Walmart Workers Launch First-Ever 'Prolonged Strikes'

[blake 3:17]

Walmart Workers Launch First-Ever 'Prolonged Strikes' Today
Josh Eidelson on May 28, 2013 - 10:57 AM ET

Walmart employees are on strike in Miami, Massachusetts and the California Bay Area this morning, kicking off what organizers promise will be the first “prolonged strikes” in the retail giant’s history. The union-backed labor group OUR Walmart says that at least a hundred workers have pledged to join the strikes, and that some workers walking off the job today will stay out at least through June 7, when Walmart holds its annual shareholder meeting near Bentonville, Arkansas.

Organizers expect retail employees in more cities to join the work stoppage, which follows the country’s first-ever coordinated Walmart store strikes last October, and a high-profile Black Friday walkout November 23. Like Black Friday’s, today’s strike is being framed by the union-backed labor group OUR Walmart as a response to retaliation against worker-activists.

After previous one-day strikes, San Leandro, California, Walmart employee Dominic Ware told The Nation last night, “We’ve seen that Walmart is trying to hold out the best that they can. So I’m planning on going on strike as long as it takes.”

“This represents the first time in Walmart history that workers have made the decision to go on prolonged strikes,” said United Food & Commercial Workers Union official Dan Schlademan, a key strategist in the OUR Walmart campaign. Schlademan called the workers’ willingness to escalate to prolonged strikes “another example of the depth of leadership and commitment that this organization is building.” OUR Walmart has close ties to the UFCW, which has also backed past pressure campaigns against Walmart, and failed efforts to unionize its stores.

As The Nation first reported, OUR Walmart activists are also planning a series of caravans, inspired by the 1961 civil rights movement freedom rides, which will converge in Bentonville this weekend prior to the shareholder gathering. That “Ride for Respect” will bring workers to about thirty cities, including Los Angeles, DC, Chicago and Cincinnati, where they’ll meet supporters and visit Walmart stores before continuing to Arkansas. Schlademan called the caravans “a massive education program meant to educate Walmart workers and communities about the issues of Walmart.”

Asked yesterday about OUR Walmart, its retaliation allegations and its planned caravan to the convention, Walmart spokesperson Brooke Buchanan e-mailed that the shareholder meeting would be “a celebration of our 2.2 million associates who work hard every day so people around the world can live better.” “The Union and its subsidiary ‘Our Walmart’ is comprised of a few number of people,” Buchanan wrote, “most of whom aren’t even Walmart associates and don’t represent the views of our associates. This latest publicity stunt by the union to generate attention for their fleeting cause won’t impact the festivities.” Walmart has previously denied retaliating against employees for organizing.



Read more: http://www.thenation.com/blog/174551/walmart-workers-launch-first-ever-prolonged-strikes-today#ixzz2UbYnA17G

[Brandon's Impotent Rage]

As a former Wal-Mart employee, I wish my comrades luck in this endeavor.

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

So, now's the moment for solidarity actions, eh?
I think this is really interesting, and has some real potential.
The demands of the employees, of course, are by no means revolutionary; the bizarre phenomenon of employees picketing fore or "More Hours!" speaks to the total disarray of North American working class. That said, that Walmart will almost certainly sooner risk escalation than give an inch presents, perhaps, an opportunity to push this beyond its immediate explicit character.
All under heaven is in chaos . . .

[blake 3:17]

@VMC -- I believe one of the reasons demands for more hours are due to benefits being given to employees who work over a certain number of hours a week, and people's shifts being cut so that they were just under the threshold for access to benefits.

[Ele'ill]

retail fluctuation of weekly hours because that's just the way things are

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

@Blake - I understand the context, and I don't think it's, like, a "bad demand" given a position of relative weakness. I'm just saying that, from a position that was stronger we'd be able to push for, y'know, benefits for part-timers, more wages for less hours, etc. I'm just saying that it's sad the position we're in where we have to fight to sell capitalists more of our time, y'know?

[Brutus]

How strong a position are the strikers in?

[blake 3:17]

@VMC -- totally agreed. It's a very deliberate management strategy of having some people work far too much and others too little.

@Odysseus -- hard to say. But it's a massive rebellion and the fight will be a long one. Given the particular weaknesses of the US labor movement and reactionary US labor laws they need to be pretty creative about tactics and strategy. The reporter whose piece I linked to in the OP has been following the struggle at Walmart for a while and has written a bunch of terrific stuff on it and other workers fights - http://www.thenation.com/authors/josh-eidelson#

[Brutus]

We should send in communist agitators...

[blake 3:17]

Please sign!

http://action.changewalmart.org/page/s/stand-with-strikers?source=20130528_rfr_em_1

[Brandon's Impotent Rage]

I would love for them to contact the IWW for assistance. Introduce some ol' fashion Haywood-style ass kicking into the mix.

No, seriously. I want them to really fuck up the corporate offices. I used to work for Wal-Mart, and believe me the bastards deserve it.

[Goblin]

Good for them. I'm sure this is gonna piss off alot of those Penn and Teller "libertarian" types.

[blake 3:17]

This is great: http://www.wwlp.com/dpp/news/local/hampden/walmart-worker-walks-out-in-protest

What I understood very incompletely, was how much this strategy is based on previous civil rights struggles. There is major collective action/agreement going on, while being organized in a very disciplined way.


Walmart worker walks out in protest
Updated: Tuesday, 28 May 2013, 5:46 PM EDT
Published : Tuesday, 28 May 2013, 1:34 PM EDT

Anthony Fay
CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) - An employee of the Chicopee Walmart store handed her manager a note and walked off the job as part of a nationwide protest on Tuesday morning.

Aubretia Edick of Granby was joined by members of the group WMass Jobs with Justice at the Memorial Drive store. Edick is protesting what she says is the retailer’s retaliation against employees who try to improve working conditions.

“We want Walmart to be responsible, to take responsibility for what they’re doing to us,” Edick said. “Walmart has retaliated, they have fired people because they spoke out.”

Walmart spokesperson Brooke Buchanan told 22News that the company has a policy against retaliation, and takes action to prevent it.

In many ways what they're doing it this: http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/04/04/historic-fast-food-strike-draws-lessons-from-mlks-last-campaign/ And for people new to Leftism -- having a major news source in the US call this historic is a coup in itself.

Yes!!!!: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis_Sanitation_Strike This is it.

[Vercingetorix]

Excellent. If any of this were happening near me, I'd be out there handing out water to the picketers.

[Rusakov]

This is wonderfull news. I wish them the utmost success in standing against their employers.

[blake 3:17]

Is Walmart Retaliating Against Workers Who Strike?
By Dan Fastenberg

Colby Harris had been selling produce for Walmart for four years near Dallas when he decided to participate in a walkout this spring. Soon after, he told AOL Jobs' "Lunchtime Live" Friday, his managers began to snoop on him. "When I come in,
managers come out of nowhere to watch me to see what I am talking about," Harris (pictured at right) said. And in addition to the extra surveillance, Harris also said his managers have changed around his schedule for no reason and have told him the strikes he's participating in are illegal.

Walmart has not responded to requests for comment from AOL Jobs. Harris, for his part, is still employed by the retail giant, but his charge of retaliation is not unique. Last year, there were 37,836 complaints by workers alleging retaliation, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Harris has not filed a formal charge. But many Walmart workers -- who have participated in labor walkouts this year -- have, claiming that they've had their hours cut, their workloads doubled and even been fired.

http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2013/05/30/walmart-retaliating-workers-strike/

[Jimmie Higgins]

We should send in communist agitators...Well beyond just the potential to network with people and put a face to radical ideas so to speak, their strategy relies on community support. Because of the nature of the work and the turnover and the fear of retaliation, I think there are a lot of places they are organizing where they might have 3 supporters in this site and another handful at another and then some more at another. So I think they want broader support from community members. Around here OUR Walmart is also organizing - non-wal-mart workers - who go in as "observers" when walmart management has "open door" meetings with workers to put a little more pressure and show that they can't just lie to the employees and then deny it later.

This sounds so exciting, but I think we need to keep in mind that this is just a starting point. Wal-Mart is huge and if they can keep building something - particularly something that incorporates "shop"-floor organizing with broader community outreach - then I think the potential is as large as Wal-mart itself as far as the impact on class expectations and confidnece. These mega-huge wage-lowering and benifits robbing employers are like a weight around the class' neck - everyone say, well my job is shitty, but at least I'm not locked inside all night like at WalMart.

[Ele'ill]

I believe there are about 4.5 million people in the US working in such retail conditions according to BLS and as bad as Walmart is I don't know if it's the worst of it, I'm sure it depends on the store/DC. That's something else to think about actually, the DC's. I suppose for the goal oriented organizing at a store is obviously not enough, not even talking radical strategy I just don't think anyone thinks its enough which is good news. Past that, organizing within a district is possible but what of outreach to the distribution centers? Aren't a lot of DC's not affiliated at all with the stores they pack and ship to? I think reaching out to the distribution centers to see if there is any reception there would be a good idea because then there'd be leverage from the store exchange/service level as well as at a distribution level. I hope there continues to be an atmosphere of non-compromise with mgmt and corporate offices but I am skeptical that this will become just another bureaucratic business process amidst the company's already going-on's. I've worked dc/warehouse/retail as a main jobs my entire life and retail is long overdue for a wave of radical action.

[blake 3:17]

:star:

Here's a link to events June 1 - 7 : http://corporateactionnetwork.org/campaigns/june-7th-associate-appreciation-day/events?source=20130603_SF_CC_Em

Bring the ruckus!

:star:

[Klaatu]

One of my students is a former WalMart worker. She said that the company actually makes you sign a paper that
you "will not seek employment at a competitor." If this is true, (and I am sure it is,) it can't possibly be legal

What we need is for more WalMart workers to come out and make public these abuses that go on behind closed doors.

Of course, if WalMart had a decent UNION, none of these abuses would happen --- and that's what a union does: protects workers' rights.
Godspeed to these brave workers --- ORGANIZE WALMART!

[blake 3:17]

smash this crap
Temporary Restraint
An Arkansas judge issued an order that temporarily restrains the UFCW International Union, members of OUR Walmart who are not current Associates, and those working in concert with them from entering Walmart property in Arkansas for any purpose other than shopping. The order does not apply to current Associates. A copy of the order is below.

You can see photos of the doc here: http://makingchangeatwalmart.org/temporary-restraint/

[Jimmie Higgins]

Past that, organizing within a district is possible but what of outreach to the distribution centers? Aren't a lot of DC's not affiliated at all with the stores they pack and ship to? I think reaching out to the distribution centers to see if there is any reception there would be a good idea because then there'd be leverage from the store exchange/service level as well as at a distribution level.Yeah, this is really interesting. I haven't been directly involved with the organizing here but other folks I organize with are involved and I've spoken with some of the OUR Walmart organizers.

I think they have a relativly modest immediate goals around here, but I think that the orientation on trying to build up these relationships and seeing it as part of a longer-term thing is the right approach based on how hard it's been for workers to organize at Wal-mart specifically. I think the potential is pretty explosive though and if they are able to get some momentum and many more workers start getting involved, I think it could be something that impacts wider distribution. As a similar question to yours I wonder about how their shipping works, there are tons of drivers moving all that stuff around.

I think around here, there has been some effort to concentrate (due to having supporters spread out throught like half a dozen stores) on a wal-mart run distribution hub as a site for pickets and protests, but I think that's more of a practical idea of not splitting up forces... there's no real idea about trying to impact distribution at this point. But if there was an outright struggle, I think that would be a big question - also the symbolism of wal-mart as sort of the GM of downward mobility could mean even a potential for something at wal-mart becoming a Wisconsin thing but in the workplace where other workers have huge sympathy and possibly actions or support from connected groups of workers like truckers and longshore workers who move the goods.

Or not, of course :lol:. It could go nowhere. But I can't help but think that Walmart is so symbolically linked to what capitalists see as a model to follow and what workers dread right now, that it's a struggle which could have waves if it goes anywhere.


smash this crap
Temporary Restraint
An Arkansas judge issued an order that temporarily restrains the UFCW International Union, members of OUR Walmart who are not current Associates, and those working in concert with them from entering Walmart property in Arkansas for any purpose other than shopping. The order does not apply to current Associates. A copy of the order is below.

You can see photos of the doc here: http://makingchangeatwalmart.org/temporary-restraint/

So does this mean we all have to go in and buy a gumball or bottled water when we're protesting?

Can we go in and pretend we want to buy a TV but then ask for a manager and report a problem with service: "these 'associates' wages are too low to do their job properly! This associate smiled at me as I entered and I was horrified by their lack of dental benifits! How am I supposed to ask for advice about products when the associates are not paid enough to buy any and give me a first-hand view of the product! I demand that something be done about this."

[Ele'ill]

Yeah, this is really interesting. I haven't been directly involved with the organizing here but other folks I organize with are involved and I've spoken with some of the OUR Walmart organizers.

I think they have a relativly modest immediate goals around here, but I think that the orientation on trying to build up these relationships and seeing it as part of a longer-term thing is the right approach based on how hard it's been for workers to organize at Wal-mart specifically. I think the potential is pretty explosive though and if they are able to get some momentum and many more workers start getting involved, I think it could be something that impacts wider distribution. As a similar question to yours I wonder about how their shipping works, there are tons of drivers moving all that stuff around.

Funny enough someone at work and I were talking about this while waiting for the bus today. Big Walmart tractor trailer drove past and it prompted the question since Walmart is so large and has their own phone stuff and busses do they also own their own freight line. That would make things easier albeit less dramatic than cross corporate/contractor solidarity action. I believe the walmart distro centers aren't big shipping hubs contracted out but actually walmart itself, I don't know if any company still contracts out to shipping depo's.


I think around here, there has been some effort to concentrate (due to having supporters spread out throught like half a dozen stores) on a wal-mart run distribution hub as a site for pickets and protests, but I think that's more of a practical idea of not splitting up forces... there's no real idea about trying to impact distribution at this point. But if there was an outright struggle, I think that would be a big question - also the symbolism of wal-mart as sort of the GM of downward mobility could mean even a potential for something at wal-mart becoming a Wisconsin thing but in the workplace where other workers have huge sympathy and possibly actions or support from connected groups of workers like truckers and longshore workers who move the goods.

The problem with this though is that every retail/warehouse job I've had has talked trash on walmart mainly for 'customer service' reasons and their workers have that false stigma branded to them (not that I think this is important from a service perspective or anything) so if the struggle intensifies at all other retail companies are just gonna blow this off as Walmart's finale which is also another thing talked about a lot how Walmart could go under. I guess my fantasy of something big ripping through retail is showing through here.


Or not, of course :lol:. It could go nowhere. But I can't help but think that Walmart is so symbolically linked to what capitalists see as a model to follow and what workers dread right now, that it's a struggle which could have waves if it goes anywhere.

my criticisms are the same as always

[Brandon's Impotent Rage]

Funny enough someone at work and I were talking about this while waiting for the bus today. Big Walmart tractor trailer drove past and it prompted the question since Walmart is so large and has their own phone stuff and busses do they also own their own freight line. That would make things easier albeit less dramatic than cross corporate/contractor solidarity action. I believe the walmart distro centers aren't big shipping hubs contracted out but actually walmart itself, I don't know if any company still contracts out to shipping depo's.

I know that, in the U.S., Wal-Mart does in fact have their own distribution centers. In fact, this whole movement started a couple of summers ago in one of these very distribution centers out in the southwest due to unsafe working conditions and the company's refusal to supply adequate air conditioning (they were regularly working in temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit)

[Klaatu]

So does this mean we all have to go in and buy a gumball or bottled water when we're protesting?

Can we go in and pretend we want to buy a TV but then ask for a manager and report a problem with service: "these 'associates' wages are too low to do their job properly! This associate smiled at me as I entered and I was horrified by their lack of dental benifits! How am I supposed to ask for advice about products when the associates are not paid enough to buy any and give me a first-hand view of the product! I demand that something be done about this."

Around here (Detroit area) some activists were going into Walmart, loading up their shopping cart with goods, and then while at the checkout lane, "suddenly forgetting that they had left their credit card at home, had too little cash, etc," then leaving the store all together, letting the manager know that you disapprove of Walmart's anti-worker policies on your way out the door.

this may sound like a childish ploy, but I've got to admit that it is a peaceful way to protest Walmart's anti-worker policies.

[Brandon's Impotent Rage]

For the sake of information, I want to describe my experience as a Wal-Mart associate, just so it can be made clear what the average WM associate has to go through:


I worked for a year and a half as a Deli Associate. Whenever you go into a Wal-Mart Superstore in the U.S., there is a large section in the left side of the store known as the Fresh Area. This is where all of the fresh seafood, produce and specialty foods are kept. In the back of this section there is a large area that acts as both a Deli and a Backery (they share the same workspace, even though they're technically different departments).

In the Deli, we worked in a high traffic area, constantly cooking and serving fresh foods to the customers, on top of slicing meats and cheeses to order. With the rotisserie oven, the fryer, AND the hot foods container all going at the same time, the temperature would regularly be up to 95 degrees Fahrenheit (and during the summer it was even worse). We were not allowed to have any kind of fresh water or cold drinks with us inside the Deli due to 'sanitary reasons'. If it got too hot, we were told to take a minute in the cooler, which was one of the areas where we kept foods at a cool temperature. Many times we were forced to use one of the Deli cups (containers we used to serve things like collard greens, okra, pudding, etc.) and fill it up with cold water from the hand-washing station in order to get fresh water. This could be a hazard, because if a manager caught you doing this, you could be terminated immediately.

Aside from the cooler, we also had a freezer. Every week, one had to refill the cooler with supplies, which came in these 40-50 pound boxes of frozen food. These would be delivered to us on these old, rickety wooden pallets, and stored in the Bakery's walk-in freezer. Sometimes these pallets were so overloaded that, when one attempted to use a pallet jack in order to move it, the weight on the pallet would be so great that it would actually break. These boxes would be then loaded about four to six at a time on what was called an air-cart or a silvercart. One would then take these over into the Deli's freezer to stack them up.

Only problem is that the threshold of the freezer's door had an enormous, gaping crack right in the very center, making it virtually impossible to get these aircarts (remember, fully loaded) without doing some extra, unnecessary lifting. And I do mean 'lifting'. One would have to literally grab the sides of the cart and lift it up using brute strength. On my very first day, I was almost crushed by a bunch of boxes due to this problem

And don't even get me started on the equipment we used. The baskets used for the fryer were coming apart, threatening to splash down in hot grease and give whatever unlucky bastard was nearby a horrible burn. And the fryer itself was well over a decade old (I don't even know of a frigging McDonald's that keeps a fryer that long). Unlike more recent fryers that actively pump out old grease to a waiting tank outside of the building, THIS old dinosaur had to by physically emptied of grease into this wheeled contraption that was rusted, sticky and with two busted wheels. This contraption would then have to be wheeled halfway through the store (remember, this grease was still quite hot) into a waiting pumping tank. And you better pray to whatever god you may believe in that that pump was working, because otherwise you would have to put all of this shit into a bunch of plastic buckets that would then have to be wheeled out to the tank itself.

And for every busted piece of equipment we had, there was a piece of equipment we desperately need, even legally required to have that we NEVER GOT. Insulated gloves in order to get roasted chickens out of the rotisserie? We didn't have those, so we had to either use a pair of tongs or our own hands. A sharpener for the meat slicers? We didn't have those, so we had to get the blades replaced every three months. Five leather matts for the workers to stand on so as to prevent back and foot injurty? (remember, we were on our feet for four hours or more at a time). We had two, neither of which were in the areas where they were needed most.

In fact, it was this last problem that eventually caused me to walk off the job and never return, due to a foot injury. This also coupled with incompetent supervisors, corrupt managers, outright intimidation for those who criticized the present store regieme, and forcing workers to take part in unethical behavior (like being guilt tripped into working over one's appointed hours, which is a firing offense), and a corporate office that ignored us on one end, and crushed us with arbitrary nickel-and-diming on the other.



...So, yeah, Pity the average Wal-Mart worker. It is a pitiable existence.

[blake 3:17]

Walmart worker tells why she is striking
ORLANDO, Fla. - A busload of fellow Walmart workers along with community supporters stood with Walmart worker Lisa Lopez here on May 29 as she informed her store managers that she was going on strike.

The workers also handed out fliers to customers in support of a worker at a Walmart in St. Cloud, Fla., (about 30 miles from Orlando) who was fired a few weeks ago in retaliation for her participation in OURWalmart - Organization United for Respect at Walmart.

"I'm striking today for the retaliation that I receive in this store and the [working conditions] that we face today," Lopez said outside the east Orlando store.

A short rally ended with the workers chanting: "We're going on strike! / We're going to see Mike!" That was a reference to Walmart CEO Mike Duke, who was paid $20.7 million in 2012 (an increase of 14 percent over his 2011 compensation).

A delegation accompanied Lopez into the store, where she was met by several managers who stood sullenly as she read them a letter that began:

"Today, we, the Associates whose signatures appear below, are on strike. We are not reporting to work to protest Walmart's attempts to silence Associates who have spoken out in against things like Walmart's low take home pay, unpredictable work schedules, unaffordable health benefits, and Walmart's retaliation against those Associates who have spoken out. These Associates are members of OURWalmart and they will not be silenced.

"It is illegal to attempt to silence and retaliate against them. Unfair labor practices charges have been filed with the National Labor Relations Board for Walmart's violations of the National Labor Relations Act," the letter continued.

"Any adverse actions that Walmart takes against us for not reporting to work would constitute additional violations of the NLRA and ULPs. This would include any hours that Walmart cuts, any unwanted changes in schedules, unwanted transfers, demotions or attempts to permanently replace us."

The letter warned that these actions would result in the filing of further unfair labor practices complaints with the NLRB.

Unlike previous OURWalmart actions at this store, managers did not have sheriff's deputies on hand to arrest protesters.

...

Vanessa Ferreira, 59, was a cake decorator in the bakery at the St. Cloud, Fla., Walmart for eight years. She was terminated on May 18 in retaliation for what she believes was her activism with OURWalmart. She had joined in March 2012 because she wanted respect, better wages and more consistent scheduling. (The company claims her firing was due to Ferreira taking extended breaks.) Ferreira was paid $11.90 an hour, which she says was less than the $13 she earned for doing the same job at a grocery store in Connecticut 16 years ago.

"Walmart does not want you to say anything," Ferreira told The Huffington Post. "They don't want you to ask questions. They want you to sit there and obey. When you start asking questions, they start retaliating."

http://peoplesworld.org/walmart-worker-tells-why-she-is-striking/

[Klaatu]

http://images.elephantjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/union.jpg

Sally Field is awesome in this movie: "Norma Rae"... a must-see for all workers, both union and nonunion

I love this scene, where everyone has the guts to switch off their machines in protest of the hazardous working conditions (spoiler-alert)

[blake 3:17]

Striking Worker and Bangladesh Activist Address Thousands at Walmart Shareholder Meeting
Josh Eidelson on June 7, 2013 - 7:23 PM ET

Read more: http://www.thenation.com/blog/174724/striking-worker-and-bangladesh-activist-address-walmart-shareholders#ixzz2VawvWIXo

FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas - A striking retail worker and a Bangladesh labor activist today made their case from the floor of Walmart’s shareholder meeting, addressing thousands of workers and stock-owners and countering what was otherwise a highly-scripted celebration of the largest private company in the world.

Thousands of Walmart shareholders and employees settled into their seats before 7 CST this morning, nearly filling the University of Arkansas’ Bud Walton arena as a band on stage played “We Are Family” and “I Will Survive.” An LCD display above the balcony displayed chosen tweets, like “Celebrating my birthday today with 14,000 of my friends” – a reference to the Walmart employees from around the world flown to Arkansas by management to attend the meeting. Also present: Some of the hundred striking members of the union-backed group OUR Walmart, granted admission because they owned shares or had been designated to attend by others who did (other strikers were in neighboring Missouri, holding actions inside and outside stores to protest alleged retaliation against an activist).

What followed was something like a cross between a Hollywood awards ceremony and a political convention: surprise celebrity appearances, storytelling from the stage about individuals seated in the crowd, and ample references to opportunity, service, and the American dream.

(I attempted to obtain media credentials from Walmart beginning in March, and was notified by a spokesperson in May that the company was denying my request due to “the limited number of media that is invited to attend…” I obtained access to the meeting using shareholder proxy authorization from the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project, a New York City non-profit which owns Walmart stock; I did not vote.)

The meeting was emceed by actor Hugh Jackman, who cracked jokes (one involved a superhero movie featuring “the greatest villains anyone in history has ever faced: the IRS auditors”); sang songs (including “Who Am I?”, one of the non-revolutionary Les Miserables numbers), and introduced fellow celebs, who included Tom Cruise, John Legend, and Jennifer Hudson. Walmart executives were generally introduced by rank-and-file Walmart employees, the constituency at which most of the day’s content was directed.

CEO Lee Scott and a string of other officials heaped words of praise and gratitude on the company’s workforce, individually and collectively. And while they made time to tout the company’s financial performance and philanthropic contributions, they returned most often to the theme that, in Scott’s words, “No company provides opportunities to more people to go from where they are, to where they want to be, than Walmart.” Whereas “government jobs are known for their stability,” Walmart US President Bill Simon told the crowd, and other jobs for other features, “what makes Walmart special is the opportunity.” To illustrate this point, he called up two employees who had recently applied for promotions, and then offered them the jobs on the spot.

The only disruption to that message came during the legally-required formal business of the meeting, which included the presentation of four resolutions submitted by shareholders and opposed by the company. The non-binding resolutions – involving corporate governance, board member stock retention, the board’s independence, and compensation clawbacks tied to misconduct - were backed by large institutional investors, including major union pension funds. Two of the four were presented by activists who’ve spent the past week protesting against Walmart.

The first was introduced by Kalpona Akter, a former garment worker who now directs the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity. Akter and her colleagues have repeatedly been jailed in Bangladesh over what human rights groups allege were spurious charges design to suppress labor organizing; Akter told The Nation in April that she currently faces a new round of charges, some of them brought by factories that contract for Walmart. Akter’s address to the Bud Walton auditorium focused on the April building collapse and November fire that killed workers in Bangladesh factories where Walmart clothes have been sewn. “Forgive me,” said Akter, “but for years every time there’s a tragedy Walmart officials have made promises to improve the terrible conditions in my country’s garment factories, yet the tragedies continue. With all due respect, the time for empty promises is over.”

Akter was followed by OUR Walmart member Janet Sparks, whose co-workers say she’s been the driving force behind the current strike by six employees in her Baker, Louisiana store. Three shareholder meetings ago, before joining OUR Walmart, Sparks was among the workers flown to Arkansas by management. Reading slowly and steadily from her statement, Sparks described a company that understaffed, underpaid, and over-relied on temps. “So when I think about the fact that our CEO Mike Duke made over $20 million last year,” she said, “more than one thousand times the average Walmart associate, with all due respect, I have to say, I don’t think that right.” A handful of OUR Walmart members cheered. (“I was so nervous,” Sparks told The Nation later.) A few sentences later, when Sparks contrasted Dukes’ millions in bonuses with sparse and paltry bonuses paid out in her store, a few attendees elsewhere in the arena tried to start a chant of of “USA! USA!”

Adding that “we can do better,” she quoted Walmart founder Sam Walton: “Listen to the Associates!” A small group of striking workers, who had gained access to the meeting either based on their own stock ownership or through proxy authorization from others, cheered a few times during Sparks’ remarks. Mid-way through Sparks’ comments, a handful of other attendees attempted to start a chant of “USA! USA!” After she asked the crowd “if you can honestly say our company is doing the best we can for customers and associates,” Board Chairman Rob Walton cut in to point out she’d exceeded her designated three minutes. Sparks closed shortly after with a quote from Sam Walton: “Listen to the associates.”

After the four shareholder resolutions had been presented, Rob Walton thanked the presenters, with little apparent enthusiasm, for “your engagement and interest in the company.” Then the hall was bathed in pink and blue light as musician Prince Royce took the stage to sing “Stand By Me.” As expected, by the meeting’s end, all Walmart-supported proposals had won majority support, and those that management opposed had failed. That news, announced by Rob Walton, brought a burst of applause. (The Walton family controls about half of Walmart’s available stock.)

After last year’s shareholder meeting, top company executives gathered on the arena’s floor to take questions from any shareholders who approached them; OUR Walmart workers took that opportunity to go in groups and confront them about their grievances. But this year, the company opted instead to offer shareholders one-on-one sessions with company representatives elsewhere in the building, a move which workers said parallels management’s repeated offers for human resources staff to meet with workers individually but not in groups. Rather than take individual meetings with less-senior staff, a group of strikers quickly presented a Walmart investor relations official in the hallway with petitions signed by supporters. Then they left the building with a brief chant of “Whose Walmart? OUR Walmart!” (In contrast, Walmart executives repeatedly referenced “your Walmart” throughout the day.)

The thousands of employees flown in by Walmart left the building soon after the OUR Walmart activists. Asked about the issues Sparks had raised regarding staffing and pay, one said said she had to run to catch a plane, a second said, “I have no complaints about that, pretty much,” and a third said, “I’m not really sure I can talk to you.”

Janet Sparks told The Nation she believes the attention drawn by the strike and today’s shareholder showdown will create an opening to draw more workers into OUR Walmart – including some of those flown to Bentonville by the company. As they return home, said Sparks, “they’re going back to the reality of being over-worked, of being under-staffed, of not being able to pay their bills and feed their families.” As for herself, she said, once she returns to work this weekend after several days on strike, “I’m ready to do even more.”

OUR Walmart organizers and workers who’d attended past shareholder meetings said they were struck by how much more of this year’s gathering was directed at the hearts and minds of employees, and by how executives’ messaging seemed designed to neutralize OUR Walmart’s allegations about scheduling, compensation, and respect. While executives didn’t mention OUR Walmart today by name, said Richmond, California, strike Pamela Davis, “Everything that we said that they are, they were saying they’re not.” (Walmart this week dismissed OUR Walmart’s protests as a “union-organized publicity stunt” with “a small and insignificant amount of associates participating.”)

Several strikers left the meeting frustrated by what they saw as the gaps between rhetoric and reality, or between the cost of the convention and the every-day cheapness of the company. Seattle striker Sara Gilbert said that the Walmart hunger-alleviation agenda touted by Tom Cruise rang hollow: “They said Walmart’s going to donate a million dinners for American people that are hungry, and they’re going to bring them to their local food bank. And the saddest thing is that their associates are going to be going to those same food banks to get that food.”

Gilbert told The Nation she found it “depressing” and “disgusting” to see the Walmart revenue lavished on the event. “I never want to go again,” she said. “Next year, I’ll be out in the stores doing actions and stuff instead.” Still, Gilbert said Walmart had shown it was starting to sweat: “Obviously they’re listening because they’re scared. We’ve just got to work harder.”

[blake 3:17]

Striking Worker and Bangladesh Activist Address Thousands at Walmart Shareholder Meeting
Josh Eidelson on June 7, 2013 - 7:23 PM ET

Read more: http://www.thenation.com/blog/174724/striking-worker-and-bangladesh-activist-address-walmart-shareholders#ixzz2VawvWIXo

FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas - A striking retail worker and a Bangladesh labor activist today made their case from the floor of Walmart’s shareholder meeting, addressing thousands of workers and stock-owners and countering what was otherwise a highly-scripted celebration of the largest private company in the world.

Thousands of Walmart shareholders and employees settled into their seats before 7 CST this morning, nearly filling the University of Arkansas’ Bud Walton arena as a band on stage played “We Are Family” and “I Will Survive.” An LCD display above the balcony displayed chosen tweets, like “Celebrating my birthday today with 14,000 of my friends” – a reference to the Walmart employees from around the world flown to Arkansas by management to attend the meeting. Also present: Some of the hundred striking members of the union-backed group OUR Walmart, granted admission because they owned shares or had been designated to attend by others who did (other strikers were in neighboring Missouri, holding actions inside and outside stores to protest alleged retaliation against an activist).

What followed was something like a cross between a Hollywood awards ceremony and a political convention: surprise celebrity appearances, storytelling from the stage about individuals seated in the crowd, and ample references to opportunity, service, and the American dream.

(I attempted to obtain media credentials from Walmart beginning in March, and was notified by a spokesperson in May that the company was denying my request due to “the limited number of media that is invited to attend…” I obtained access to the meeting using shareholder proxy authorization from the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project, a New York City non-profit which owns Walmart stock; I did not vote.)

The meeting was emceed by actor Hugh Jackman, who cracked jokes (one involved a superhero movie featuring “the greatest villains anyone in history has ever faced: the IRS auditors”); sang songs (including “Who Am I?”, one of the non-revolutionary Les Miserables numbers), and introduced fellow celebs, who included Tom Cruise, John Legend, and Jennifer Hudson. Walmart executives were generally introduced by rank-and-file Walmart employees, the constituency at which most of the day’s content was directed.

CEO Lee Scott and a string of other officials heaped words of praise and gratitude on the company’s workforce, individually and collectively. And while they made time to tout the company’s financial performance and philanthropic contributions, they returned most often to the theme that, in Scott’s words, “No company provides opportunities to more people to go from where they are, to where they want to be, than Walmart.” Whereas “government jobs are known for their stability,” Walmart US President Bill Simon told the crowd, and other jobs for other features, “what makes Walmart special is the opportunity.” To illustrate this point, he called up two employees who had recently applied for promotions, and then offered them the jobs on the spot.

The only disruption to that message came during the legally-required formal business of the meeting, which included the presentation of four resolutions submitted by shareholders and opposed by the company. The non-binding resolutions – involving corporate governance, board member stock retention, the board’s independence, and compensation clawbacks tied to misconduct - were backed by large institutional investors, including major union pension funds. Two of the four were presented by activists who’ve spent the past week protesting against Walmart.

The first was introduced by Kalpona Akter, a former garment worker who now directs the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity. Akter and her colleagues have repeatedly been jailed in Bangladesh over what human rights groups allege were spurious charges design to suppress labor organizing; Akter told The Nation in April that she currently faces a new round of charges, some of them brought by factories that contract for Walmart. Akter’s address to the Bud Walton auditorium focused on the April building collapse and November fire that killed workers in Bangladesh factories where Walmart clothes have been sewn. “Forgive me,” said Akter, “but for years every time there’s a tragedy Walmart officials have made promises to improve the terrible conditions in my country’s garment factories, yet the tragedies continue. With all due respect, the time for empty promises is over.”

Akter was followed by OUR Walmart member Janet Sparks, whose co-workers say she’s been the driving force behind the current strike by six employees in her Baker, Louisiana store. Three shareholder meetings ago, before joining OUR Walmart, Sparks was among the workers flown to Arkansas by management. Reading slowly and steadily from her statement, Sparks described a company that understaffed, underpaid, and over-relied on temps. “So when I think about the fact that our CEO Mike Duke made over $20 million last year,” she said, “more than one thousand times the average Walmart associate, with all due respect, I have to say, I don’t think that right.” A handful of OUR Walmart members cheered. (“I was so nervous,” Sparks told The Nation later.) A few sentences later, when Sparks contrasted Dukes’ millions in bonuses with sparse and paltry bonuses paid out in her store, a few attendees elsewhere in the arena tried to start a chant of of “USA! USA!”

Adding that “we can do better,” she quoted Walmart founder Sam Walton: “Listen to the Associates!” A small group of striking workers, who had gained access to the meeting either based on their own stock ownership or through proxy authorization from others, cheered a few times during Sparks’ remarks. Mid-way through Sparks’ comments, a handful of other attendees attempted to start a chant of “USA! USA!” After she asked the crowd “if you can honestly say our company is doing the best we can for customers and associates,” Board Chairman Rob Walton cut in to point out she’d exceeded her designated three minutes. Sparks closed shortly after with a quote from Sam Walton: “Listen to the associates.”

After the four shareholder resolutions had been presented, Rob Walton thanked the presenters, with little apparent enthusiasm, for “your engagement and interest in the company.” Then the hall was bathed in pink and blue light as musician Prince Royce took the stage to sing “Stand By Me.” As expected, by the meeting’s end, all Walmart-supported proposals had won majority support, and those that management opposed had failed. That news, announced by Rob Walton, brought a burst of applause. (The Walton family controls about half of Walmart’s available stock.)

After last year’s shareholder meeting, top company executives gathered on the arena’s floor to take questions from any shareholders who approached them; OUR Walmart workers took that opportunity to go in groups and confront them about their grievances. But this year, the company opted instead to offer shareholders one-on-one sessions with company representatives elsewhere in the building, a move which workers said parallels management’s repeated offers for human resources staff to meet with workers individually but not in groups. Rather than take individual meetings with less-senior staff, a group of strikers quickly presented a Walmart investor relations official in the hallway with petitions signed by supporters. Then they left the building with a brief chant of “Whose Walmart? OUR Walmart!” (In contrast, Walmart executives repeatedly referenced “your Walmart” throughout the day.)

The thousands of employees flown in by Walmart left the building soon after the OUR Walmart activists. Asked about the issues Sparks had raised regarding staffing and pay, one said said she had to run to catch a plane, a second said, “I have no complaints about that, pretty much,” and a third said, “I’m not really sure I can talk to you.”

Janet Sparks told The Nation she believes the attention drawn by the strike and today’s shareholder showdown will create an opening to draw more workers into OUR Walmart – including some of those flown to Bentonville by the company. As they return home, said Sparks, “they’re going back to the reality of being over-worked, of being under-staffed, of not being able to pay their bills and feed their families.” As for herself, she said, once she returns to work this weekend after several days on strike, “I’m ready to do even more.”

OUR Walmart organizers and workers who’d attended past shareholder meetings said they were struck by how much more of this year’s gathering was directed at the hearts and minds of employees, and by how executives’ messaging seemed designed to neutralize OUR Walmart’s allegations about scheduling, compensation, and respect. While executives didn’t mention OUR Walmart today by name, said Richmond, California, strike Pamela Davis, “Everything that we said that they are, they were saying they’re not.” (Walmart this week dismissed OUR Walmart’s protests as a “union-organized publicity stunt” with “a small and insignificant amount of associates participating.”)

Several strikers left the meeting frustrated by what they saw as the gaps between rhetoric and reality, or between the cost of the convention and the every-day cheapness of the company. Seattle striker Sara Gilbert said that the Walmart hunger-alleviation agenda touted by Tom Cruise rang hollow: “They said Walmart’s going to donate a million dinners for American people that are hungry, and they’re going to bring them to their local food bank. And the saddest thing is that their associates are going to be going to those same food banks to get that food.”

Gilbert told The Nation she found it “depressing” and “disgusting” to see the Walmart revenue lavished on the event. “I never want to go again,” she said. “Next year, I’ll be out in the stores doing actions and stuff instead.” Still, Gilbert said Walmart had shown it was starting to sweat: “Obviously they’re listening because they’re scared. We’ve just got to work harder.”

[blake 3:17]

See #WalmartStrikers and @ChangeWalmart on twitter to keep up

[G4b3n]

Around here (Detroit area) some activists were going into Walmart, loading up their shopping cart with goods, and then while at the checkout lane, "suddenly forgetting that they had left their credit card at home, had too little cash, etc," then leaving the store all together, letting the manager know that you disapprove of Walmart's anti-worker policies on your way out the door.

this may sound like a childish ploy, but I've got to admit that it is a peaceful way to protest Walmart's anti-worker policies.

That would do nothing but generate unnecessary labor for the worker.
You are fooling yourself if you think the manager is going to put the goods back in place.

[blake 3:17]

About 35 workers have been fired for organizing efforts in the past few days. Will try to find out more.

Edited to add: Josh Eidelman does it again. Dude's great: http://www.thenation.com/blog/174937/firing-5-walmart-strikers-condemned-rep-ellison-completely-unjust-and-illegal#

[blake 3:17]

Wal-Mart Employees Blasted Marissa Mayer At Yahoo's Shareholder Meeting Today


This morning, Yahoo held its first annual shareholder meeting since Marissa Mayer took over as CEO last year.
After a presentation on Yahoo's plans and products, Mayer and her top executives took questions from the shareholders present.

That's when it got awkward.

Three of the first few shareholders stood up, announced that they were also current or former Wal-Mart employees, and asked Mayer why she wasn't a better advocate for them on Wal-Mart's board of directors, where she holds a seat.

Mayer declined to respond to their questions.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-employees-blasted-marissa-mayer-at-yahoos-shareholder-meeting-today-2013-6#ixzz2XKwj7PgF

[G4b3n]

Wal-Mart Employees Blasted Marissa Mayer At Yahoo's Shareholder Meeting Today


This morning, Yahoo held its first annual shareholder meeting since Marissa Mayer took over as CEO last year.
After a presentation on Yahoo's plans and products, Mayer and her top executives took questions from the shareholders present.

That's when it got awkward.

Three of the first few shareholders stood up, announced that they were also current or former Wal-Mart employees, and asked Mayer why she wasn't a better advocate for them on Wal-Mart's board of directors, where she holds a seat.

Mayer declined to respond to their questions.





Thank you for keeping us informed.
I only wish these issues could be made more public to apply some pressure.

[Ceallach_the_Witch]

I really hope this inspires more people to take action against their exploitation - perhaps we'll even see people joining unions again

[blake 3:17]

Thank you for keeping us informed.
I only wish these issues could be made more public to apply some pressure.

Some of it is being kept kinda quiet because of legal and individuals issues. But...

www.facebook.com/MakingChangeWMT

Or if you google 'Walmart strike' there's a bunch and best stuff is at the top.

These folks are taking it on with some support from unions and now elected officials, but not much. You can do your own support! Or look to other service industries that could use a little solidarity...

[blake 3:17]

Wal-Mart says it will pull out of D.C. plans should city mandate ‘living wage’

Ken Jacobs, chairman of the University of California at Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education, who has investigated Wal-Mart’s wage policies, said the firm has opposed living-wage laws and other measures that target its business practices, particularly in urban markets.

“When asked about labor law, they generally say, we follow the laws of the jurisdiction in which we’re operating,” he said. “But it’s also clear when they say that, that they put a lot of weight on shaping the laws in the jurisdictions where they are operating.”

Graphic

The D.C. Council bill would require retailers with corporate sales of $1 billion or more and operating in spaces 75,000 square feet or larger to pay their employees no less than $12.50 an hour. The city’s minimum wage is $8.25.

(​)

One prominent local proponent of the D.C. Council bill said the fight is properly placed in a national context. “We have learned from Chicago; we have learned from New York City,” said Joslyn N. Williams, president of the Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO. “Our fight here is not just a local fight. ”

The bill, known as the Large Retailer Accountability Act, passed the council on an initial 8 to 5 vote last month. The council would need nine votes to override a potential veto from Gray, who lobbied Wal-Mart to open a store at the Skyland Town Center site, near his Hillcrest home.

Wal-Mart’s decision did not appear likely to change any votes, but lawmakers said they were dismayed by the timing. Vincent B. Orange (D-At Large), a backer of the bill, said the announcement revealed its “true character.”

“For them to now stick guns to council members’ heads is unfortunate and regrettable,” he said.

But colleague Yvette M. Alexander (D-Ward 7), who represents an area slated for two stores and opposes the bill, said she was “angry and upset” about the message, delivered by Keith Morris, Wal-Mart’s director of public affairs and government relations. “That means back to the drawing board for Ward 7 unless there’s a vote in opposition,” she said. “This is going to just about ruin two major development plans in Ward 7.”

It was a sentiment echoed by her constituents. Karen Williams, president of the Hillcrest Community Civic Association, said she was “very disappointed” to hear Wal-Mart could pull out of the Skyland site.

“We have been working on making this project a reality for over 23 years,” she said. “We finally felt that we were so close to having it built. . . . Even though there are people who are not exactly Wal-Mart fans, we all want the project to move forward.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/wal-mart-says-it-will-pull-out-of-dc-plans-should-city-mandate-living-wage/2013/07/09/4fa7e710-e8d0-11e2-a301-ea5a8116d211_story_1.html

[Klaatu]

Wal-Mart says it will pull out of D.C. plans should city mandate ‘living wage’...


If we raise the minimum wage to $15.00 per hour, maybe the bastards will pull out of America all together (who needs 'em anyway?)

[blake 3:17]

Fired Walmart Workers Arrested at Rally Announcing Labor Day Deadline
Josh Eidelson on August 22, 2013 - 2:33 PM ET

Nine fired workers and a current employee were arrested around 2:30 pm Thursday after locking arms and sitting in front of the entrance to a Washington, DC, Walmart office. The planned act of civil disobedience concluded a noon rally at which workers announced a Labor Day deadline for Walmart to raise wages and reinstate workers they allege were fired for their activism. Twenty workers who joined a June strike by the labor group OUR Walmart have since been terminated; another fifty-some have been otherwise disciplined by Walmart.

“Hopefully it opens Walmart’s eyes and lets them know that this is just the beginning,” OUR Walmart activist Barbara Collins told The Nation prior to her arrest. If Walmart doesn’t meet the Labor Day deadline, she said yesterday, “then we’re going to give them a lot more actions, a lot stronger actions, a lot bolder ones. And it’ll be across the country.”

Collins was fired by Walmart in June, after protesting fellow strikers’ firings by participating in civil disobedience at the headquarters of Yahoo! CEO and Walmart Board Member Marissa Mayer. As The Nation first reported, this wave of alleged retaliation—the most serious to face OUR Walmart since its founding two years ago—began two weeks after workers concluded a weeklong work stoppage and caravan to the company’s Arkansas shareholder meeting. OUR Walmart is closely tied to the United Food and Commercial Workers union.

Organizers say hundreds of supporters joined this afternoon’s rally to demand Walmart cease retaliation and offer full-time jobs that pay a minimum of $25,000 a year. Chants included “Whose Walmart? OUR Walmart!” and “If we don’t get it, shut it down!” In live video posted online by the campaign, people in suits could be seen stepping over the human chain of seated ex-workers to enter the Walmart office. According to the campaign, arrests took place following three warnings issued over a bullhorn by police; participants in the civil disobedience were individually escorted to a nearby area where they were issued citations for a misdemeanor of blocking a passage, and then released.

http://www.thenation.com/blog/175875/fired-walmart-workers-arrested-rally-announcing-labor-day-deadline#

[Sasha]

13 strikers arrested in Renton by fucking SWAT stormtroopers:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BTa6kAjCQAA0YF5.jpg

:mad:

[Sasha]

seems that the image posting function is down, here is the link: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BTa6kAjCQAA0YF5.jpg