Wal-Mart workers: Store closings due to plumbing are 'retaliatory'
The retail giant laid off 2,200 workers last week after temporarily closing five stores for plumbing repairs. Workers aren’t buying that rationale.
Wal-Mart workers are fighting back against the retailer’s decision last week to close five stores in four states for what the company says are plumbing repairs.
Workers at the company’s Pico Rivera, Calif. store who are associated with OUR Walmart, a group that advocates for better pay, say the closings are “retaliatory” in nature. They filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board on Monday, claiming that the termination of more than 500 employees at the Pico Rivera Walmart constituted an unfair labor practice.
Last week, the retail giant, which employs 1.3 million workers in the United States, temporarily closed five stores—two in Texas and one each in California, Florida, and Oklahoma—for six months of plumbing repairs. The stores closed at 7 p.m. on April 13, which gave workers just a few hours notice that they were losing their jobs. The company provided two months of paid leave for both full-time and part-time workers. Employees could try to transfer to a different Walmart location during that time. Full-time workers who fail to find another Walmart job are eligible for severance starting June 19, but part-time workers aren’t entitled to that benefit.
https://fortune.com/2015/04/20/walmart-store-closings-plumbing/
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Local officials and employees have questioned Wal-Mart's reasoning for the closures.
According to ABC News, "no plumbing permits have been pulled in any of the five cities where the stores were suddenly closed for at least six months." The cities where locations were closed include: Brandon, Florida; Pico Rivera, California; Livingston, Texas; Midland, Texas; and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
A city official in Pico Rivera confirmed to CBS Los Angeles that the city has not received any permit requests for building repairs.
In Midland, Texas, where another store was closed, a city official told ABC News that his plumbing inspector was turned away when he visited the store and offered to help secure construction permits.
Wal-Mart plumbing technician Codi Bauer, who worked at the now shuttered store in Brandon, Florida, questioned the company's time frame for the repairs.
"Even if they had to replace the whole sewer line, it wouldn't take six months to replace a whole sewer line in that store," he told WFLA.
We reached out to Wal-Mart for comment and will update when we hear back.
A Wal-Mart spokesman told Consumerist that the company had not secured permits "because we have yet to know the full extent of the work that needs to be done. We may also have to do additional upgrades that may require additional permits."
Some employees believe that the stores were closed because of worker protests for higher pay.
Employees of the Pico Rivera store were among the first to hold Black Friday protests in 2012.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/wal-mart-suddenly-closes-stores-2015-4#ixzz3XutPDX2i
