OUR Walmart Organizes Strikes in Multiple States for Black Friday

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Summary: Employees at Walmarts in at least five states filed notice to their managers that they would be going on strike on Black Friday. 

For the third straight year, Walmart employees in six states formally submitted strike notices to management prior to the Black Friday shopping excitement, according to The Huffington Post.

  

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The strikes are being performed in an effort to receive better wages and hours, according to the group that represents the employees, OUR Walmart.

The group did not say how many employees would be involved in the strikes, but notices were submitted in Louisiana, Wisconsin, California, Florida, Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C.

To read more stories about Walmart, click here.

The group was anticipating that employees in Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Illinois and Texas to do the same.

Charles Brown unloads trucks at the Walmart in Newport News, Virginia. He is also a member of OUR Walmart. Brown said he will skip three shifts this week to take part in the strike.

“Some [other workers] may want to do a strike as well but are hesitant,” Brown said. “They need to know they don’t have anything to be afraid of. If we don’t stand up, no one else is going to stand up for us.”

OUR Walmart is backed by the United Food and Commercial Workers, which has been working to unionize Walmart employees for quite some time now.

To read more about the United Food and Commercial Workers, click here.

“Perception is not reality in this case,” said Brooke Buchanan, a Walmart spokeswoman. “Year after year we see the labor union and paid organizers promising they’ll be out in force. And every year, we see a handful of people at a handful of stores.”

Buchanan, who mentioned that employees receive a holiday bonus, also offered the following question to Walmart and UFCW, “Are they going to pay their workers double time for working the holiday?”

A large chunk of the protests are centered around a lack of hours for employees. Despite these protests, the company claims that the majority of its workforce is full-time, but has never provided data to support the argument.

A Washington, D.C. employee of Walmart, Glova Scott, said, “It’s hard. We work in an atmosphere where the pay doesn’t make ends meet, and a lot of my co-workers think the solution is to look for another job rather than try to improve conditions. I joined because I wanted to be part of a movement. I’m looking forward to going back to work and encouraging my co-workers to join me.”

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