Walmart Workers Promise Biggest Black Friday Strike Ever
Barbara Gertz, an employee from Denver, Colorado, said organizers are expecting to see protests in 1,600 stores. While they don’t yet have a headcount of how many workers will strike or in how many cities, she said they’ve gotten calls “every day” from employees who want to join in. Protests will hit Los Angeles and a number of other major metropolitan areas. Employees at more than 2,100 Walmart stores across the country have signed an online petition asking for higher wages and better working conditions.
Gertz explained why she’s planning to take part. “There have been many times my family can’t even afford the gas to get me back and forth to work, so my husband had to wait in the car to take me home after work,” she said on a call with the press. “Every time one of us speaks out for change, we take the risk that Walmart will fire us. That’s not right and that’s not legal. That’s why we’re going on strike.” The National Labor Relations Board has backed up some of the claims of retaliation against organizing workers.
She noted that while the company has made some changes — it has announced an increase in the wage for its lowest-paid employees above the federal floor of $7.25 an hour, overhauled its scheduling program, and made some changes for pregnant employees — “associates are still struggling and our stores are still understaffed.” Striking Walmart workers have been calling for $15 an hour, more full-time work, and an end to retaliation to those trying to form a union over the past two years, and those demands were repeated on Thursday as they staged the first-ever sit-in strike.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/11/14/3592556/walmart-black-friday-2014/
= new reply since forum marked as read
This is from Cleveland and says 25%.
I think this is in addition to their normal 10% and varies by store.
I know mom got 40% because she did all of her Christmas shopping for everyone in one day. I was helping her push carts. 
around the store.
Two years ago I joined a Black Friday protest that happened to be the biggest one in the country. I met a lot of good folks, took lots of pics, and posted a report here with photos, including photos of the civil disobedience action and arrests. Several other DU members also posted their pics from other protests around the country. Maybe we should have a new DU photo contest this year...
I happened to pick a protest that was a lot farther away from me than others, on a hunch that it would be a big one--and I was right:
The BEST Wal-Mart Black Friday strike/protest in the country: Paramount, CA (*PIC HEAVY*)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021875581
Find out more from the Our Walmart website, forrespect.org, where you can sign up for email updates:
http://forrespect.org/
You should make your post an OP.
She looks fine to me. 
I don't know why anyone would want to 'shop the photo for this use (though Barr once said, when asked what her old show's characters would be doing in a spinoff, that Becky would be working at Walmart ).
In the past these protests have already involved more than a smattering of employees and lots of stores. Note that it is not a walkout, and most protesting employees are doing this on their own time, not walking off the job, and the protests include Occupiers, union members, students, church groups, and more.
Protests in less populous areas may be small, but in big cities a protest can involve dozens of WM workers and hundreds of supporters. The one I went to in Paramount, California 2 years ago involved more than 1,000 protesters at one Walmart store.
