RFP Staff
♦ Will Salisbury’s number one retailer Walmart Super Center be hit by “Black Friday” protests planned by a group of Walmart employees who hope to disrupt some 1,600 Walmart stores across the United States on the largest shopping day of the year? The protest group, mostly centered in Western states, hopes to draw attention to the national debate over the movement to raise the minimum wage. The same group of Walmart activists brought protests last year to an estimated 1,200 to 1,400 Walmart stores on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.
Recently 23 people were arrested outside a Los Angeles area Walmart protesting what they say were the company’s alleged low wages and retaliation against employees demanding better working conditions.
A group identifying themselves as The United Food and Commercial Workers International (UFCW) operating in California staged a sit-down the Crenshaw neighborhood of Los Angeles. They want Walmart to change their pregnancy policy, provide more work hours, and phase out its minimum wage jobs.
A Walmart spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan, in responding to complaints, said Walmart has a record of not retaliating against workers who strike or protest. She further maintained that few Walmart associates participated in the protests.
Chief Executive Douglas McMillon of Walmart Stores Inc. said in October that the company would work to phase out minimum wage jobs over time. It is estimated that only 6,000 of its 1.3 million U.S. Workers earn minimum wage. Currently the average hourly wage at a Walmart store is $12.92 compared with the federal minimum wage of $7.25.
Several Walmart employees were approached by RFP staffers several days ago and spoke under the conditions of anonymity. They were unaware of any planned protests locally–they had heard about protests on the West Coast on the national news. All of those interviewed made more than the minimum wage and enjoyed working at the Salisbury store. However, they would welcome more money.
