up to 9 to 9.50 easy.

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I'm so glad I'm not in retail anymore. I have very little patience for people who think that just because you work at a store that you don't deserve to be treated like a fellow human being. Many people these days simply aren't raised to have any manners.

Seriously it is a shame how there are people out there who just refused to give another human being the decency and respect they deserve simply because they view that person to be "beneath them" because of the job they currently have.

I personally have way more respect for some who works in WalMart or McDonalds or the list goes on and on as that person in my opinion is showing they are willing to do what needs to be done to make ends meet.

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