Leading up to the holidays, members of OUR Walmart and community supporters will continue to call on the company to publicly commit to raising wages and increasing access to full-time hours so that no worker at Walmart makes less than $25,000 per year. Members of OUR Walmart are also calling for the rescission of all illegal firings and/or disciplinary actions against more than 70 workers who participated in a legally protected unfair labor practice strike in Bentonville, Arkansas, earlier this summer.

Friday, November 29—also known as Black Friday—is the most important day of the year for retailers like Walmart, and OUR Walmart members have announced widespread protests leading up to and on Black Friday this year. As Black Friday approaches, please commit to supporting OUR Walmart members as they take action this holiday shopping season by signing the petition pledging to join Walmart workers this year in their calls for change at http://action.changewalmart.org/page/s/black-friday-pledge.

OUR Walmart fought the lawsuit and successfully persuaded the Washington judge to dismiss it because Walmart’s state court lawsuit violated federal labor law that requires Walmart to present its issues only to the NLRB. Walmart had filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB prior to filing its lawsuit.

This legal win means that Walmart cannot seek trespass injunctions against OUR Walmart or its supporters for future actions in Washington. The win will also help OUR Walmart’s legal team to make similar arguments in other states that have Walmart trespass lawsuits pending, including Ark., Calif., Colo., Fla., and Texas.

OUR Walmart members have announced widespread protests for Black Friday in 2013. As Black Friday approaches, the campaign is asking allies to commit to supporting OUR Walmart members as they take action this holiday shopping season by signing the petition at http://bit.ly/15H42nj.

D.C. residents from neighborhoods throughout the city took their calls for fair wages and good jobs to the D.C. City Council today in light of the override vote of Mayor Gray’s veto of the LRAA. The bill has been recognized by local residents, Council Members, policy experts, and economists as a bill that would help improve jobs and bolster the local economy.

At noon on Tuesday, hundreds of people – including OUR Walmart, UFCW Local 400, AFL-CIO, OUR DC, DC Jobs with Justice, and other community supporters rallied for an override. The rally came as Walmart workers in the D.C. area and nationwide have increased their calls to improve jobs at the country’s largest employer. Last week, 100 workers and supporters were arrested when refusing to end their calls for better jobs at Walmart.

On Tuesday, the D.C. City Council failed to override Mayor Gray’s veto of the LRAA. The bill faced fierce opposition from the world’s largest retailer, Walmart, which threatened to cancel three of six stores planned for D.C. if the LRAA was passed. The threat was made despite the fact Walmart had promised residents and elected officials it would pay a wage of $13 an hour to workers if the stores were approved.

Despite falling short of success, the wage ordinance has boosted living wage efforts across the country.

Less than a week ago, the California Legislature approved raising the state’s minimum wage from $8 an hour to $10 by 2016. This fall, New Jersey voters will vote on a referendum that would raise their state’s minimum wage to $8.25 an hour. And the Minnesota Legislature is moving toward passage of its own minimum wage increase.

According to the Economic Policy Institute, if the federal minimum wage had kept pace with the cost of living over the past 40 years, it would be $10.74 an hour today, not $7.25

A report from the national public policy center Demos shows that better jobs at Walmart and other large retailers would help the store’s bottom line, as well as have an impact on individual families and the larger economy. A wage floor equivalent of $25,000 per year for a full-time, year-round employee for retailers with more than 1000 employees would lift 1.5 million retail workers and their families out of poverty, add to economic growth, increase retail sales and create more than 100,000 new jobs. The Demos report can be found at http://bit.ly/QRHf0m.

New polling shows that voters overwhelmingly supported the LRAA.  Seventy-one percent of voters voiced their support in a survey conducted last weekend, with large majorities saying the bill would have positive effects not only on workers’ wages, but also on jobs, employment and the local economy. Additionally, 63 percent of voters said that they would be more likely to support a mayoral candidate in 2014 who supported the LRAA.

The survey of D.C. voters on the LRAA can be viewed here and you can access results by clicking here.

Gray’s veto comes just two days after the Fair Political Practices Commission in California announced that it would be investigating whether Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson had a conflict of interest in a vote on a big box bill due to charitable donations he solicited from Walmart and the Walton Foundation.

Kimberly Mitchell, a Macy’s employee and lifelong Ward 7 resident:

“I am incredibly upset, disappointed, and angry that Mayor Gray has decided to stand with Walmart and other large corporations instead of with the residents of this city. Mayor Gray has made is clear who he stands with and it’s not with me, my neighbors or the residents of DC. We are now counting on the City Council to do the right thing, stand up with DC residents, and override this veto.”

“Mayor Gray had the opportunity to stand up for the residents of this city, but instead he allowed large, out of town companies, like Walmart, to threaten him and ultimately dictate the policies of our city. By vetoing this bill he has further eroded the ability of DC residents and workers to earn enough money to take care of themselves and their families while remaining in the city.”

Reverend Graylan Hagler, of Plymouth United Congregational Church of Christ and Faith Strategies:

“Unfortunately, the Mayor’s decision is hardly surprising because this is exactly what Walmart’s lobbyists said would happen.  The Mayor’s office and Walmart have been working together to defeat this bill from the start.”

“If we cannot demand higher wages and good jobs from the nation’s and world’s largest corporations DC will not be able to remain a diverse and vibrant city. We strongly urge the city council to override this misguided veto.”

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Group Announces Massive 2013 Black Friday Strikes

Many Walmart workers are struggling to support their families and contribute to their local economies because of low wages, insufficient hours and ongoing efforts to silence workers who are speaking out for better jobs.  Today’s protests come after Walmart failed to respond to a Labor Day deadline set by tens of thousands of Americans calling on Walmart to publicly commit to provide full-time work with a minimum salary of $25,000, reinstate workers who were fired for striking and agree to stop all retaliation against workers calling for better jobs.

Since June, Walmart has illegally disciplined nearly 80 workers, including firing 20 worker-leaders. More than 100 Unfair Labor Practice charges have been filed with the NLRB against Walmart.

There are several ways to help support Walmart workers as they take action today.  You can sign a petition located at http://bit.ly/150trkD.  You can also spread the work on social media by sharing any of the images located at http://bit.ly/17zqsEN or the video posted at http://bit.ly/19fR8K0 on Facebook. You can also go to Twitter to show your support and use the sample tweet: #WalmartStrikers are drawing a line. Stand with them for a real wage & workers’ rights on Sept. 5th bit.ly/1cgXnPA @ChangeWalmart

For photos and video of strikers and their community supporters, visit http://changewalmart.tumblr.com, or follow the conversation and see photos on Twitter at #Walmartstrikers.

However, although more policymakers are agreeing that its time to focus on the economic challenges of the middle class, we are failing to fix the key problem that is hurting so many working-class Americans. Despite steadily increasing productivity, wages have remained stagnant or have even deflated for the majority of blue and white-collar Americans throughout the past decade.  Right now, overall growth is actually benefiting the richest households in the country, and companies that make billions of dollars annually, like Walmart and McDonalds, continue to make their executives unfathomably rich, while the workers who make such businesses flourish, earn starvation wages.

This data was recently presented in the newest report by the Economic Policy Institute.

Growing income inequality in America must be reversed. The economy cannot recover if the rich continue to become richer, and the poor only poorer. That’s why a raise in the minimum wage is essential. In the case of large retailers, whose CEO’s rake in staggering amounts in earnings and bonuses each year, there is no excuse to not pay their employees enough to live on, or to provide basic benefits.

In June, members of the OUR Walmart sent civil rights movement–style caravans of workers from around the country to Walmart’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Bentonville to protest the retail giant’s  practice of retaliating against workers who speak out for change.  Citing Walmart’s $16 billion in profits every year, OUR Walmart members called on the company to publicly commit to raising wages and increasing access to full-time hours so that no worker at Walmart makes less than $25,000 per year.

Please sign a petition asking Walmart to respect workers’ rights and pay a living wage by visiting http://action.changewalmart.org/page/s/ARealWage.  For more information about OUR Walmart, visit http://makingchangeatwalmart.org/.

Bringing Attention to Illegal Retaliation and Low Wages,

WALMART WORKERS SHARE THEIR EXPERIENCES, CALL FOR BETTER JOBS IN NATION’S CAPITAL

Thursday: March for Good Jobs at Walmart DC Office

WASHINGTON, DC—Following an aggressive uptick in illegal retaliation against workers speaking out for better jobs at Walmart, a group of current and recently fired Walmart workers are in Washington, DC this week to share their experiences and call for changes at the nation’s largest employer and company.  The workers, part of the national organization OUR Walmart, are speaking with local residents and elected officials, Members of Congress and their staff and national leaders who are supporting their efforts.

“We’re here to make sure DC residents and our nation’s leaders know the truth about what’s going on at Walmart stores across the country,” said OUR Walmart member Jovani Gomez from Lakewood, CA.  Gomez has worked at Walmart for nearly six years before being fired for going on strike in June. “Walmart is the largest employer in the country, but the jobs that Walmart is creating are holding back American workers and families.”

With hundreds of DC-area residents supporting them, the group plans to rally outside Walmart’s DC offices to try to get Walmart to publicly commit to increasing wages that the company pays, which have been under debate since DC City Council passed a bill requiring large, profitable retailers to pay a minimum hourly wage of $12.50 an hour.  Prior to the rally, a group will visit the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) where they will highlight the public support for the Board to continue its investigations of the aggressive retaliation that workers have been facing.

“With $16 billion in profits for the company and the wealth of 42% of American families combined in the pockets of the Walton family, Walmart can and must do more to create good jobs,” Heidi Shierholz, economist at the Economic Policy Institute. “With its size and wealth, Walmart could be making an impact in strengthening and growing our middle class, but instead, Walmart workers are forced to rely on food stamps and other public supports to cover the basics.”

Calling for Walmart to publicly commit to paying full-time work at a minimum rate of $25,000 a year, OUR Walmart’s concerns are gaining support from workers, community leaders and shareholders.  At this year’s annual shareholder meeting, OUR Walmart member Janet Sparks, joined by 100 striking workers from across the country, spoke about the insufficient hours, low wages and short-staffing that are hurting customer service at stores. Additionally, Walmart employees are some of the main recipients of food stamps, Medicaid and government support.

But rather than provide good jobs that American workers need and deserve, Walmart is spending its time and money trying to deny a decent day’s pay and trying to silence workers who are standing up with their co-workers to live better.  Since the prolonged strikes in June, Walmart has illegally disciplined nearly 80 workers, including 20 worker-leaders who have been fired.

“We’ve had enough is enough of Walmart’s lip-service and lies,” said Lucas Handy of Fort Dodge, IA.  “We need full-time hours, we need better wages, and we need our jobs back with the promise that the retaliation against OUR Walmart will stop.”

On Wednesday, the group plans to visit Members of Congress to thank them for a recent letter to Walmart CEO Mike Duke calling for an end to the illegal activity, and to ask Members to sign onto the Worker Anti-Retaliation Act introduced by Rep. Alan Grayson in July.

OUR Walmart, Organization United for Respect at Walmart, formed just two years ago when 100 Walmart associates came together to voice their concerns about the company.  The group, organized the first strikes in company history last year and helped bring more than 30,000 supporters to protest at stores on Black Friday in 2012.

Follow the conversation and see photos at @ChangeWalmart, #WalmartStrikers and ChangeWalmart.org/Tumblr

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 LEGAL DISCLAIMER: UFCW and OUR Walmart have the purpose of helping Wal-Mart employees as individuals or groups in their dealings with Wal-Mart over labor rights and standards and their efforts to have Wal-Mart publically commit to adhering to labor rights and standards. UFCW and OUR Walmart have no intent to have Walmart recognize or bargain with UFCW or OUR Walmart as the representative of Walmart employees.

Reposted from Making Change at Walmart

Walmart’s second quarter sales report shows the continuation of negative same store sales. In response, OUR Walmart member Larry Born, who has worked at Walmart in Crestwood, IL for over three years, issued the following statement:

“Today’s numbers make it clear that Walmart’s labor practices aren’t just hurting workers like me—they’re also hurting business. Instead of listening to employees who raise concerns about working conditions and their impact on sales and the company’s reputation, Walmart has tried to suppress our fundamental right to speak out for better jobs by firing and disciplining many of us who simply want what’s best for our families and for the company.

“Now major investors are divesting from the company as a direct result of its labor practices, and Walmart’s urban expansion efforts are facing resistance from cities like Washington, DC that don’t want to bring Walmart values into their communities. Until Walmart shows a real commitment to creating good jobs that can support a family and strengthen local economies, the company will continue to face roadblocks in this key part of its business strategy.

“Similarly, while associates struggle to support their families as a result of erratic and inadequate hours, Walmart is receiving the lowest customer satisfaction scores compared to other supermarkets,thanks to the empty shelves and long checkout lines caused by understaffing. At the international level, costs related to Walmart’s violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act are sky-high, and the company’s reputation with the public and with investors has been seriously damaged by its refusal to join other retailers in committing to improve safety at supplier factories in Bangladesh, where Walmart was found to have procured clothing as recently as 2012 in the factory collapse that killed over 1000 garment workers.

“If Walmart wants to reverse these trends, the company should start by listening to its associates. With $16 billion in profits every year, Walmart can easily afford to increase pay and access to full-time hours so that we can make our stores great places to shop and so that every Walmart worker can support their family—without relying on public assistance. These commonsense changes will help repair the company’s image, lift its bottom-line, and strengthen our entire economy.”

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LEGAL DISCLAIMER: UFCW and OUR Walmart have the purpose of helping Wal-Mart employees as individuals or groups in their dealings with Wal-Mart over labor rights and standards and their efforts to have Wal-Mart publicly commit to adhering to labor rights and standards. UFCW and OUR Walmart have no intent to have Walmart recognize or bargain with UFCW or OUR Walmart as the representative of Walmart employees.

Washington, DC

“The national settlement reached today between OSHA and Walmart resolves the highest penalties any individual Walmart store has ever faced as a result of health and safety violations – over $350,000. The problems detailed in the settlement are issues we have been raising for years, but it’s clear that the company has consistently failed to listen to our concerns, let alone address them.

“This is just the latest indication of Walmart’s malfeasance throughout the supply chain, and these serious problems represent a major danger to workers, the environment, and the company’s future. As workers we routinely face inadequate fire safety measures, including blocked fire exits, and do not receive proper training on how to safely handle hazardous chemicals. Poorly maintained equipment, including balers and compactors, represent another hazard, made worse because these machines often lack appropriate mechanisms to ensure worker safety.

“We like our jobs and want what’s best for the company. We hope that today’s settlement sends a message to Walmart that cutting corners on safety comes at great costs, not just to employees, but also to the company.  Moreover, Walmart needs to go beyond the settlement, start listening to its workers, and investigate its stores throughout the country to see if these violations are widespread and where they find violations, fix them. These issues are about the very basic right employees have to work in safe environments.”

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LEGAL DISCLAIMER: UFCW and OUR Walmart have the purpose of helping Wal-Mart employees as individuals or groups in their dealings with Wal-Mart over labor rights and standards and their efforts to have Wal-Mart publically commit to adhering to labor rights and standards. UFCW and OUR Walmart have no intent to have Walmart recognize or bargain with UFCW or OUR Walmart as the representative of Walmart employees.

STATEMENT FROM STACY MITCHELL ON OSHA SETTLEMENT WITH WALMART

In response to today’s settlement, Institute for Local Self Reliance senior researcher Stacy Mitchell issued the following statement:

“Walmart’s negligence in managing hazardous chemicals is yet another illustration of its disregard for the environment and the health of workers and communities. While Walmart publicizes its solar installations, behind the scenes, the company is continuing to cut corners and harm the environment throughout its operations and supply chain.”

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In response to Walmart’s increased attempts to silence employees who spoke out at the company’s June shareholder meeting about retaliation against those who call for better jobs, this week Walmart associates and their supporters are fighting back with an unprecedented wave of actions on the ground and online. At the same time, warehouse workers in California have gone on strike to protest the extreme intimidation, spying, and retaliation they have experienced since they exposed dangerous and unsafe working conditions at a Walmart-contracted warehouse in Riverside County.

Thousands of people nationwide are taking the calls for an immediate end to the company’s suppression of workers’ basic freedom to speak out for better jobs directly to Walmart Board members online, at their homes, and at their offices.

With their calls for the creation of better jobs at Walmart resonating widely, workers assert that the company feels threatened and has doubled down on its suppression of associates. In the past few weeks alone, Walmart has illegally fired 19 workers and disciplined 40 more for taking part in the legally protected strike. The striking workers were calling on the Board for an end to Walmart’s retaliation against and attempts to silence those who speak out about issues such as the company’s labor mismanagement under CEO Mike Duke’s leadership, which has led to under-staffing and unsafe conditions in stores, warehouses, and at suppliers.

“We fear that every day we go to work could be our last,” said Heidi Baizabal, who has worked at a warehouse in California for five years. “We are followed, watched on camera, forced into individual meetings, and harassed daily. We need Walmart to see what’s happening inside its contracted warehouse. We move Walmart suitcases and we want safe, good jobs.”

“In this country, we believe that when we work hard, we should have the opportunity to get ahead.  We believe that everyone has the fundamental right to join together with coworkers to improve their job and to speak out to improve their life,” said Sarita Gupta, Executive Director of American Rights at Work/Jobs with Justice. “Our country’s largest employer should be promoting these values by creating good, steady jobs and careers. Instead, Walmart is creating a reality for American workers that is built on part-time work, few benefits and illegal retaliation for those who speak out for something better.”

This isn’t the first time Walmart has tried to bully workers. According to a white paper recently released by American Rights at Work, Walmart associates who have come together to address concerns about working conditions have increasingly faced harassment, threats, changes to their jobs, and retaliatory discipline—including termination—for speaking out.

Standing up with workers like Barbara Collins, a mother of two who was fired after protesting Walmart’s illegal treatment of workers who speak out about not getting enough hours to support their families, workers picked up the pace this week with protests occurring in California, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Texas, as well as other states, after previous protests calling on Marissa Mayer at Yahoo meetings last week. Workers plan to continue taking their message directly to Walmart Board of Directors members at their offices, homes, and public events in the coming days and weeks. Demonstrations are also taking place at stores across the country.

“I have been working hard at Walmart to support my family amidst changes to my hours and schedules, increases in the cost of healthcare, and not enough people to keep the shelves stocked,” said Barbara Collins. “We have to have a conversation about the problems with under-staffing and the jobs at Walmart, and we will not stop speaking out even as Walmart illegally threatens and even fires us. Together, we’re going to win back our jobs and make changes at this company.”

Nationally, a growing number of community and elected leaders have joined workers’ call on Walmart to immediately reinstate workers who have faced firings and discipline for striking to protest Walmart’s attempts to silence and retaliate against workers who speak out. Meanwhile, a petition directed at the company and Board members has already received more than 152,000 signatures.

Walmart keeps its associates without enough hours, without healthcare, and struggling to get by on poverty wages. As a result many employees can’t even support their families without relying on government support. As a result, a recent report found that taxpayers pay nearly $1 million to subsidize Walmart’s race-to-the-bottom business model at a single store.

In early June, Walmart workers went on strike nationwide and joined the “Ride for Respect,” a week-long, nationwide caravan to Walmart’s shareholders’ meeting in Bentonville, Arkansas, to call for an end to retaliation against workers and voice the direct impact that Walmart is having on their lives and the economy. The company has responded by cracking down on associates’ right to speak out – even firing some workers.

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UFCW and OUR Walmart have the purpose of helping Wal-Mart employees as individuals or groups in their dealings with Wal-Mart over labor rights and standards and their efforts to have Wal-Mart publically commit to adhering to labor rights and standards. UFCW and OUR Walmart have no intent to have Walmart recognize or bargain with UFCW or OUR Walmart as the representative of Walmart employees.

RWDSU Local 338 members and community supporters protest the opening of a Walmart Neighborhood Market to protect the local economy, small businesses, and jobs.

On June 12, RWDSU Local 338 joined dozens of Long Island community and labor organizations to protest the grand opening of a Walmart Neighborhood Market in Levittown, the first of its kind in the Long Island region. Protestors claimed that another Walmart opening on Long Island would hurt the local economy and small businesses, and said that the store’s opening on the same site of a previously unionized Waldbaum’s supermarket added insult to injury.

“This store was proudly represented by RWDSU Local 338 and it saddens me that what used to be a great supermarket that took care of its workers with good wages and strong benefits, as Waldbaum’s did, is now hosting a Walmart Neighborhood Market.  The residents and workers of this community deserve better than the bottom barrel wages and unaffordable benefits that Walmart jobs bring. A Neighborhood Market sends the wrong message here on Long Island,” said John R. Durso, President, RWDSU Local 338.

Over 100 RWDSU Local 338 members, community activists, and labor allies called on Walmart to change their business and labor practices and held signs that read “Shame on you Walmart, Workers Deserve Better Wages.” Protests at the store will continue until Walmart practices change and workers are provided with fair wages and affordable benefits.

Adapted from Making Change at Walmart

Last week, Washington D.C.’s City Council voted 8-5 to approve a living wage bill despite threats by Walmart. The bill requires large retailers in the District, like Walmart, to pay their employees no less than $12.50 an hour.

While the bill enjoyed the support of a majority of the members and many district residents, Walmart threatened at the last minute to cancel the construction of three stores slated to open in the District if the bill became law. Interestingly, the company made this threat after publicly stating that it would pay District Walmart employees $13 an hour if the stores were approved to be built.

While many are shocked by Walmart’s clear hypocritical stance, groups like OUR Walmart and Making Change at Walmart have shown that Walmart is a company that likes to say one thing but do another. Walmart has a history of making promises but then reneging.

Not only are Walmart’s promises empty, but when they are held to their commitments they threaten the communities who hold them accountable. Walmart comes into communities, says one thing and does another. If they don’t get their way they threaten and bully communities the same way they bully their workers. Walmart proclaims to embody and promote American values, but when those values become inconvenient to their bottom-line they do everything in their power, including firing workers and reneging on promises, to get their way.

The DC Council sent a powerful message to not only Walmart but to companies that choose to do business in the city: you must fulfill your promise and treat DC residents with dignity and respect, while paying them a wage that allows them to care for their family. The living wage bill comes at a time when a family of four living in D.C. needs over $88K a year just to get by, according to a recent study.

With so much at stake, D.C. workers need your help to make sure the bill gets finalized. Please click here and send an email to D.C.’s Mayor Gray, asking him not to veto the bill.

In stark contrast, more than 75 corporations from 15 countries, including the United States, have signed the binding Accord on Fire and Building Safety negotiated with Bangladeshi and international unions. The Accord has rules to make real improvements in the safety of garment workers.  Workers, unions and worker rights organizations negotiated this agreement with employers and integrated worker safety efforts by governments and the International Labor Organization (ILO).  The AFL-CIO and Change to Win,  along with global unions IndustriAll and UNI and numerous organizations representing Bangladeshi workers, also endorse it. The AFL-CIO and Change to Win reject the Walmart/GAP plan as a way to avoid accountability, limit costs and silence workers and their representatives.

Rather than sign the binding Accord, Walmart and Gap are pushing a weak and worthless plan that avoids enforceable commitments. The Bipartisan Policy Center, which has clear financial and political connections to Walmart, is releasing the document, which is the product of a closed process and has been signed only by the same corporations that produced it.

The Accord departs from the broken system of voluntary corporate responsibility in supply chains that has so often failed to protect workers. It makes a clear commitment to worker safety and rights, and to transparency. It expresses values that most countries uphold.

The Accord has been endorsed by the United Nations, the ILO, the government of Bangladesh, both the parliament and commission of the European Union, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Members and leaders in both houses of the U.S. Congress have also endorsed the Accord.

In the last eight years, more than 1,800 Bangladeshi garment workers have been killed in preventable factory fires and building collapses while producing mostly for European and U.S. markets.  This tragic loss of life requires more than a wink and a nod from two of the richest corporations in the world. It means taking responsibility for the safety of workers by entering into a legitimate, binding process that will save lives.  Seventy-five brands have taken that important step.  It is time for Walmart and GAP to join them, rather than trying to undermine those efforts and maintain a system that has a long and bloody record of failure.

Statement online here: http://www.aflcio.org/Press-Room/Press-Releases/Joint-Statement-by-Richard-L.-Trumka-AFL-CIO-and-Joe-Hansen-ChangetoWin-on-the-Walmart-and-GAP-Bangladesh-Safety-Alliance-Weak-and-Worthless

For the latest udates, follow @AFLCIO and @RichardTrumka on Twitter.

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The D.C. Council gave its initial approval to a bill, called The Large Retailer Accountability Act, that would raise the minimum wage of workers at large retail stores from the D.C.’s current minimum of $8.25 an hour to $12.50–a rate that would significantly improve the quality of life for many employees. The 8-5 vote came after a nearly hour-long debate.

If passed, this legislation will ensure that the jobs at D.C.’s large retailers and “big box” stores will be good jobs that are enable employees to provide for themselves and their families.  The Large Retailer Accountability Act would also mean that new jobs at 6 planned Walmart’s coming to the District in the next few years will be better for Walmart associates than typically seen in their thousands of other locations across the country.

An article from dcist quotes those who voted for the bill:

“The District government has an obligation not just to encourage the development and growth of jobs, but to encourage the development and growth of quality jobs,” D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said before the vote, according to Housing Complex. Joining Mendelson in supporting the bill were Vincent Orange (D-At Large), Anita Bonds (D-At Large), David Grosso (I-At Large), Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), Kenyan MacDuffie (D-Ward 5), and Marion Barry (D-Ward 8).”

The next step for the bill is to go through a second vote at the Council’s July 10 legislative session.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The 1.3 million member United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) today threw its support behind H.R. 2311—the Worker Anti-Retaliation Act—which would penalize large employers for illegally targeting workers for trying to improve their job conditions.

Earlier this month, Walmart workers went on strike nationwide and caravanned to the company’s shareholder meeting in Arkansas to call for an end to retaliation. In response, Walmart last week illegally fired nearly a dozen strikers and disciplined others without cause. This comes on the heels of a report released by American Rights at Work that details Walmart’s extensive and systematic efforts to silence associates who are speaking out for better jobs.

The Worker Anti-Retaliation Act—authored by Congressman Alan Grayson (D-FL)—would expressly prohibit this type of retaliation against workers and give victims the right to back pay, damages, and other civil penalties.

“Walmart is reinventing labor retaliation in today’s economy, the latest chapter in the retail giant’s appalling record on workers’ rights,” UFCW International President Joe Hansen said. “Congressman Grayson’s bill would protect workers from targeting and send a message to all employers that this type of behavior will not be tolerated.”

“This legislation provides necessary protections to low-wage workers, particularly those employed by Walmart, one of the nation’s largest retailers,” Grayson said. “My bill will protect workers from retaliation by their employers, and provide victims of retaliatory actions with legal relief. Employees of Walmart have little control over their working conditions. They are not unionized, and Walmart has used every trick in the book to prevent them from protesting dismal working conditions and unfair treatment. In fact, Walmart recently fired one of my constituents, who dared to speak out against Walmart’s employment practices. It’s time to put an end to Walmart’s abhorrent mistreatment of its employees—and let workers know that their rights to organize and protest will be protected.”

Grayson’s constituent, Vanessa Ferriera, worked at Walmart for 8 years, until she was fired in May. Ferriera was frustrated with the inability of Walmart to provide the wages and benefits she needed to support her family. So she stood up and spoke out about her concerns. She started meeting with her fellow associates—as part of the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart)— to assist in the effort to get Walmart to publicly commit to improving labor standards. Rather than responding to the valid concerns of Ferriera and others, Walmart management began targeting her for speaking out. She was unfairly disciplined for minor errors and interrogated by management whenever she participated in concerted activities with other associates. Walmart claims to have fired Ferriera for taking “extended breaks” but never provided any documentation or evidence of its claim.

Ferriera’s story is the tip of the iceberg. All across the country, unscrupulous employers are actively squashing and suppressing workers who are collectively seeking improvements in their workplaces. These aggressive and unlawful efforts must be stopped and the Worker Anti-Retaliation Act would put in place the safeguards to do so.

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The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) represents more than 1.3 million workers, primarily in the retail and meatpacking, food processing and poultry industries. The UFCW protects the rights of workers and strengthens America’s middle class by fighting for health care reform, living wages, retirement security, safe working conditions and the right to unionize so that working men and women and their families can realize the American Dream. For more information about the UFCW’s effort to protect workers’ rights and strengthen America’s middle class, visit www.ufcw.org, or join our online community at www.facebook.com/UFCWinternational and www.twitter.com/ufcw.

On eve of Marissa Mayer’s first shareholder meeting as Yahoo’s CEO, Workers Protest Walmart Board Member Marissa Mayer After Being Fired for Speaking Out for a Better Life and Improved Working Conditions

Sunnyvale, CA –Yesterday, recently fired Walmart Associates who were illegally terminated by the company in an attempt to suppress their rights to speak out and join together with their coworkers for a better life held a dramatic protest at Yahoo Inc. headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, leading to five arrests. The actions taken by the workers were to bring attention to Marissa Mayer’s, Yahoo’s CEO and a board member of Walmart, silence as the retail giant bullies its employees. As a Board member at Walmart, Mayer has a responsibility to ensure that Walmart does not violate the freedom of speech of workers who speak out for better jobs, said Walmart workers.

The dramatic sit-in and march at Yahoo’s headquarters took place a day before Yahoo’s annual shareholders meeting and follow recent protests at Yahoo’s campus and Mayer’s Four Seasons penthouse in San Francisco. For months, Walmart workers and community members have raised concerns about her position as a board member at Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, which is facing pressure both from its employees and community groups over the company’s business practices at home and overseas.

Since June 2011, Walmart Associates have been organizing as a group known as the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart). That organizing resulted in a series of strikes nationwide leading up to Walmart’s June annual shareholder meeting. Now, just days after that meeting, Walmart has responded by firing and disciplining workers who participated in the OUR Walmart protests and strikes in an illegal effort to suppress workers’ freedom of speech. Their efforts are being met by an outcry from community and elected leaders at the national, state and local level who are calling on the Board of Directors to take control of the company’s behavior to ensure that the law is followed and basic American values are respected.

“As a working mom, I thought Marissa Mayer would understand why I’m standing up to create a better life for my family,” said Walmart associate Marie Roberty, who was recently fired for speaking out. “I was wrong. We’ve been reaching out to Ms. Mayer for months now, but so far she’s remained silent. I joined with my coworkers in publicly calling for Walmart to improve in the hopes of keeping food on the table, a roof over our heads, and having a regular schedule that allows me to be there for my kids. Instead, Walmart fired me – and I’m here today to hold Marissa Mayer accountable for this, and I’ll keep speaking out until Walmart ends its illegal retaliation against me and my coworkers.”

The workers’ calls for change come as Mayer and other members of Walmart’s board have remained silent even as the company contends with widespread protests against its treatment of its workers, plummeting customer service ratings and weak store sales due to understaffing, and preventable tragedies in the supply chain.

OUR Walmart members and supporters nationwide have been calling for the company to end retaliation against employees and publicly commit to providing full-time work with a minimum salary of $25,000 a year so workers don’t have to rely on taxpayer funded programs to support their families. As the nation’s largest private employer, a change of course at Walmart would have a direct impact on millions of working families and the economy as a whole.

Workers and their supporters also delivered a card signed by hundreds of progressive journalists, activists, and other supporters at last week’s Netroots Nation; that card asks Mayer to meet with Walmart workers and support their calls for change at the company.

“Walmart’s outrageous suppression of its workers’ freedom of speech shows just how far out of step this company is with American values of freedom and respect for hard work. It’s unacceptable that a company with $16 billion in profits is bullying working families just trying to make ends meet and keep food on the table,” said Terry O’Neill, President of the National Organization for Women (NOW). “We’re not going to stand for it – we’re going to stand up to Walmart’s illegal behavior until they stand down and respect workers’ rights to speak out.”

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LEGAL DISCLAIMER: UFCW and OUR Walmart have the purpose of helping Wal-Mart employees as individuals or groups in their dealings with Wal-Mart over labor rights and standards and their efforts to have Wal-Mart publically commit to adhering to labor rights and standards. UFCW and OUR Walmart have no intent to have Walmart recognize or bargain with UFCW or OUR Walmart as the representative of Walmart employees.

 Walmart Heirs Donate Millions to Right-Wing Candidates, Anti-Gay Politicians, NRA Supporters

A new report issued Tuesday shows that Walmart and the Walton family that founded and controls the company have dramatically increased their political contributions over the last decade and that the vast majority of those contributions have gone to Republicans and right-wing causes, including anti-gay, anti-environment and pro-gun politicians and causes. The report asserts that Walmart, the world’s largest private employer, and the Walton family have spent over $17 million in federal elections and millions more on state and local initiatives. Since the 2000 election cycle, more than $11.6 million—69% of Walmart and the Waltons’ contributions—has gone to Republican candidates and committees. At the same time, 83% of the Waltons’ contributions, including their contributions to Super PACs, went to Republicans.

The report, “An Analysis of Walmart and Walton Family Political Spending, 2000-2012,” comes after Walmart’s recent hiring of Dan Bartlett, a Bush Administration official known for his work in creating the “weapons of mass destruction” narrative, to replace Leslie Dach as Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs. Dach worked in the Clinton Administration.

“This new report highlights the degree to which Walmart and the Walton family use their considerable wealth to distort the political process,” said William Fletcher, a member of OUR Walmart and an Associate at the Walmart store in Duarte, California. “The Waltons are the richest family in the world. Instead of putting their money into fair wages for us Walmart workers, they instead pour millions into a right-wing agenda that has nothing to do with business and everything to do with their radical ideology.”

The report further underscores Walmart and the Waltons’ turn to the right and shows that political contributions doesn’t simply stop at supporting Republicans; in 2008, Jim Walton gave $75,000 to the Arkansas Family Council Action Committee, which at the time was supporting a ballot measure to prevent gay families from adopting. Meanwhile, 94% of the Walton family’s contributions to candidates from 2000 to 2012 went to those who were opposed to or silent on the issue of marriage equality.

Aside from their record of supporting anti-LGBT candidates, the Waltons and Walmart disproportionately contribute to candidates with low scores on civil rights, women’s issues, immigration, and those who oppose raising the minimum wage. The Waltons also support NRA-backed candidates; 76% of all their donations from 2000-2012 have gone to candidates or politicians with an A+ or an A from the NRA.

The Walton family, collectively worth $115 billion, has more wealth than the bottom 42% of Americans combined. At the same time, despite more than $16 billion in annual profits and executives making 1,000 times more than the average Walmart employee, a new report released by the Democratic staff of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce found that the costs to taxpayers at just one Walmart store as a result of Walmart’s inadequate wages and benefits is about $1 million.

Tuesday’s report was issued by Making Change at Walmart, a growing coalition challenging Walmart to help rebuild our economy and strengthen working families, and comes as a growing number of associates and supporters nationwide are calling for the company to end retaliation against employees and for the company to publicly commit to providing full-time work with a minimum salary of $25,000 a year so workers don’t have to rely on tax-payer funded programs to support their families.

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UFCW and OUR Walmart have the purpose of helping Wal-Mart employees as individuals or groups in their dealings with Wal-Mart over labor rights and standards and their efforts to have Wal-Mart publically commit to adhering to labor rights and standards. UFCW and OUR Walmart have no intent to have Walmart recognize or bargain with UFCW or OUR Walmart as the representative of Walmart employees.

]]> http://www.ufcw.org/2013/06/19/new-report-on-political-contributions-underscores-walmarts-sharp-turn-to-the-right/feed/ 0 http://www.ufcw.org/2013/06/14/group-of-lawmakers-stop-by-local-400-staffed-safeway-to-try-snap-challenge/ http://www.ufcw.org/2013/06/14/group-of-lawmakers-stop-by-local-400-staffed-safeway-to-try-snap-challenge/#comments Fri, 14 Jun 2013 18:11:40 +0000 mperry http://www.ufcw.org/?p=16228 This week, 26 members of Congress have committed to living off of a food stamp budget in order to bring awareness to the House Republican cuts to the  Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Already, the SNAP program denies eligibility to 50 million “food insecure households”.  But now, proposed changes to the Farm Bill would strip access to the program from an additional 2 million families.

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and the other congress members participating in the SNAP challenge are addressing this alarming issue by attempting to live off of less than $4.50 a day.

On Wednesday, the challenge participants stopped at a Washington D.C. Safeway, where Local 400 members work, to buy a week’s worth of groceries for about $30.  In order to keep to the strict budget of the food stamp program, staples like milk and butter were out of the question.  Representative Lee described the difficulty of the trip in an online blog:

“What I’m thinking about most during this trip is that I’m shopping only for myself.  When I was a young, single mother, I was on public assistance. It was a bridge over troubled water, and without it, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I spent hours debating what to buy and what to skip, all the while keeping my sons in my mind.”

The proposed changes to the Farm bill will send many single parents who are in this position, into a state of utter uncertainty about how to provide food for their families.  A large portion of those affected by the cuts will be under the age of 18.

This is not the first time officials have tried the SNAP challenge, however. Newark’s mayor, Cory Booker did so earlier this year, and Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton found that adhering to the food stamp budget left him feeling tired, and eventually “unable to focus”.  Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) admitted that if this was how he had to live, he would likely be a more unpleasant person, due to his state of hunger. He also lost six pounds in just four days.

The conservatives who claim food stamp programs create dependency on government don’t know what its like to go hungry. Some may joke about those who must rely on government programs, but the reality is that many hard-working people cannot make ends meet without them.

UFCW Local 400 President Mark Federici made a statement following the group’s visit to Safeway this week, commending the challenge participants:

“Year in and year out, the SNAP/Food Stamp program proves itself an unqualified success in reducing hunger, alleviating poverty and stimulating the economy. That’s why we are deeply dismayed that the Senate version of the Farm Bill re-authorization cuts SNAP benefits for approximately 500,000 households, and outraged that the House version of the legislation would completely eliminate benefits for two million low-income families. This would be bad enough under any circumstances, but it’s even worse coming at a time when far too many Americans are unemployed and our economic recovery is still shaky.

“The SNAP/Food Stamp Challenge is a critical way for elected officials and other leaders to experience first-hand how hard it is to feed a family on a SNAP budget, and to understand why benefits should be increased, rather than cut. We applaud all the members of Congress who are joining the challenge this week, and we are especially proud that they chose to purchase their groceries at a union shop. They understand that shopping union gets you the most value for your grocery dollar and the best customer service in the industry.

“Local 400 is privileged to join with these members of Congress in educating the public about the persistence of hunger in America and urging lawmakers to restore full funding to the SNAP/Food Stamp program in the Farm Bill.

“We also remind policy makers that the best way to reduce SNAP expenditures is to shop union, and to restore to workers their right to choose collective bargaining. The rise of low-wage employers like Walmart is a big reason why the SNAP program has grown in recent years, because the workers earn so little, they need Food Stamps to feed their families. By contrast, the more workers with union contracts, the fewer workers will need SNAP or any other type of federal assistance. That’s a win-win solution for everybody, because it lowers poverty, eases hunger, bolsters the economy, and improves government balance sheets.”

Members of the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart) could not agree more. Today, these brave men and women are taking a stand at Walmart’s annual shareholders’ meeting to protest the company’s practice of retaliating against workers who speak out for positive change in the workplace. Citing Walmart’s $16 billion in profits every year, OUR Walmart members are calling on the company to publicly commit to raising wages and increasing access to full-time hours so that no worker at Walmart makes less than $25,000 per year.

Walmart can and should lead the way in making sure that retail jobs are good jobs—the kind that come with good benefits and wages for all workers. If Walmart would listen to—and respect—its workers, it could not only reverse the downward trends that have plagued the company, it could also help to rebuild our country’s economy and strengthen America’s middle class.

For more information about OUR Walmart, visit http://makingchangeatwalmart.org/.

An Arkansas judge issued an order that preliminary enjoins the UFCW International Union, members of OUR Walmart who are not current Associates, and those working in concert with them from entering Walmart property in Arkansas for any purpose other than shopping. The order does not apply to current Associates.

Read the full order here.

Now, the group of associates, former associates, and supporters are in Bentonville at Walmart’s headquarters, and are making their voices heard.

Tonight at 4:30 PM PST/7:3O PM EST there will be a public forum with a panel discussion on retail jobs, and jobs in the retail supply chain, including warehousing and global suppliers. #Walmartstrikers and allies with be there, and the event will be live streamed so that those of us not in Bentonville can hear from them about why Walmart must stop attempting to silence its workers when they speak up about issues on the job.

OUR Walmart leaders have been canvassing the local Bentonville community and inviting them to the event as well.

Share this image on facebook or with friends to show your support!

Tune in HERE to watch! Speakers will include:

-Aimee Castenell, Color of Change

-Terry O’Neill, National Organization for Women

-Rob Wohl, SumOfUs

-Kim Bobo, Interfaith Worker Justice

-Kalpona Akter, Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity

-Tsehai  Almaz Scott, OUR Walmart leader from Crenshaw, CA

-Dr. E Faye Williams, National Congress of Black Women

-Vanessa Ferriera, recently fired associate from Orlando, FL

Citing Walmart’s $16 billion in profits every year, OUR Walmart members have called on the company to publicly commit to raising wages and increasing access to full time hours so that no worker at Walmart makes less than $25,000 per year. Though Walmart has paid lip service to workers’ concerns since the historic Black Friday strikes last fall, the company has yet to take meaningful action to address the problems plaguing associates and customers at stores across the country.

“While the Walton family has the wealth of 42 percent of American families combined, many associates like me can’t even support our families without relying on government support,” said OUR Walmart member Mary Pat. “In addition to low pay, the company’s scheduling practices leave many of us with inadequate and erratic hours—making it impossible to afford even basic necessities or even find a second job.”

Several days before the shareholder meeting, “Ride for Respect” caravans will leave from cities across the country, including Seattle, the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver, Miami, Orlando and Baton Rouge, among others. As OUR Walmart members make their way to Bentonville, Ark., they will hold actions at Walmart stores, talk to associates about OUR Walmart, and also stop to meet with local unions and supportive community organizations.

OUR Walmart members in Florida supporting Lisa Lopez as she delivers her strike letter.

Los Angeles Walmart worker Tsehai Almaz said that she and other OUR Walmart leaders were inspired to follow the example of the 1961 freedom riders. “I feel like we’re facing many of the same issues,” said Almaz, “it’s about respect, and being able to feed our families, and having good working conditions.”

“Walmart Board Members like Rob Walton and Greg Penner of the Walton family, Marissa Mayer and Aida Alvarez can do so much more to be leaders in this company and to help change the way Walmart treats workers. We’re telling them that silence is no longer an option,” said OUR Walmart member Colby Harris.

Calls for a change of course and leadership at Walmart have grown in recent months, as the company faces allegations of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations abroad and scrutiny in the U.S. over empty shelves and long lines caused by inadequate staffing.

For more information, visit http://makingchangeatwalmart.org/

Survivors of the Tazreen factory fire pointing out clothing at Walmart made by workers in Bangladesh

Many people would be surprised to know that garment making is quite possibly the most dangerous job “outside of war zones,” as Washington Post writer Harold Meyerson puts it in a recent article about the dangerous cycle that is the garment industry.

The death toll from last month’s building collapse in Rana Plaza, a garment factory in Bangladesh, has climbed to over 1100. Bangladesh comes second only to China in clothing and garment exports. The scale of this tragedy is immense, and heartbreaking, but it is by no means an isolated incident, or even the most recent event to have claimed the lives of workers in Bangladesh for that matter. Since the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory, which was structurally unsound, a fire that broke out in another facility last week, claiming eight lives. Another fire at Bangladesh’s Tazreen factory killed over 100 workers in late 2012. In most cases, workers cannot escape the fires due to a lack of fire doors and stairways, which are supposed to be in place.

Now, the major retailers that are supplied by Bangladesh garment factories are being forced to face the facts and take responsibility. Some companies have admitted to inadequate safety inspections, where inspectors made sure there were on-site fire extinguishers and things of that nature, but failed to ensure “the structural soundness” of the buildings.

Thanks to pressure by unions and activists around the world, a number of these mega-retailers have agreed to adhere to a plan to finally make working conditions for workers in garment factories safer. As per the plan, these companies have agreed to pay for renovations of these factories as well as “independent inspections” that will ensure the new safety measures are maintained.

Although H&M, the  biggest buyer in Bangladesh, as well as companies like British-owned Primark have agreed to the plan, only one American company has done so. PVH, which is the parent company of Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, and Izod, have taken this step towards responsible business, major American companies like Gap and Walmart have so far refused, and don’t show any signs of doing the right thing.

Why can’t the Walton family, with their $116 billion fortune, commit to these measures when others have readily done so? The value of human life is greater than cheap clothing, but that doesn’t seem to be the way these companies see it.

Meyerson notes that it is not Bangladesh that is the problem- the industry has faced many hurdles surrounding safety since its existence. But incidents like the triangle shirt-waist factory fire have taught us how to change for the better. But instead of taking these lessons about worker safety and using them to do good, companies like Walmart have taken the problem “to a new level.”  Meyerson continues:

“By depressing wages at its retail outlets and at every point along its supply chain, [Walmart] has helped create an underpaid buying public compelled to shop for discount clothing. Everyday low wages create a demand for everyday low prices — a downward spiral that hits bottom in the deathtraps of Bangladesh.”

This trend in the retail industry affects all Americans, but it hits very close to home for many UFCW members. In a statement issued about the pact to improve workplace safety in Bangladesh, UFCW President Joe Hansen stated:

“Thousands of UFCW members work in the retail industry, including at H&M, and the UFCW will continue to honor the workers who died or were injured in Bangladesh by supporting workers here and abroad who are struggling to protect their basic rights, and by calling on other retailers that have a strong presence in Bangladesh—such as Walmart—to do the right thing and sign this agreement.”

It’s time for these retailers to take action.

Washington, D.C. – The following is a statement issued by United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) President Joseph Hansen regarding the decision of H&M and other retailers to sign a legally binding agreement to improve workplace safety in Bangladesh:

“The UFCW applauds H&M and other retailers for accepting binding building safety standards at Bangladeshi garment factories following the recent fire and building collapse that killed more than 1,000 garment workers in Bangladesh. By signing the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, H&M and other retailers are taking the high road and putting people before profits at their supplier factories.

“The UFCW also applauds UNI Global Union, IndustriALL Global Union and the Worker Rights Consortium for their work to address the terrible working conditions in Bangladesh.  Thousands of UFCW members work in the retail industry, including at H&M, and the UFCW will continue to honor the workers who died or were injured in Bangladesh by supporting workers here and abroad who are struggling to protect their basic rights, and by calling on other retailers that have a strong presence in Bangladesh—such as Walmart—to do the right thing and sign this agreement.”

Washington, DC-

“Usually I work 36 hours a week but they cut hours…sometimes I even get only 26 hours and I am supposed to be fulltime,” said Chicago native and OUR Walmart member Rose Campbell, who is featured on the site.  “I’ve even had 19 hours.  I’ve got bills and none of that changes…you have to make do.”

ReallyWalmart.org includes testimony from Walmart employees, community activist and even Actor/Activist Danny Glover.  The site also includes footage from elected officials, including President Obama’s keynote address to the Unite Food and Commercial Workers Union in 2008.  Also featured is exclusive footage from labor activist and former Bangladesh garment worker Kalpona Aktar.

“We might not have millions of dollars to pay for TV ads, but we have the stories to share that Walmart doesn’t want the public to hear,” said OUR Walmart member Charlene Fletcher.  “The truth is that Walmart is a company that puts profits over people and employs tactics and strategies that keep employees like me in jobs that don’t let us provide for our families.  Even while Walmart’s profits are going up, my coworkers and I have to rely on food stamps just to cover groceries.”

Citing nearly $16 billion in annual profits and a CEO earning 1000 times the average employee, Walmart employees and communities across the globe are calling for a change of course at the company.  Making Change at Walmart is calling on the company to raise wages, an end to retaliation against employees who speak out as well as increased access to full time hours so that employees make a minimum of $25,000 per year.

Additionally, the group is also calling on Walmart sign a binding agreement on fire and building safety to help prevent tragedies like last month’s Rana Plaza building collapse in Dhaka, Bangladesh which caused the death of more than 1,000 garment workers.

Over the course of the last year, Walmart has seen its reputation and business practices questioned amidst bribery allegations, tragedies in its supply chain and turmoil amongst its workforce including strikes launched last year for the first time in the company’s 51 year history.  Since 2011 Walmart has seen a decline in its reputational index rating, while its competitors have seen an increase during the same period and support for changing course at Walmart has been growing.  Last fall, more than 30,000 supporters joined striking workers on picket lines around Black Friday and since then a number of actions have taken place at Walmart stores across the country including last month when hundreds of OUR Walmart members and their supporters called on the company to correct scheduling problems within stores.

The new website highlights stories from various Walmart employees including those who have called on the company to change course and leadership.  Additionally, it features stories of Walmart employees who receive public assistance and those work along the supply chain.

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UFCW and OUR Walmart have the purpose of helping Wal-Mart employees as individuals or groups in their dealings with Wal-Mart over labor rights and standards and their efforts to have Wal-Mart publically commit to adhering to labor rights and standards. UFCW and OUR Walmart have no intent to have Walmart recognize or bargain with UFCW or OUR Walmart as the representative of Walmart employees.

Thousands of UFCW members work in the retail industry, including at H&M, and the UFCW will continue to honor the workers who died or were injured in Bangladesh by supporting workers here and abroad who are struggling to protect their basic rights, and by calling on other retailers that have a strong presence in Bangladesh—such as Walmart—to do the right thing and sign this agreement.

“I was honored to participate in today’s hearing which highlighted the economic struggles of part-time workers, especially those in retail,” said Congresswoman Chu.  “Millions of Americans are only able to find part-time jobs, and too many of these jobs do not provide health insurance, family and medical leave, or pension plans. That’s why the Part-Time Worker Bill of Rights Act, which would extend benefits to part-time workers, is so critical. In today’s economy, we need to make sure that all hard-working Americans can afford to put food on the table and have a safety net to protect them and their families.”

The Part-Time Worker Bill of Rights builds upon the progress of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and ensures that part-time workers (defined as working less than 30 hours a week) and their families have access to critical workplace benefits.  The ACA penalizes employers who fail to provide health insurance to full-time workers, but includes no such penalties for employers who deny health coverage to part-time workers.

“There are too many people in search of work who can only find part-time jobs—and many of these jobs do not include critical work-related health and retirement benefits,” said Lola Smallwood Cuevas, a project director at the Los Angeles Black Worker Center at UCLA’s Center for Labor Research and Education and a member of the National Retail Justice Alliance. “Policies like the Part-Time Worker Bill of Rights are needed to address the increasing number of Americans who are working without a safety net for retirement, health care, and family leave.”

In addition to Chu and Cuevas, state and local leaders, economic experts and part-time workers also spoke at the hearing which took place at East Los Angeles College.

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The National Retail Justice Alliance is dedicated to raising the living and working standards of retail workers in the United States.  By working in collaboration with a broad base of opinion leaders, organizations and communities, the National Retail Justice Alliance builds support for workers in the retail industry through advocacy, education and research to promote sustainable jobs, living wages, affordable health care and fair public policies.  For more information, visit www.retailjusticealliance.org.

ONTARIO, Calif

Rodriguez, along with Warehouse Workers United, filed formal federal charges today to protest the illegal firing.

“Walmart is committed to one thing, looking the other way when workers in its supply chain are abused,” Rodriguez said. “Just look at the factory collapse in Bangladesh this week or the fire that killed 112 last year. Just look at the conditions inside the warehouses in Southern California.”

Supporters launched a petition calling on Walmart to ensure Rodriguez’s reinstatement Friday and plan to deliver the signatures to Walmart officials Monday in Downtown Los Angeles. (Local reporters, see event details below.)

Rodriguez and his coworkers have repeatedly demonstrated that Walmart does not hold its contractors to its own standards. Warehouse workers, who are required to work inside dark, hot, metal shipping containers with little ventilation or water, under pressure to meet high quotas in the face of frequent injury, filed a complaint with the state agency responsible for workplace conditions last summer.

Though Walmart initially dismissed workers’ concerns, in December, the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) cited NFI Industries, which is contracted by Walmart to operate the warehouse, and one staffing agency, tens of thousands of dollars in health and safety violations.

Earlier this month Walmart supply chain workers from the National Guestworker Alliance, Warehouse Workers United, New Labor, Warehouse Workers for Justice and Jobs with Justice convened to respond to Walmart’s claim that it holds its suppliers to its “Standards for Suppliers.” Workers offered their own set of core principles that would ensure improved labor standards in the supply chain.

“What workers have shown is that Walmart’s standards are nothing more than a sheet of paper,” said Guadalupe Palma, director of Warehouse Workers United. “To be serious the Walmart’s standards must be enforceable, credible standards that are centered around workers. Walmart must ensure Javier is reinstated and immediately start acting to resolve serious problems in its supply chain.”

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Warehouse Workers United is an organization committed to improving the quality of life and jobs in Southern California’s Inland Empire. More than 85,000 warehouse workers work moving goods for major retailers like Walmart in San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

OUR Walmart member Rose Campbell is a grandmother of 14 and has worked at Walmart for four years in Chicago.  While Walmart considers Rose a full time employee, she is never scheduled 40 hours a week. Her schedule is erratic – some weeks she works 32 hours, others 38. Sometimes she will be scheduled for as few as 19 hours a week. With low pay and a fluctuating schedule, Rose struggles to cover her bills. She is unable to afford her own car or apartment.

OUR Walmart members believe in the value and importance of consistent scheduling and adequate hours. Thousands of Walmart workers work fewer hours they want and need to make ends meet. Workers say their schedules are often inconsistent, varying in the number of hours they get, as well as the shifts they are required to work. This makes budgeting nearly impossible and limits workers’ ability to go to school or find a second supplemental job.

The national day of action is a call for change at Walmart so workers like Rose can work the hours they need to get by. More information on the national action day on April 24 can be viewed at http://bit.ly/Z0jLZ6.

In January 2013, after speaking out about the issue for more than a year, OUR Walmart members won a huge victory: Walmart CEO Mike Duke announced that Walmart would provide more transparency in scheduling and offer part time workers the opportunity to get the hours they so desperately need. Unfortunately, workers report that three months later Walmart has yet to make good on its public commitment to change.

Martha Sellars, a Walmart associate from Paramount, CA, also noted, as she spoke at the conference, that Walmart is not a good employer, and therefore must stay out of Chinatown.  Touching on the never-ending fight to return Walmart to what its founder, Sam Walton, created it to be, Martha said:

“One of [Sam Walton's] beliefs was to listen to us, the workers. We know what’s going on in the stores–we deal with it everyday. So when we speak up now, the store retaliates

Martha and many other activists, business owners, workers, and residents protested last year, when Walmart began construction on the controversial Chinatown location.

Watch the videos of the Martha’s speech below to hear more about how Walmart’s mistreatment of workers, and its negative impact on the economy, make it a bad choice for Chinatown.

source: thecomingcrisis.blogspot.com

Walmart has been touting claims about its fresh produce, healthy food options, and great products all around for a while now, but recently, customers have been finding that the selection of great food products available at Walmart is not up to par with all the company claims it to be.

A few examples that went viral this week help demonstrate the problem.  When someone posted photos of a box of doughnuts that had layers of expiration stickers on it, each with a different date, many others related and shared similar stories. This twitpic shows another not-so-fresh photo from a customer who, while shopping at 6:30 pm at Walmart, saw rotisserie chickens on display that had been cooked at 10:15 am.

A driving force behind the poor selection in products like produce? An article in the New York Times helps explain what has been happening more and more in Walmart’s across the country:

“Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer and grocer, has cut so many employees that it no longer has enough workers to stock its shelves properly.”

Walmart’s decision to deprive its associates of full-time work and healthcare is actually hurting the company:

“Internal notes from a March meeting of top Walmart managers show the company grappling with low customer confidence in its produce and poor quality. “Lose Trust,” reads one note, “Don’t have items they are looking for — can’t find it.”

Despite this problem, Walmart continues to expand across the country, while the average number of store employees has decreased from 338 to 281. Not only has the decrease in employee staffing and hours hurt the availability of fresh food, but it has created other issues as well:

“Tsehai Scott, a manager at a Los Angeles Walmart who is a member of the union-affiliated employee group OUR Walmart, said “sometimes there’s a 30- or 40-minute wait in the line” because there are not enough cashiers working. With as few as 11 people on the overnight shift stocking the 218,000-square-foot store, “stocking has fallen by the wayside in what we call the consumable areas,” meaning everyday products like food or toiletries. “The department won’t get as clean as it should,” she said, “or we’ll see spoiled food in the food department, that if we had enough hands, we could get it back to the freezer or refrigerator in time.”

The result of all of this? An exodus of customers to other retailers like Costco and Safeway.  When will Walmart realize that what is good for the associate is good for business too? If the company wants to turn things around, they should start by listening to what the world is telling it: treat your workers better.

Walmart likes to claim that they are organic, sustainable, and all about healthy options. But in reality, Walmart is a driving force in the unhealthy lifestyles that have led to an “epidemic” of weight and diet-related health problems in our country.

Walmart’s share of the grocery market stands at an unprecedented and increasingly-growing 25%.  This means that Walmart has an alarming amount of control over what American eats.

According to an article from Truthout, Walmart has “recast its relentless expansion as a solution to ‘food deserts.’” However, when looking at the stats, it isn’t hard to see that this claim is more of a PR stunt:

“Although Walmart has made food deserts the vanguard of its PR strategy in urban areas, most of the stores the chain has built or proposed in cities like Chicago and Washington D.C. are in fact just blocks from established supermarkets, many unionized or locally owned.  As it pushes into cities, Walmart’s primary aim is not to fill gaps but to grab market share.”

Aside from Walmart’s bogus reasoning behind its rapid expansion, what is truly worrisome is this:

“Walmart’s takeover of our food system has been to intensify the rural and urban poverty that drives unhealthy food choices.  Poverty has a strong negative effect on diet, regardless of whether there is a grocery store in the neighborhood or not, a major 15-year study published in 2011 in the Archives of Internal Medicine found. Access to fresh food cannot change the bottom-line reality that cheap, calorie-dense processed foods and fast food are financially logical choices for far too many American households.  And their numbers are growing right alongside Walmart.  Like Midas in reverse, Walmart extracts wealth and pushes down incomes in every community it touches, from the rural areas that produce food for its shelves to the neighborhoods that host its stores.”

Farmers and food workers are now struggling more than ever to make a living now too, thanks to Walmart’s control of the industry.  In order to avoid being crushed by  the mega-corporation, food companies have been forced to merge and consolidate in hopes that they can supply for Walmart. The result is that 4 meatpacking companies slaughter more than three quarters of America’s beef, and a single dairy producer handles 40% of the country’s milk.  With monopolies like this, the ability for businesses to compete is all but zilch.

The effect of all of this? It comes down to less pay for farmers and food workers, a decrease in the value of the consumer dollar, and higher grocery prices overall.  But since Walmart’s prices are so low, many are forced to shop there, creating a vicious cycle: “As Walmart stores multiply, fewer families can afford to eat well.”

But let’s not forget the other huge reason Walmart is downright unhealthy: It doesn’t provide its hard-working associates with living wages, affordable healthcare, or oftentimes, even a safe working environment.  When the workers who make Walmart the success it is have to decide between food for their family or paying the electric bill, can’t go to the doctor because if they miss work they will be fired, or are afraid to speak out about issues in the workplace because of harassment and intimidation, healthy living becomes impossible–regardless of food choice.

UFCW Local 400 members and labor allies attend a hearing on the Large Retailer Accountability Act in Washington, D.C.

UFCW Local 400 members and labor allies including Respect DC, and the DC Labor Council attended a hearing to support the Large Retailer Accountability Act.

The bill would require large retailers, those with stores over 75,000 square feet and over $1 billion in revenue, to pay the DC Living Wage and follow the First Source hiring law. It makes sure that big box retail is a better deal for D.C. by making sure residents share in the profits of the large corporations like Walmart, Target, Home Depot, and Lowe’s that want to enter and expand in the city. A petition to support the Large Retailer Accountability Act in Washington, D.C. is available here.

By supporting and approving this bill, we hope that similar legislation will emerge in other major cities throughout the nation, bringing us another step closer to economic justice for workers.

Workers from Quetico, LLC, a warehouse in Chino, California that moves merchandise destined for Walmart and other retailers, launched the petition in February after the state determined that 865 workers had more than $1 million in wages stolen from them.

“We are grateful for the support from so many people throughout the country,” said Yurguien Juarez, a warehouse worker who traveled to San Francisco. “We really hope that with all this attention Walmart will recognize the need to involve workers in ensuring conditions inside the warehouses are safe and workers are treated with respect.”

After conducting a lengthy investigation into serious wage and hour complaints at that warehouse, the state of California issued a citation to Quetico for $1 million in wage theft over the last three years based on unpaid overtime wages, penalties, and meal period violations. Since the Labor Commissioner announced her department’s findings, harassment against the workers has increased and the company has vowed to appeal the ruling prompting workers to create the petition.

Support has been strong. Walmart workers, students, union members and community supporters joined the peaceful delivery of the petition signatures.

“Walmart must listen to the very people who make its business work,” said Feng Kung with Jobs with Justice in San Francisco. “We are proud to join with warehouse workers in their fight to improve their jobs.”

The petition calls on Walmart to enforce its “Standards for Suppliers” with real accountability and input from workers like Yurguien Juarez. As the largest retailer in the world, Walmart holds the power to clean up an entire industry, improve jobs and protect workers willing to speak out for the greater good.

Workers also asked both Alavarez and Mayer to meet with them. Warehouse workers noted that the goals of the Latino Community Foundation, which Alvarez chairs, and of Warehouse Workers United are similar.

“We estimate that about 80 percent of the 85,000 warehouse workers in the region are Latino,” said Guadalupe Palma, director of Warehouse Workers United. “Like the Latino Community Foundation we are focused on transforming the lives of thousands of workers and their families. Good jobs with decent wages, access to healthcare and other basic rights are key to warehouse workers’ ability to achieve the American Dream.”

Warehouse Workers United is an organization committed to improving the quality of life and jobs for warehouse workers in Southern California’s Inland Empire. About 85,000 workers, mostly Latino, labor in San Bernardino and Riverside counties moving goods that are destined for retailers like Walmart. The majority of workers are hired through temp agencies, paid low wages, receive no benefits, and have no job security.

]]> http://www.ufcw.org/2013/03/01/warehouse-workers-deliver-20000-signatures-to-bay-area-walmart-board-members/feed/ 0 http://www.ufcw.org/2013/02/07/walmart-workers-in-maryland-and-texas-walk-off-job/ http://www.ufcw.org/2013/02/07/walmart-workers-in-maryland-and-texas-walk-off-job/#comments Thu, 07 Feb 2013 18:37:53 +0000 Maura Pond http://www.ufcw.org/?p=15248 Walmart workers in Maryland and Texas walked off the job today in protest of the company’s attempts to silence workers. OUR Walmart issued the following statement regarding today’s action:

Walmart Workers in Maryland and Texas Walk Off Job

Colby Harris, OUR Walmart member

Washington, DC-  Today at noon, Walmart workers in Maryland and Texas citing Unfair Labor Practices (ULP) committed by Walmart, walked off the job in protest of the company’s attempts to silence workers who speak out for better jobs.  The worker action comes in response to reports of Walmart managers in Maryland and across the country telling Walmart workers that their actions taken last Black Friday were illegal, any future attempts to strike would be illegal and punishable, and for associating or even talking with Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart) could lead to termination.

“What I know based on my conversations with other OUR Walmart leaders and other associates from Walmart Associates in Kentucky, Florida, Illinois, Maryland and other states last week Walmart managers started reading a memo to employees stating that their right to strike are illegal and if they did not stop taking action against the company they would be punished,” said Colby Harris, a Dallas, TX Walmart Associate, OUR Walmart leader and striker.  “Not only are such statements to employees illegal but they are threatening and intimidating and no one should have to endure that.  I along with other Walmart associates work hard to support our families and support our community, as a worker I should have the right to do my job free from intimidation and threats.”

Walmart workers have been speaking out about the company’s manipulation of hours and benefits, efforts to try to keep people from working full-time and discrimination against women and people of color, but rather than listening to the concerns facing 1.4 million Walmart workers, Walmart has attempted to silence them.

Last October, OUR Walmart leaders held the first-ever strikes against the mega-retailer.  At that time, workers walked off their jobs in more than 12 cities and with the support of national and local leaders, held protests at more than 200 stores. Since then, workers have walked off the job in Richmond, CA and Dallas, TX, and support for OUR Walmart, the associate organization calling for Walmart to publicaly commit to address labor rights and standards, has continued to grow.

Striking warehouse workers, who move billions of dollars of merchandise for Walmart, joined the call to speak about the retaliation they have experienced for speaking out against unsafe working conditions, including extreme temperatures, broken and unsafe equipment and inadequate access to clean drinking water.  The workers from the Inland Empire, outside of Los Angeles, held a 15-day strike that included a six-day, 50-mile pilgrimage for safe jobs last September.

Energy around the calls for Walmart to publicly commit to changing its treatment of workers and communities has been building.  Last year, thousands of Walmart Associates and their supporters took unprecedented actions against Walmart in response to illegal actions the world’s largest private employer has been taking against its workers.  We saw Walmart workers walk off the job from California to Maryland, in protest against the company’s attempts to silence workers who labor rights, and standards.  And in the fall for the first time in the history of the company, we saw the first group of Walmart associates go on strike.  As a result nearly 1,200 protests and actions took place at Walmart stores for  its treatment of employees and the communities they occupy.

“The reason I decided to strike was because I cannot allow Walmart to mislead, threaten and intimidate myself or my fellow associates.  We have rights and legal protection and if we don’t stand up to these misleading and downright untruths now, Walmart will continue its behavior and that is just unacceptable. We must hold Walmart accountable for their actions,” said Harris.

Following the protest at Walmart’s Laurel, MD store, Harris and other Walmart workers went to the National Labor Relations Board to file an official complaint against Walmart for their latest action to silence and intimidate workers.

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OUR Walmart’s purpose is to help Walmart employees as individuals or groups in their dealings with Walmart over labor rights and standards and their efforts to have Walmart publically commit to adhering to labor rights and standards.  OUR Walmart has no intent to have Walmart recognize or bargain with it as the representative of Walmart employees.

The new alliance is dedicated to raising the living and working standards of retail workers in the United States.  The retail sector is the largest industry by employment in the United States, and is projected to add almost 1.8 million jobs between 2010 and 2020—more than any other industry except construction. Although the retail sector is one of the fastest growing sectors in the country, many retail workers are struggling to survive in low-wage jobs with inconsistent hours and few benefits.  Strengthening the middle class is essential to rebuilding our economy and it’s critically important that retail employers lead the way in making sure that retail jobs are good jobs with benefits so that workers in this growing industry have a pathway to the middle class.

“The retail sector is an important employer of minorities and women, and too many of these workers are living below the poverty line,” said Bill Fletcher, chair of the National Retail Justice Alliance and director of field service and education at the American Federation of Government Employees. “It’s clear that leaders in the retail industry need to step up to the plate and ensure that all retail jobs have decent wages and benefits that can support a family, and Walmart—the world’s largest retailer—is a good place to start.  Unfortunately, the retail giant’s drive to put profits ahead of its workers has influenced other retailers to do the same, and that’s why this alliance was formed.”

For more information about the National Retail Justice Alliance, visit www.retailjusticealliance.org.

The garment workers wait, ready to confront any management that may return to gather equipment. They believe the motive for the abrupt move by the management is a plot to shed long-time employees, and then re-open, in order to avoid paying for the benefits of workers who have seniority.

Without their pay and without work, many of the workers cannot afford rent, and have been evicted.

This scheme is not new.  Many other suppliers for Walmart and other large retail chains employ these tactics to take advantage of temporary workers, and to make unionization and job benefits for workers virtually impossible.

To support the workers who have come together to demand what they are owed, Warehouse Workers United and other organizations are calling on Walmart to force the supplier to pay the workers their severance.  A corporation as powerful and wealthy as Walmart should not wait around for outside organizations to tell them to do what is right- they should simply do it.  How many more factory, garment, and warehouse workers will be mistreated before Walmart holds its suppliers accountable, or prevents such things from happening? Whether the offense is dangerous working conditions or unfair wages, Walmart needs to be more responsible and help create better jobs for the countless workers that help make Walmart the powerful business that it is.

Click here for more information, and watch the video of the Cambodian garment workers below:

This past Black Friday, Walmart workers took courageous action by going out on strike against the world’s largest private employer. As the story broke, we were inundated with messages of support from members and workers around the globe wanting to know how they could lend a hand.

Such coordinated national action by the workers at Walmart would not have been possible without months of organizing and talking to each other through the newly-formed Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart). Now the next step will be for allies to organize together so they can execute focused anti-retaliation strategies to protect the movement’s worker-leaders and carry the momentum forward.

On January 17^th, MCAW will hold its first meeting for volunteers. The webinar will start at 4:15pm EST and is open to anyone who would like to volunteer. You can sign up to attend the webinar here. If you are interested in learning more about the campaign and becoming a local volunteer, but cannot attend the webinar, fill out this form and we will contact you shortly.

UFCW members and community rose to the call for solidarity on Black Friday by holding nearly 1,200 actions nationwide and raising over $100,000 to support the strikers. It was a historic step forward and made many people, including journalists as well as many workers throughout the Walmart supply chain, question the myth that a company like Walmart was too big for ordinary people to impact.

As the movement continues to grow and work toward real change at Walmart in 2013, community volunteers will be essential to this fight.

Time to get fired up, folks.

With the momentum of the Walmart worker movement, the new year has the potential to see great changes in the labor sector. Walmart, who is largely responsible for the downward spiral in worker’s wages across the retail industry, has the potential to reverse that trend, thanks to its sheer size and influence on retail everywhere. If Walmart listens to its workers, and changes its ways for the better, our country’s economy will benefit greatly, and staggering wage inequality will be reduced.

By utilizing social media, and new labor strategies, these workers have become a force to be reckoned with. Instead of waiting for the government or Walmart to help them change working conditions, workers got together themselves and organized to create a unified voice for Walmart associates. A core group of workers have stood strong against obstacles to the movement, and are continuing to gain supporters and followers, from walmart workers to community allies.

But workers cannot change a system of low wages and poor working conditions alone. So with the new year, OUR Walmart is planning to focus on educating politicians and elected officials about their cause, and creating communities that will stand behind their working fellows.

To read more about the movement, check out the In These Times article.

OUR Walmart and Community Supporters Commit to Continued Protests in 2013 

Follow the conversation and see photos on Twitter: #WalmartStrikers and @ForRespect and @ChangeWalmart

MIAMI—US Walmart workers were joined by Walmart workers in nine countries on Friday to call for an end to Walmart’s attempts to silence workers for speaking out for changes at the world’s largest employer.  As Walmart workers and community supporters marched in front of a Walmart store in Miami, workers in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Nicaragua, Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Zambia and India held their own rallies, marches, and other actions at Walmart and Walmart subsidiary stores.  During the protests, workers cited the negative impacts that the silencing is having on their families, the economy and the company’s bottom-line.  

At the protests across the globe, workers held a moment of silence to honor the victims of the factory fire in Bangladesh that tragically claimed the lives of 112 workers. Recent reports show that Walmart “played a leading role in blocking an effort” to improve electrical and fire safety systems in factories in the country.

“Walmart must stop its attempts to silence those who speak out.  We are standing up for what is right for our families and the global economy,” said Elaine Rozie, an OUR Walmart member from the Hialeah store in Miami Gardens, Fl.  Rozie is a seven-year associate who despite works full-time at Walmart still has to depend on public assistance to make ends meet. “As the largest retailer in the world, Walmart should be setting a standard for good, safe jobs. The benefits of having steady, well-trained workers in stores and along the supply chain will help Walmart improve customer service ratings and its reputation, which is good business.”

“We are inspired by OUR Walmart members who are standing up for a better future for all of our families,” said Louisa Plaatjies, a worker from South Africa. In October, workers from seven countries – where workers all have union representation – launched the UNI Walmart Global Union Alliance to fight for fairness, decent working conditions, and the fundamental human right of freedom of association.  ”We are will continue to stand up with our brothers and sisters in the United States until Walmart starts listening to the workers that keep the store running.”

The global protests held today build on the ongoing calls for change at Walmart. In November, community members and Walmart workers held more than 1,000 demonstrations, including strikes in 100 cities, during the Black Friday shopping rush in protest of the company’s illegal attempts to silence workers for speaking out about the company’s manipulation of hours and benefits, efforts to try to keep people from working full-time and its discrimination against women and people of color.  The Black Friday strike wave came a little more than a month after OUR Walmart leaders held the first-ever strikes against the mega-retailer. In just one year, OUR Walmart has grown from a group of 100 Walmart workers to an army of thousands of Associates across 43 states.

“The Walmart workers may come from different cultures and continents but they are united in their opposition to Walmart’s cynical and systematic squeezing of its employees to maximize profit, be it the US dollar, the South African rand, the Indian rupee, the Argentine peso or any other currency,” said the International UNI Global Union General Secretary, Philip Jennings. “Walmart has gone too far. US Walmart workers have had enough and they are fighting back as we saw on Black Friday and every day since. The Alliance is standing with them not just in solidarity but in strength and in action.”

Workers like Jesus Vargas, who have been illegally fired, targeted by management or other retaliation for speaking out, are also raising their voices.  More than 30 federal charges against Walmart have already been filed, with another 60 allegations against Walmart’s illegal threats currently under investigation.

“Walmart, we will not be silenced,” Vargas said. Vargas, who was unjustly fired for speaking out at his store in California, has filed a federal charge against Walmart. “We are coming together to be heard and to create good jobs that workers in America and across the globe need.”

With so many Americans struggling to make ends meet and Walmart taking in $16 billion in profits and compensating its executives $10 million each, workers and community leaders have been calling on Walmart and Chairman Rob Walton to address the wage gap the company is creating.  At the same time frontline Walmart workers are facing financial hardships, the Walton Family – heirs to the Walmart fortune – are the richest family in the country with more wealth than the bottom 42% of American families combined.

Workers’ concerns about wages and staffing have been affirmed by newly uncovered company pay-plans exposed by the Huffington Post, recent poor sales reports and a new study on wage trends in the retail industry. Huffington Post uncovered what reporters call “a rigid pay structure for hourly employees that makes it difficult for most to rise much beyond poverty-level wages.”  Meanwhile, last week’s sales reports show that understaffing, which affects workers’ scheduling and take-home pay, is also having an impact on company sales. Last week’s sales report showed that Walmart’s comp store sales are about half what competitors like Target reported in the same quarter, continuing a pattern of underperformance by the world’s largest retailer.

As workers and community supporters call for changes at Walmart, a new report by the national public policy center Demos, shows that better jobs at Walmart and other large retailers would have an impact on our economy. A wage floor equivalent of $25,000 per year for a full-time, year-round employee for retailers with more than 1000 employees would lift 1.5 million retail workers and their families out of poverty or near poverty, add to economic growth, increase retail sales and create more than 100,000 new jobs. The findings in the study prove there is a flaw in the conventional thinking by companies like Walmart that profits, low prices, and decent wages cannot coexist.

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Making Change at Walmart is a campaign challenging Walmart to help rebuild our economy and strengthen working families. Anchored by the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW), Making Change at Walmart is a coalition of Walmart associates, union members, small business owners, religious leaders, community organizations, women’s advocacy groups, multi-ethnic coalitions, elected officials and ordinary citizens who believe that changing Walmart is vital for the future of our country.

USA—Walmart workers in Miami, Dallas, Wisconsin and the Bay Area kicked off this year’s Black Friday shopping season by walking off the job on Thursday, and this morning, workers from Chicago and Washington, DC have joined them. Throughout the day, Walmart workers in more than 100 cities are expected to go on strike as part of the continued wave of 1,000 protests in 46 states leading up to and on Black Friday, including strikes, rallies, flash mobs, direct action and other efforts to inform customers about the illegalactions that Walmart has been taking against its workers.

The workers, who are members of the organization OUR Walmart, are on strike in protest against the company’s attempts to silence workers who speak out for better jobs. Workers in California, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Louisiana, Minnesota and across the country are among those expected to strike throughout the day.

Watch a video from Walmart workers on why they’re standing upor follow the conversation on Twitter at #WalmartStrikers.  Live-streaming of protests will also be available atQik.com/OURWalmart.

“Walmart has spent the last 50 years pushing its way on workers and communities,” said Mary Pat Tifft, an OUR Walmart member and 24-year associate who led a protest on Thursday evening in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  “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, OUR Walmart member and 3-year associate who walked off the job in Lancaster, Texas 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 heading.”

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Making Change at Walmart is a campaign challenging Walmart to help rebuild our economy and strengthen working families. Anchored by the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW), we are a coalition of Walmart associates, union members, small business owners, religious leaders, community organizations, women’s advocacy groups, multi-ethnic coalitions, elected officials and ordinary citizens who believe that changing Walmart is vital for the future of our country. 

 As Black Friday nears, Walmart workers and community supporters are beginning 1,000 nationwide non-violent protests leading up to and on Black Friday, including strikes, rallies, flash mobs, direct action and other efforts to inform customers about the illegal actions that Walmart has been taking against its workers.  As part of the protests, Walmart workers walked off the job Tuesday morning in Pico Rivera, just outside Los Angeles, in protest against the company’s attempts to silence workers who speak out for better jobs. In October, the workers in Pico Rivera were the first group of Walmart associates to go on strike in the company’s history.

Last week, the 1,000 protests kicked-off with warehouse workers from Southern California and Walmart workers from San Leandro, Calif., Seattle, and Dallas walking off the job. Workers in the Washington DC area joined them yesterday in going on strike.  Walmart workers from cities across the country have announced additional strikes in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, Milwaukee, Washington DC, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Louisiana and Minnesota in the upcoming days.

“We’re not trying to shut down business, we are supporting our co-workers who speak out for better working conditions,” said Yesenia Yaber, a two-year Walmart Associate in Chicago, Ill. “These Associates have been speaking out for changes that will help all Associates help our families and make Walmart stores better places for our customers to shop.  Yet, Walmart reacts by attempting to silence them. No one wants to strike, we want to work, but we can’t continue under Walmart’s threats and retaliation.”

Workers’ concerns about wages and staffing have been affirmed by newly uncovered company pay-plans exposed by the Huffington Post, poor sales reports and a new study on the retail industry.  Huffington Post uncovered what reporters call “a rigid pay structure for hourly employees that makes it difficult for most to rise much beyond poverty-level wages.”  Meanwhile, last week’s sales reports show that understaffing, which affects workers’ scheduling and take-home pay, is also having an impact on company sales. Last week’s sales report showed that Walmart’s comp store sales are about half what competitors like Target reported this quarter, continuing a pattern of underperformance by the world’s largest retailer.

“Walmart is doing everything in its power to attempt to silence those who speak out.  But nothing—not even this baseless unfair labor practice charge—will stop us from speaking out,” said Colby Harris, a Walmart associate from Lancaster, Texas, in response to Walmart’s frivolous unfair labor charge and the number of charges filed by workers against the company.  “Unfair labor is working full time and living in poverty. Unfair labor is seeing your health care premiums skyrocket year after year. Unfair labor is being denied the hours needed to support your family. Unfair labor is being punished for exercising your freedom of speech and association. Walmart workers know what unfair labor is—because we endure it every day. So until Walmart listens to our concerns, we will continue to speak out. We will continue to stand up when Walmart attempts to silence those who speak out. We will continue to demand respect.” 

As workers and community supporters call for changes at Walmart, a new report from the national public policy center Demos, shows that better jobs at Walmart and other large retailers would have an impact on our economy.  A wage floor equivalent of $25,000 per year for a full-time, year-round employee for retailers with more than 1000 employees would lift 1.5 million retail workers and their families out of poverty or near poverty, add to economic growth, increase retail sales and create over 100,000 new jobs. The findings in the study prove there is a flaw in the conventional thinking by companies like Walmart that profits, low prices and decent wages cannot co-exist.

“Walmart has forgotten about families,” said Larry Gross, the Executive Director of the Coalition for Economic Survival in Los Angeles, Calif. “Thanksgiving day scheduling, poverty paychecks, and unaffordable healthcare are all evidence of Walmart’s disregard for the 1.4 million workers that keep its doors open and shelves stocked.  We should expect more from the country’s largest employer.”

Walmart workers have been speaking out about the company’s manipulation of hours and benefits, efforts to try to keep people from working full-time and their discrimination against women and people of color, but rather than listening to the concerns facing 1.4 million Walmart workers, Walmart has attempted to silence them. Some workers have also been speaking out about the early start of Black Friday sales – on Thanksgiving Day –which will keep many retail workers from being able to spend the holiday with their families.  Watch a video from Walmart workers on why they’re standing up or follow the conversation on Twitter at #WalmartStrikers.

With so many Americans struggling to make ends meet and Walmart taking in $16 billion in profits and compensating its executives $10 million each, workers and community leaders have been calling on Walmart and Chairman Rob Walton to address the wage gap the company is creating.  At the same time frontline Walmart workers are facing financial hardships, the Walton Family – heirs to the Walmart fortune – are the richest family in the country with more wealth than the bottom 42% of American families combined.

Countless civil rights, immigrant rights, women’s rights and religious groups, including Color of Change, National Alliance of Latino, African and Caribbean Communities, Interfaith Worker Justice, and the National Organization of Women, are organizing their members in support of Walmart workers.  Online, individuals have been adding support and planning protests on their own, starting new Facebook pages, groups and events.  Through the Corporate Action Network, activists are “adopting” stores where they can inform shoppers about the struggles that Walmart workers are facing.

In October, OUR Walmart leaders held the first-ever strikes against the mega-retailer.  At that time, workers walked off their jobs in more than 12 cities and with the support of national and local leaders, held protests at more than 200 stores. Since then, workers have walked off the job in Richmond, CA and Dallas, TX, and support for OUR Walmart, the associate organization calling for change, has continued to grow.

Striking warehouse workers, who move billions of dollars of merchandise for Walmart, joined the call to speak about the retaliation they have experienced for speaking out against unsafe working conditions, including extreme temperatures, broken and unsafe equipment and inadequate access to clean drinking water.  The workers from the Inland Empire, outside of Los Angeles, held a 15-day strike that included a six-day, 50-mile pilgrimage for safe jobs in September.

Energy around the calls for Walmart to change its treatment of workers and communities has been building.  In just one year, OUR Walmart, the unique workers’ organization founded by Walmart Associates, has grown from a group of 100 Walmart workers to an army of thousands of Associates in hundreds of stores across 43 states. Together, OUR Walmart members have been leading the way in calling for an end to double standards that are hurting workers, communities and our economy.

The alleged Mexican bribery scandal, uncovered by the New York Times, has shined a light on the failure of internal controls within Walmart that extend to significant breaches of compliance in stores and along the company’s supply chain.  The company is facing yet another gender discrimination lawsuit on behalf of 100,000 women in California and in Tennessee, and a wage theft class action suit in Chicago. In the company’s warehousing system, in which Walmart has continually denied responsibility for the working conditions for tens of thousands of people who work for warehouses where they move billions of dollars of goods, workers are facing rampant wage theft and health and safety violations so extreme that they have led to an unprecedented $600,000 in fines.   The Department of Labor fined a Walmart seafood supplier for wage and hour violations, and Human Rights Watch has spoken out about the failures of controls in regulating suppliers overseas, including a seafood supplier in Thailand where trafficking and debt bondage were cited.

Financial investors are also joining the call for Walmart to create better checks and balances, transparency and accountability that will protect workers and communities and strengthen the company.  At the company’s annual shareholder meeting in Bentonville, OUR Walmart member Jackie Goebel brought a stadium full of shareholders to their feet applauding her call for an end to the short staffing that’s hurting workers and customer service.  Goebel was one of four Associate-shareholders who proposed a resolution calling for the reining in of executive pay. The resolution received unprecedented support from major pension funds that voted their shares against Walmart CEO and members of the board this June, amounting to a ten-fold increase and overall 1 in 3 shares not held by the Walton family against the company’s leadership.

These widespread problems have also thwarted Walmart’s plans for growth, particularly in urban markets.  Calling the company a “bad actor,” New York City mayoral candidates have all been outspoken in their opposition to Walmart entering the city without addressing labor and community relations’ problems.  This month, the city’s largest developer announced an agreement with a union-grocery store at a site that Walmart had hoped would be its first location in New York. In Los Angeles, mayoral candidates are refusing to accept campaign donations from the deep pockets of Walmart, and in Boston, Walmart was forced to suspend its expansion into the city after facing significant community opposition.

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Making Change at Walmart is a campaign challenging Walmart to help rebuild our economy and strengthen working families. Anchored by the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW), we are a coalition of Walmart associates, union members, small business owners, religious leaders, community organizations, women’s advocacy groups, multi-ethnic coalitions, elected officials and ordinary citizens who believe that changing Walmart is vital for the future of our country. 

Washington, DC – The following is a statement issued by United Food and Commercial Workers International Union President Joseph Hansen in response to a new report released today by Demos, “Retail’s Hidden Potential: How Raising Wages Would Benefit Workers, the Industry and the Overall Economy,” which calls on retailers to raise wages:

“One million UFCW members working in retail in the U.S. concur with Demos’ evidence that retailers, workers and the U.S. economy will benefit from retail companies investing in their workforce.

“The report outlines that raising wages for full-time retail workers at the nation’s largest retail companies (those employing at least 1,000 workers) would result in improving the lives of more than 1.5 million retail workers and their families who are currently living in or hovering above poverty.   Higher wage increases would create more purchasing power for retail workers, which would generate $4 to $5 billion in additional annual sales for the industry, keep prices low for shoppers, and create more than 100,000 jobs.

“Walmart, for instance, paid its top executives $59 million in compensation in the last fiscal year and can clearly afford to pay their workers more.  The Walton family—whose combined family fortune is estimated to be $100 billion—has chosen to engage in elaborate stock buybacks that take earned corporate profits and put them back into the hands of shareholders.  For Walmart, stock buybacks have been the reason the Walton family’s interest in the company has risen to 51 percent—shifting the control of a so-called public company into the hands of a private family.

“The UFCW calls on retail employers like Walmart to heed this research and lead the way in making sure that retail jobs are good jobs with benefits that can support a family so that more retail workers have a pathway to the middle class.”

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The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) represents more than 1.3 million workers, primarily in the retail and meatpacking, food processing and poultry industries. The UFCW protects the rights of workers and strengthens America’s middle class by fighting for health care reform, living wages, retirement security, safe working conditions and the right to unionize so that working men and women and their families can realize the American Dream. For more information about the UFCW’s effort to protect workers’ rights and strengthen America’s middle class join our online community at http://www.facebook.com/ufcwinternational and https://twitter.com/UFCW.