[For video of Walmart workers' actions, see these clips provided by the good people at CrooksAndLiars.com of actions in
Florida and
Wisconsin -- moderator.]
Retail giant Walmart hit by protests and staff walkouts on Black Friday, the busiest shopping day in the retail calendar
Protesters demonstrate outside a Walmart store in Chicago on Black Friday, traditionally the busiest shopping day in the US. Photograph: John Gress/Reuters Retail giant Walmart has been hit by protests and staff walkouts at stores across the US on Black Friday, the busiest shopping day in the retail calendar.
The actions began Thursday, as workers protested the retail giant's decision to open on Thanksgiving, which is traditionally a national holiday, and what they claim are attempts by Walmart to silence protests from workers. Industrial action continued Friday, with organisers claiming 1,000 protests in 46 states.
Walmart workers in Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, Wisconsin, California's Bay Area, Chicago, Washington DC and other cities took part in the walk out, protesting wages and work conditions. The demonstrations were co-ordinated by OUR Walmart, a workers' group that last month led the first strikes that the retail giant had experienced.
OUR Walmart workers claimed the retailer was intimidating those who protest working conditions at the retailer.
Walmart countered that it had had its best Black Friday ever and that the majority of protesters were not Walmart workers.
"Only 26 protests occurred at stores last night and many of them did not include any Walmart associates," said Bill Simon, Walmart's US president and chief executive officer. "We had very safe and successful Black Friday events at our stores across the country and heard overwhelmingly positive feedback from our customers," Simon said.
He added that the retailer estimated less than 50 Walmart workers had taken part in the protests. "In fact, this year, roughly the same number of associates missed their scheduled shift as last year," Simon said.
But protesters disputed the retailer's numbers.
Dan Schlademan, director at lobby group Making Change at Walmart, said "hundreds and hundreds" of workers were taking action.
He said as a result of protests, Walmart workers had seen their employment terminated, threatened with having their hours cut and that the labor board was now investigating 35 specific violations of the national labor relations act.
Schlademan said more actions were planned for the holiday season. "This has been an amazing moment but we are just at the starting point of what we are doing," he said.
Mary Pat Tifft, an OUR Walmart member and 24-year associate who led a protest on Thursday evening in Kenosha, Wisconsin. said: "For Walmart associates this has been the best Black Friday ever. We stood together for respect across the country."
"Walmart has spent the last 50 years pushing its way on workers and communities. In just one year, leaders of OUR Walmart and Warehouse Workers United have begun to prove that change is coming to the world's largest employer."
"Our voices are being heard," said Colby Harris, an OUR Walmart member and three-year associate who walked off the job in Lancaster, Texas, on Thursday evening. "And thousands of people in our cities and towns and all across the country are joining our calls for change at Walmart. We are overwhelmed by the support and proud of what we've achieved so quickly and about where we are headed."
Following Interview With Company's Spokesman, Banner Ad Explains Show Is "Brought To You By Walmart"
Matt Gertz
November 19, 2012
Fox News ran a segment sponsored by Walmart that defended that company from workers who are planning a Black Friday strike.
In an interview with a Walmart spokesperson about the planned strike, Fox News' Stuart Varney did not mention the concerns of the company's workers, instead praising the company for "taking on" unions, asking if they planned to fire striking workers, and plugging the company's charitable efforts following Hurricane Sandy. Following the segment, Fox News ran a banner ad explaining that "this program is brought to you by Walmart," followed by an advertisement for the company's Black Friday promotion.
Bloomberg Businessweek wrote of the wave of strikes leading up to Black Friday:
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 (WMT) 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.
Workers are reportedly particularly angered that Walmart will open at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, part of a general move by large retailers to extend their Black Friday hours. Indeed, the advertisement that followed the Fox News segment labeled the store "the first and only place to go this Black Friday."
Walmart has responded to the protests by filing a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board alleging that the strikes are illegally being led by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.
At no point in the November 19 segment on Fox's Your World did Varney mention the purpose of the strikes, instead asking only the following questions of guest David Tovar, the company's vice president of communications:
"David, you've taken on the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, I believe. You've filed this complaint against them. Is that enough to stop any walkout the day after Thanksgiving? Our viewers, maybe some Walmart shoppers, they want to know, are they gonna hit these roadblocks?"
"Now you've filed a complaint against the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. You said 'hey, stop messing around with our business.' Can you sue them? Can you take them for any money if your complaint is valid?"
"Yeah, David, I got it. I know you're out there doing your best for Walmart. But look, can you stop these protests? Will this complaint, this labor complaint, will it stop the protests?"
"David, I want to know how sharp-edged you're going to be. You've got a fight on your hands. I want to know how rough Walmart's gonna be. For example, if some of your workers walk out, walk off the job on Black Friday, will you fire them?"
"Would you agree with me that you're in for four tough years, because this administration is no friend to Walmart?"
"One last one: the storm, Hurricane Sandy in the Northeast area, New York in particular. You're not allowed to do business in New York City and yet, I believe, you were handing out a lot of stuff to the victims of Sandy. Is that correct?"
Varney has an extensive record of attacks on unions, asking in January 2011 if American workers would resort to "violence in the streets" in response to potential service cuts in California.
On Saturday, MSNBC's Up with Chris Hayes ran extensive reports on the planned strike. According to Hayes, Walmart had informed the program that the company had no one available to appear on-air.
