Walmart Workers Launch First-Ever 'Prolonged Strikes' Today
Source: The Nation
Josh Eidelson
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 giants 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 countrys first-ever coordinated Walmart store strikes last October, and a high-profile Black Friday walkout November 23. Like Black Fridays, todays 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, Weve seen that Walmart is trying to hold out the best that they can. So Im 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.
Read more: http://www.thenation.com/blog/174551/walmart-workers-launch-first-ever-prolonged-strikes-today#ixzz2UcuYnH3V
FULL story at link.
Read more: http://www.thenation.com/blog/174551/walmart-workers-launch-first-ever-prolonged-strikes-today?rel=emailNation#
Update (5:30 PM EST Tuesday): Dozens of Southern California Walmart retail employees plan to join this week's strike starting Thursday. According to organizers, the employees will rally on Thursday morning in Pico Rivera with supporters including US Congresswoman Judy Chu (D-CA), and warehouse workers employed in Walmart-contracted buildings in the region. The retail workers will take part in the "Ride for Respect," traveling from California to Arizona and New Mexico before arriving in Arkansas. Their caravan will also include two fired warehouse employees, David Garcia and Javier Rodriguez, who allege that their activism cost them their jobs.
Walmart did not immediately respond to The Nation's mid-day request for comment on this morning's strikes. In an interview with MSNBC.com's Ned Resnikoff, a Walmart spokesperson called the strike a "publicity stunt by the unions and the subsidiaries of OUR Walmart."
Read more: http://www.thenation.com/blog/174551/walmart-workers-launch-first-ever-prolonged-strikes-today#ixzz2UcumfRCX
olddots
(10,237 posts)here's hoping Walmart won't be around much longer because it has helped ruin this nation.
There is a story on Huffington regarding Walmart dumping toxic waste
moonbeam23
(312 posts)have been boycotting Mall-Wart for at least 18 years...they need to step up and be the all-american company they pretend to be!
Kingofalldems
(38,458 posts)Skeeter Barnes
(994 posts)"In our hands, we hold a power greater than their hoarded gold".
backscatter712
(26,355 posts)I don't care if you have to drive 200 miles to get to one of Walmart's competitors, fucking do it.
Don't be a scab.
Populist_Prole
(5,364 posts)I'll never patronize that evil empire ever ever.
Canuckistanian
(42,290 posts)If you don't get their respect, TAKE IT.
backscatter712
(26,355 posts)SunSeeker
(51,559 posts)tclambert
(11,087 posts)All the unions should declare war on Wal-Mart. Or rather, they should start fighting the war Wal-Mart declared on unions.
Ikonoklast
(23,973 posts)Their stodgy leadership catered to dwindling industrial trade union membership and mostly ignored the rise of the service sector.
They were pretty quick in taking the retail clerk's dues money, but did little to support the UFCW when asked to help organize WalMart workers almost thirty years ago, while they were growing and it would have been much easier to organize.
There is a good reason that the UFCW is no longer an AFL-CIO affiliate. They were more than willing to take our money from us, but give nothing back in return. We weren't 'skilled tradesmen', so we weren't worth much in their eyes. They barely gave us a seat at the table as to how our money was spent by them.
The AFL-CIO has to take a lot of the blame on the decline in union membership in this country, they did it to themselves. They just refused to see that ALL workers deserve union representation.
The UFCW is currently affiliated with the Change to Win labor coalition.
tardybar
(22 posts)I never shop there
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)upi402
(16,854 posts)I will if they get a contract.
Laelth
(32,017 posts)-Laelth