Sep 05, 2013
Today's day of action is the largest since Walmart employees walked off the job on Black Friday last year in a national effort to draw attention to the abysmal working conditions at the nation's largest retail employer.
On Monday, Walmart failed to meet a Labor Day deadline for the ongoing demands set by angry employees which called for the retail giant to reinstate workers who have been fired or disciplined for participating in past strikes and to publicly commit to improving wages and working conditions.
"Walmart, we cannot wait any longer for you to do the right thing for American workers. Our jobs should not be at risk when we speak out about improvements that would help our families and Walmart customers," said a Cindy Murray, a Walmart worker who was recently arrested for protesting at Walmart's DC offices. "Walmart employees like me are not making enough to support our families even though we work at the country's largest company."
As the Guardianreports, thousands of workers and their supporters were expected in Thursday's actions which include a march in Los Angeles and a rally outside the Four Seasons hotel in San Francisco where Marissa Mayer, Yahoo! CEO and Walmart board member, has a penthouse apartment.
Other store protests are expected in Baton Rouge, La., Boston, Mass., Chicago, Ill., Cincinnati, Ohio, Dallas, Texas, Denver, Colo., Los Angeles, Calif., Miami, Fla., Minneapolis, Minn., New York, N.Y., Orlando, Fla., Sacramento, Calif., San Francisco, Calif., Seattle, Wash., and Washington, D.C.
Several arrests of Walmart employees were reported in New York Thursday morning, after the workers attempted to deliver a petition to the New York headquarters of Williams Capital Group, whose chairman, Christopher Williams, is a Walmart board member.
Watch twitter to follow the actions throughout the day:
Tweets about "#walmartstrikers OR #raisethewage"
According to one of the campaign groups who helped organize the protests, Making Change at Walmart, the megastore has illegally disciplined nearly 80 workers since June. Additionally, the union-backed Walmart-workers group OUR Walmart has filed more than 100 Unfair Labor Practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against the store over recent months.
______________________________
An Unconstitutional Rampage
Trump and Musk are on an unconstitutional rampage, aiming for virtually every corner of the federal government. These two right-wing billionaires are targeting nurses, scientists, teachers, daycare providers, judges, veterans, air traffic controllers, and nuclear safety inspectors. No one is safe. The food stamps program, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are next. It’s an unprecedented disaster and a five-alarm fire, but there will be a reckoning. The people did not vote for this. The American people do not want this dystopian hellscape that hides behind claims of “efficiency.” Still, in reality, it is all a giveaway to corporate interests and the libertarian dreams of far-right oligarchs like Musk. Common Dreams is playing a vital role by reporting day and night on this orgy of corruption and greed, as well as what everyday people can do to organize and fight back. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Jacob Chamberlain
Jacob Chamberlain is a former staff writer for Common Dreams. His website is www.jacobpchamberlain.com.
Today's day of action is the largest since Walmart employees walked off the job on Black Friday last year in a national effort to draw attention to the abysmal working conditions at the nation's largest retail employer.
On Monday, Walmart failed to meet a Labor Day deadline for the ongoing demands set by angry employees which called for the retail giant to reinstate workers who have been fired or disciplined for participating in past strikes and to publicly commit to improving wages and working conditions.
"Walmart, we cannot wait any longer for you to do the right thing for American workers. Our jobs should not be at risk when we speak out about improvements that would help our families and Walmart customers," said a Cindy Murray, a Walmart worker who was recently arrested for protesting at Walmart's DC offices. "Walmart employees like me are not making enough to support our families even though we work at the country's largest company."
As the Guardianreports, thousands of workers and their supporters were expected in Thursday's actions which include a march in Los Angeles and a rally outside the Four Seasons hotel in San Francisco where Marissa Mayer, Yahoo! CEO and Walmart board member, has a penthouse apartment.
Other store protests are expected in Baton Rouge, La., Boston, Mass., Chicago, Ill., Cincinnati, Ohio, Dallas, Texas, Denver, Colo., Los Angeles, Calif., Miami, Fla., Minneapolis, Minn., New York, N.Y., Orlando, Fla., Sacramento, Calif., San Francisco, Calif., Seattle, Wash., and Washington, D.C.
Several arrests of Walmart employees were reported in New York Thursday morning, after the workers attempted to deliver a petition to the New York headquarters of Williams Capital Group, whose chairman, Christopher Williams, is a Walmart board member.
Watch twitter to follow the actions throughout the day:
Tweets about "#walmartstrikers OR #raisethewage"
According to one of the campaign groups who helped organize the protests, Making Change at Walmart, the megastore has illegally disciplined nearly 80 workers since June. Additionally, the union-backed Walmart-workers group OUR Walmart has filed more than 100 Unfair Labor Practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against the store over recent months.
______________________________
Jacob Chamberlain
Jacob Chamberlain is a former staff writer for Common Dreams. His website is www.jacobpchamberlain.com.
Today's day of action is the largest since Walmart employees walked off the job on Black Friday last year in a national effort to draw attention to the abysmal working conditions at the nation's largest retail employer.
On Monday, Walmart failed to meet a Labor Day deadline for the ongoing demands set by angry employees which called for the retail giant to reinstate workers who have been fired or disciplined for participating in past strikes and to publicly commit to improving wages and working conditions.
"Walmart, we cannot wait any longer for you to do the right thing for American workers. Our jobs should not be at risk when we speak out about improvements that would help our families and Walmart customers," said a Cindy Murray, a Walmart worker who was recently arrested for protesting at Walmart's DC offices. "Walmart employees like me are not making enough to support our families even though we work at the country's largest company."
As the Guardianreports, thousands of workers and their supporters were expected in Thursday's actions which include a march in Los Angeles and a rally outside the Four Seasons hotel in San Francisco where Marissa Mayer, Yahoo! CEO and Walmart board member, has a penthouse apartment.
Other store protests are expected in Baton Rouge, La., Boston, Mass., Chicago, Ill., Cincinnati, Ohio, Dallas, Texas, Denver, Colo., Los Angeles, Calif., Miami, Fla., Minneapolis, Minn., New York, N.Y., Orlando, Fla., Sacramento, Calif., San Francisco, Calif., Seattle, Wash., and Washington, D.C.
Several arrests of Walmart employees were reported in New York Thursday morning, after the workers attempted to deliver a petition to the New York headquarters of Williams Capital Group, whose chairman, Christopher Williams, is a Walmart board member.
Watch twitter to follow the actions throughout the day:
Tweets about "#walmartstrikers OR #raisethewage"
According to one of the campaign groups who helped organize the protests, Making Change at Walmart, the megastore has illegally disciplined nearly 80 workers since June. Additionally, the union-backed Walmart-workers group OUR Walmart has filed more than 100 Unfair Labor Practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against the store over recent months.
______________________________
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.