Walmart Strike Spreads to Texas as Organizers Promise Massive Black Friday Protest

[Omaha Steve]

Source: The Nation

Josh Eidelson

This morning, at 10 am local time, Dallas Walmart store workers are headed back to the picket line. Theirs is the latest in a string of strikes that hit a California warehouse Wednesday and Seattle stores on Thursday. There’s more where that came from: On a Thursday call with reporters, union-backed Walmart worker groups said to expect a thousand strikes or demonstrations spread over nine days, culminating in an unprecedented array of “Black Friday” disruptions. That news follows a major legal settlement by a Walmart contractor that organizers credited to a 2011 sit-in at Hershey’s Chocolate.

Dallas striker Colby Harris emphasized that despite issues with low pay and repeated retaliation, he’s committed to remaining a Walmart worker. “If you leave this job, you’re going to face retaliation in some form somewhere else…,” he said last night. “If you change Walmart, and you change corporate America, it can really better a lot of people’s lives.”

Harris told The Nation that the main purpose of today’s picketing outside his Dallas store is to send a message to the workers inside: that “you can speak up and not get punished.” What if Walmart retaliates? “We’ll just take more actions…,” said Harris. “It will not be accepted or tolerated.” He said that going on strike last month heightened his confidence: “I’m not as nervous to take actions now. I know I’ve done it before…I can do it again.”

In an e-mailed statement Thursday, Walmart called the coming strikes “just another exaggerated publicity campaign aimed at generating headlines to mislead our customers and associates.” It asserted that “many of these ongoing tactics being orchestrated by the UFCW are unlawful and we will act to protect our associates and customers from the ongoing illegal conduct.” That contrasts with interviews last month in which company spokespeople explicitly referred to workers’ strikes as “legal” (though never as “strikes”). Walmart did not specify what crimes it was alleging. But the statement (also sent to MSNBC) could be a harbinger of further legal maneuvers, be they trespassing charges against activists, racketeering suits against the unions backing the workers’ groups, or appeals to judges to restrict the scope or targets of the pickets.

FULL story at link.




Read more: http://www.thenation.com/blog/171299/walmart-strike-wave-rolls-back-through-texas-organizers-promise-thousand-points-protest

[Left Coast2020]

1. Wal-fart protect its workers and associates?

Now that is funny.

[Plucketeer]

2. We DO NOT patronize WalMart

Haven't for years. They screw workers and suppliers, so I say SCREW them!

Edit to add: Let Walmart morph into the secessionist state's main supplier for everything our federal government provides to our military and emergency needs. After all, the conservative panacea for EVERYTHING is Privatization! So Walmart should be a shoe-in to demonstrate the proficiency and fair-mindedness that a perfect corporate state would achieve.

[Zorra]

3. Solidarity