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.

“The New York Times reported today that Walmart’s own internal reviews show more extensive corruption and internal cover-up than previously reported or admitted to by the company.  Walmart CEO Mike Duke and Chairman Rob Walton have failed to take any responsibility to shareholders, associates or the federal government for their leadership of the company in the face of reported illegal conduct.

“High paid public relations campaigns cannot undo illegal activity.  Walmart paid lip service to the bribery scandal and, even worse, engaged in illegal activities to silence its associates.  Walmart shareholders, associates and customers deserve answers.

“The reported cover-up by Walmart executives at the highest levels exposes a core truth:  Walmart cannot be taken at its word.  We ask that Congress immediately convene hearings to examine whether Walmart’s U.S. operations were engaged in any illegal or unethical practices, and whether they continue to do so.”

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The UFCW represents 1.3 million workers, 250,000 in the meatpacking and poultry industries. UFCW members also work in the health care, garment, chemical, distillery and retail industries. 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 http://www.facebook.com/UFCWinternational and www.twitter.com/ufcw.

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

National Leaders, Local Activists Commit to Supporting Strikes, Protests and Online Actions

Washington, DC - As Black Friday approaches, Walmart workers and warehouse workers walked off the job Wednesday and Thursday in protest of the company’s attempts to silence workers who speak out for better jobs. Warehouse workers from Southern California walked off the job Wednesday morning; Walmart workers from San Leandro, California walked off the job Wednesday afternoon; and this morning, Walmart workers from Seattle joined them.

This afternoon, Walmart workers from cities across the country announced that these strikes are the first of 1000 protests, including more strikes, rallies and online actions, at Walmart stores leading up to and on Black Friday.  Workers announced upcoming strikes and protests in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, Milwaukee, Washington DC, as well as workers walking off the job in Oklahoma, Mississippi, Louisiana and Minnesota.  The group held off announcing the specific dates of the protest out of concern that Walmart would use it as an opportunity to try to silence the workers’ voices.

“No matter how hard we work, my husband and I can’t catch up on our bills,” said Charlene Fletcher, an OUR Walmart leader from Duarte, California.  Charlene and her husband Greg both work at Walmart. Greg has been there for six years, and Charlene began 2-1/2 years ago. They have two young children, ages 2 and 5.  “We just found out that we are both scheduled to work on Thanksgiving Day instead of being home with our kids.  It’s heartbreaking to miss the holiday with them, and it’s just one more way that Walmart is showing its disregard for our families. But when our co-workers speak out about problems like these, Walmart turns their schedules upside down, cuts their hours and even fires people. We’re going on strike for an end to Walmart’s attempts to silence its workers.”

The announcement call was hosted by OUR Walmart members: Charlene Fletcher, of Duarte (Los Angeles County), Calif., Sara Gilbert of Seattle, Wash., Colby Harris of Dallas, Tex., and Cayt Lawley in Arkansas. They were joined by David Garcia, a warehouse worker in Southern California, and Dan Schlademan, Director of the Making Change at Walmart campaign.

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.

National leaders, including Dr. Julianne Malveaux and Lyle “Butch” Wing from Rainbow PUSH, joined the call to share their support for the striking workers.  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.

“Walmart’s workers are dedicated to giving 100 percent to the jobs that they do,” said Deepak Bhargava, Executive Director of the Center for Community Change. “The company must be as dedicated to its workers as it is to its profit margin.”

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.

Richmond, California–On the heels of first-ever strikes by Walmart workers across the country, workers at the Walmart Supercenter in Richmond walked off the job this morning as the store held its grand re-opening.  Joined by community leaders who have been calling for changes at Walmart, workers are on strike in protest of the attempts to silence and retaliate against workers.  At the Richmond store, Walmart workers have been working hard to help the store reach today’s grand re-opening date all while facing illegal intimidation from a store manager, including racist remarks and threats of physical violence.

“We will not be silenced by Walmart for standing up for respect and against harassment, intimidation and retaliation,” said Mario Hammod, a worker at the Richmond Walmart.   Hammod is one of thousands of members of the national worker-led Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart) that has been calling for changes at the company.  “In the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Cesar Chavez, I am taking a stand against Walmart’s illegal bullying tactics and practicing my right to peacefully hold a sit-in.  We want to be able to celebrate the store’s re-opening, but we cannot continue to work under these conditions of retaliation.”

In an expression of the building frustration that Walmart has not only ignored workers calls for change in Richmond and across the country, but actually retaliated against workers who do speak out, national leaders from civil rights, immigrant rights and women’s rights communities, religious institutions, unions and community leaders have committed to join striking workers in a wide range of non-violent activities on and leading up to Black Friday, including rallies, flash mobs, direct action and other efforts to inform customers about the illegal actions that Walmart has been taking against its workers.

“We cannot stand by while Walmart retaliates against workers who are standing up for a better future for their families,” said Rev. Phillip Lawson, Co-Founder of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration.

Rev. Lawson, along with other supporters and community groups across the country, has been calling for change through the Unified Call to Change Walmart. “Racist and threatening comments from Walmart will not be tolerated here in Richmond or anywhere.  Walmart should be creating good jobs, not threatening workers and turning its backs on the hard-working people that made this ribbon-cutting possible.”

Walmart workers in Richmond, CA on strike

The group protested outside the Supercenter with signs reading, “Stand Up, Live Better, Stop Retaliation” and “Stop Trying to Silence Us.” This comes just weeks after Walmart workers walked off the job in more than a dozen states, including stores in the East and South Bay. At the same time, workers went on strike at Walmart’s largest distribution center outside of Chicago, IL and were joined by hundreds of clergy and community supporters, some of who were arrested by riot police during the peaceful protest. And earlier this fall, workers in Walmart-controlled warehouses in Southern California went on a 15-day strike that included a six-day, 50-mile pilgrimage for safe jobs.

Walmart Associates at Richmond have been calling on management to end the retaliations against workers who speak out against harassment and poor working conditions, as well take home pay so low that many Associates are forced to rely on public programs to support their families and understaffing that is keeping workers from receiving sufficient hours and is also hurting customer service. As frontline Walmart workers face such hardships, the company is raking in almost $16 billion a year in profits, executives made more than $10 million each in compensation last year.  Meanwhile, the Walton Family – heirs to the Walmart fortune – is the richest family in the country with more wealth than the bottom 42% of American families combined.

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.  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 analysts 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.  A resolution proposed by Associate-shareholders to rein in executive pay received unprecedented support, and 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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Class action suit alleges Chicago-area temp workers weren’t paid minimum wage or provided with proper employment notices

CHICAGO—Walmart Stores Inc. and its staffing agencies broke federal minimum wage and overtime laws by requiring temporary workers to appear early for work, stay late to complete work, work through lunches and breaks and participate in trainings without compensation, a class action suit filed Monday alleges. The suit was filed Monday in U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.

Labor Ready and QPS, two of the staffing agencies Walmart uses in the Chicago area, failed to provide workers assigned to Walmart stores with information related to their employment, such as employment notices and proper wage payment notices as required by Illinois law.

Walmart itself failed to keep accurate records of workers’ time as required by federal and state law and has failed to provide workers with forms verifying hours worked. This made it impossible for workers to make claims that they were not paid by the temp agencies for all hours worked.

Walmart and its staffing agencies also failed to pay the plaintiffs and others in similar situations a minimum of four hours pay on days when they were contracted to work, but not utilized for a minimum of four hours, as required by Illinois law. This prevented the workers from seeking other work.

“I only get paid minimum wage and yet Labor Ready and Walmart still try to cheat me by not paying me for the time I actually work,” said Twanda Burk, the primary plaintiff on the lawsuit. “I’ve proven that I’m a good worker, and they just want to take advantage of that.”

The violations of state and federal law are alleged to have occurred in early 2009 and continuing up until the present time. In addition to seeking all unpaid wages for the workers, the suit calls for an injunction against Walmart and its temp agencies preventing them from future violations of state labor laws.

“There have been so many times I’ve been told to stay late after my shift to finish stocking the shelves, but I didn’t know they wouldn’t pay me for it,” said Anthony Wright, a temp worker at Labor Ready who has worked at a couple of the Walmart stores in the area since late last year.

Walmart contracts with staffing agencies for the services of hundreds of temporary laborers—many of whom earn minimum wage—in Chicago-area stores. The company has said it would hire 50,000 temporary workers to staff its stores for the upcoming holiday season.

“The practices that Walmart and its staffing agencies are engaging in are exactly why the Illinois legislature passed the Illinois Day and Temporary Services Act,” said Chris Williams, of Workers’ Law Office PC, the workers’ attorney. “Workers need critical information to make sure they don’t get cheated on their pay, as they did here. These workers are required to be paid for the time they’ve worked.”

Walmart got the green light to expand in Chicago when it committed to the Chicago city council to set starting wages at $8.75 per hour, however Walmart has failed to live up to its word to the people of Chicago.

Leone Jose Bicchieri, of the Chicago Workers’ Collaborative, who has been working to gain rights for agency temporary workers in Chicagoland for more than a decade, said, “Walmart has broken its promises in Chicago. It came into this city promising good, permanent jobs, but has reneged on this pledge. Instead of providing decent jobs with career potential and opportunities to access benefits, Walmart is outsourcing jobs to temp agencies that barely pay minimum wage with no benefits and who has broken multiple Illinois labor laws.”

Elce Redmond, the Executive Director of the South Austin Community Coalition, said, “By outsourcing these jobs, the company is taking advantage of Chicago residents in neighborhoods that had hoped Walmart would provide real employment opportunities, not the dead-end jobs that keep residents in a cycle of poverty.”

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Making Change at Walmart is a movement of community leaders, elected officials, civil rights and immigrant organizations, religious leaders, women’s organizations, Walmart associates, small business owners and members of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union challenging Walmart to help rebuild the economy, starting with America’s families. (www.ChangeWalmart.org)

Our social networks have been overflowing this week with messages of support from workers and allies across the U.S. and around the world. You can add your voice by joining our online community on Facebook and Twitter.

Here’s some of what people had to say:

“I’ve been with Walmart for six years, and in that time, my co-workers and I have given our heart and soul to this company. Yet we have not gotten the respect we deserve. This past year I joined with thousands of other Associates to build OUR Walmart, an organization created to speak out against unfair working conditions such as poverty paychecks, disrespect, and erratic schedules,” explained Walmart Associate Venanzi Luna. “Instead of listening, Walmart has responded by trying to silence and retaliate against those who speak out. I went on strike at the Pico Rivera store to tell Walmart that their attempts to silence my coworkers won’t be tolerated. Now others are going on strike too. We’re not going to be intimidated.”

For close observers of Walmart news, this strike comes as no surprise. Discontent has been growing amongst workers for quite some time and has recently come to a head throughout the supply chain. The initial bold action of a store strike in Los Angeles has inspired workers in Dallas and around the nation. The workers, like their counterparts before them, are on strike to protest Walmart’s unlawful retaliation against workers who were speaking out for change.

You can show your support for these workers by signing our solidarity letter. You can also get breaking news on the work stoppages on Twitter at @ChangeWalmart and @UFCW using #walmartstrikers.

Walmart Workers in at least Six Cities Walk Off Job

Walmart Faces First-Ever Strikes Over its Illegal Retaliation and Attempts to Silence Associates who are Speaking out for Better Jobs

WEDNESDAY: Striking Workers from Dallas, LA and Other Cities to Announce Further Calls for Change at Walmart from Corporate Headquarters

DALLAS –As community and elected leaders across the country call for changes at Walmart, workers from stores throughout the Dallas area went on strike this morning in the first-ever Walmart Associate walk-out in Dallas, protesting attempts to silence and retaliate against workers for speaking out for improvements on the job. Walmart workers from stores in Miami, the DC area, Sacramento, Southern California and the Bay area are also walking off the job. Along with community supporters, the striking Associates announced that they would be taking their calls for change to Walmart’s global corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, where Walmart is holding its annual financial analyst meeting. Last week, Associates in Los Angeles walked-off the job calling for an end to the retaliation.

On Wednesday, striking workers and community supporters will hold a teleconference call for media to announce further steps to call for change.

WHAT: Tele-conference with Striking Walmart Workers, Community Supporters to Announce New Calls for Change
WHEN: Wednesday, October 10, 2012 at 11:30 AM ET
WHO: Striking Walmart workers from Los Angeles and Dallas areas; Walmart Associates and Workers from Walmart-Controlled Warehouses; Sally Greenberg, National Consumers League; Terry O’Neill, President, National Organization of Women; Pastor Edwin Jones, Living Faith Baptist Church and International Ministries
DIAL IN: (888) 886-6603 Password: 20063#

“We cannot continue to allow Walmart’s attempts to silence and retaliate against workers continue,” said Stacey Cottongame, a striking worker from the Ennis, TX store. Stacey is one of thousands of members of OUR Walmart, the nationwide Associate organization calling for changes at the company. “Our jobs shouldn’t be on the line because we are speaking out for better jobs and a stronger community.”

Workers began walking off the job at 6:30 am this morning at the Ennis store and later joined Associates from the Lancaster store. Together, they met Associates at the Dallas store, who walked off the job and were joined by community supporters. The group protested outside the Dallas store with signs reading, “Stand Up, Live Better, Stop Retaliation” and “Stop Trying to Silence Us.”

Walmart workers and community leaders have been calling on Walmart and Chairman Rob Walton to address take home pay so low that Associates are forced to rely on public programs to support their families and understaffing that is keeping workers from receiving sufficient hours and is also hurting customer service. The company has not only refused to address these concerns that are affecting 1.4 million Associates across the country, it has attempted to silence those who speak out and has retaliated against workers for raising concerns that would to help the company, workers and the community.

The strike in Dallas comes days after Walmart Associates in Los Angeles held the first-ever strike against retaliation. Workers striking at Walmart controlled warehouses outside of Chicago just won an end to illegal retaliation following a 21-day strike during which clergy and community supporters were arrested by riot police during the peaceful protest. Warehouse workers in Southern California were on a 15-day strike that included a six-day, 50-mile pilgrimage for safe jobs. In advance of Walmart’s annual financial analyst meeting on October 10, OUR Walmart members shared concerns about the scheduling and staffing problems to a room full of financial analysts.

As front line Walmart workers are facing these hardships, the company is raking in almost $16 billion a year in profits, executives made more than $10 million each in compensation last year. Meanwhile, 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.

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. 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 analysts 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. A resolution proposed by Associate-shareholders to rein in executive pay received unprecedented support, and 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.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Thousands of Walmart associates across the country have joined together in OUR Walmart, a worker-led organization that stands up to make change in their company. For more than a year now, associates have been working together for a company that pays a living wage, provides affordable health care, is a contributing member of communities and treats their associates with respect. Instead of listening and working with OUR Walmart members, Walmart has retaliated against workers and tried to silence them.

On Thursday, October 4, these workers responded to Walmart’s refusal to treat its employees with fairness by going on strike at several Los Angeles-area stores. The strike is a protest of Walmart’s attempts to silence and retaliate against associates who speak out.

Today’s actions by Walmart associates are part of a growing movement of Walmart workers who are standing together and taking action.  Workers at Walmart-controlled warehouse and distribution centers in California and Illinois struck their employers over the last two weeks to demand an end to retaliation for speaking out for real change at work.

“The more than a million members of the UFCW across America know the need for real change at Walmart,” said Joe Hansen, International President of the UFCW. “We’re incredibly proud to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with these courageous associates who are taking action to demand that Walmart workers can, and should, be able to speak out for real change without fear of retaliation.”

To join with UFCW members and supporters from across the country and stand up for the rights of Walmart workers, click here or sign the petition of support below.

“Making a change for the better at America’s largest retailer can improve America’s middle class, America’s economy and America’s most common job,” said Hansen. “These brave workers have lit a fire for justice at Walmart that will be hard to extinguish.”

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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.

Over the last year, Walmart workers have been organizing through the Associate-led Organization United for Respect at Walmart. Rather than meeting with these workers to discuss their concerns about staffing levels, benefits, wages, above-all-else respect in the workplace, their calls for change have fallen on deaf ears. Instead of being responsive, Walmart has met these calls with attempts to silence Walmart workers from speaking out. The company has unlawfully retaliated against workers who have spoken out through the organization through such unlawful acts as unfair disciplinary action, cutting back hours and even termination.

But workers have had enough. You can stand with these brave workers by signing a letter to show your support for their efforts to stand up to the world’s largest retailer. Sign below, or by clicking here.

Check out their rally right here:

Photo Credit: Dawn Littman

This week, 38 Walmart warehouse workers and supporters from faith and community groups rallied in front of an Elwood, Illinois Walmart distribution center to protest the horrendous working conditions workers there endure.  The workers have been on strike since mid-September.

Much like the Mira Loma workers who protested a couple weeks ago, the subcontracted workers spoke out this week, against insufferable heat, exposure to chemicals and unhealthy air, unstable working hours which sometimes require them to work up to 19 hours a day, and heavy lifting up to 250 pounds without any support or equipment.  Despite all of these offenses, these warehouse workers’ wages aren’t enough to even make ends meet.

Source: Buzzfeed

But instead of facing the workers, or attempting any sort of resolution, Walmart called riot police on the peaceful gathering.  The police streamed into the area in full riot gear, as though they were preparing to do battle with a vicious, angry mob rather than a peaceful group of spiritual leaders and community supporters. With batons at the ready, the militarized forces stood inches from each placid protester as they sat down in the road, singing songs and chanting for solidarity and justice.

However ludicrous Walmart’s reaction to the rally was, workers and supporters together succeeded in drawing attention to the unfair treatment of Walmart’s subcontracted warehouse workers, like their brothers in sisters did in southern California. We are seeing more and more groups come together to support one another in the fight for fair treatment and workers rights, as demonstrated by the support of the warehouse workers by the Chicago Teacher’s Union, which of course recently were on strike as well.

To see video of the protest, including the arrival of the riot police, click here.

Warehouse workers have raised serious concerns about broken equipment and high injury rates in the warehouses they work in, moving Walmart merchandise. But when they have asked for working equipment, they have been retaliated against.

Walmart spokesperson Dan Fogelman said “workers’ claims were ‘either unfounded, or if they are legitimate, have been addressed.’” (Los Angeles Times, Sep. 17)

But a management document from inside the warehouse tells a different story. A worker found a company checklist with Walmart’s logo on it that shows a lot of equipment is broken and even dangerous. The document is dated Aug. 8, but workers report that problems noted in the document still have not been fixed. (You can view the document here.)

Send an email to Walmart and NFI, the warehouse operator, and tell them they have been caught red handed.

This document proves Walmart and NFI know what the problems are, yet none of these serious hazards have been addressed.

Last week, warehouse workers  delivered more than 120,000 signatures  to Walmart in five cities. The next day, warehouse worker Javier Rodriguez cornered Walmart executive Rajan Kamalanathan, who heads the company’s ethical outsourcing initiative, at a private event in Washington, D.C. In Illinois, workers at a Walmart distribution center joined warehouse workers on strike to end retaliation.

Walmart is feeling the heat and it knows there are problems. Help warehouse workers by sending Walmart and its contractor, NFI, an email today. 

At the rally, warehouse workers, exhausted from the journey and the 103-degree heat, took the opportunity to express to the crowd that, although the pilgrimage was tiring and hard to endure, it was nothing compared to the conditions they are forced to work in at the Inland Empire warehouse, a subcontractor of Walmart.

These warehouse workers are not protected by a union, and, by taking a stand to highlight the abuses they have endured, they have risked everything.  But the risks are worth it to these workers, who work in 120-degree warehouses with no fans, which often results in vomiting and nosebleeds. Not only is the heat unbearable, but they are no given clean water or regular breaks, and the equipment they use is unsafe. Does Walmart, who controls the working conditions of the sub-contracters, think that putting workers in terribly unsafe environments and then not paying them enough to make a decent living, is okay?

It simply isn’t.  

The strike has brought well-deserved attention to the unacceptable conditions at Walmart warehouses, and drawn many supporters to the workers’ cause.  Warehouse Workers United, health professional volunteers, and countless supporters have helped in the effort, and speakers at the rally on Tuesday included Rep. Judy Chu, California Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal, City Councilman Ed Reyes, National Farmworkers Association co-founder Dolores Huerta, California Secretary of Labor Marty Morgenstern, and LA County Federation of Labor secretary-treasurer Elena Durazo.

Despite widespread community support for workers, Walmart and its sub-contractors haven’t offered to meet about improving the situation at all.  In fact, a Walmart spokesman has claimed that Walmart officials regularly tour the locations of their subcontractors, and the conditions are “ambient.”

Despite the lies and blatant denial of those responsible, workers have taken a stand and a national spotlight is shining on the unjust treatment they receive.  Once they return home, the warehouse workers plan to continue to picket outside the facility in Mira Loma where they work, in the hopes that even more workers will take a stand to decrease the amount of worker injuries due to unsafe working conditions, to fight for respect, and to force corporations like Walmart to be responsible.

For more information on the warehouse workers’ pilgrimage, and to see great photos from their journey and the rally, click here.

Why? Because Walmart is dragging its workers down in our economy, and needs to raise its standards. Countless workers who have served as Walmart associates for years simply can’t make ends meet because Walmart will not give them enough hours to work. Necessities like rent, childcare, and food are becoming unobtainable, and for some, its either one or the other.

Its not only Walmart who abuses its workers this way, however as the largest private employer in America, Walmart effects all of our nation’s retail workers.

So what can you do about it? Go to ChangeWalmart.com and register a Walmart near you that you’ll stand up, so that workers everywhere can live better.

Dear Friends, 

After five years lifting heavy boxes every day in the warehouse my body aches. I am 31. Walking is difficult, lifting my son is nearly impossible, and I frequently have very painful back spasms. I finally left my job at the warehouse after I seriously hurt my back.

But I had to fight for medical attention. The managers of the warehouse didn’t care about my health or safety. They tried to prevent me from seeing a doctor. I fought and I won medical care, but I have seen a lot of my coworkers fired for similar injuries. They leave the warehouse hurt, with no job and no healthcare.

We move goods for Walmart, but we are treated like we are disposable. To this day it makes me angry, that’s why I am joining with other workers and people who support us to end these inhumane working conditions.

Watch our video and then join with us to help make our jobs better:

Will you stand with us and tell Walmart to take responsibility for its warehouses? 

Together, we can improve the lives of the thousands of people who live with these conditions on a daily basis. Support warehouse workers and sign our letter to Walmart. We will deliver it to Walmart executives when we arrive in Los Angeles at the end of our march.

Thank you for your support,

Marta Medina
Warehouse Worker
San Bernardino, California

LOS ANGELES – Workers representing four links in Walmart’s global supply chain – food production, processing, warehousing and retail – today filed a formal ethics complaint with Walmart’s corporate executives in Los Angeles. The complaint outlines systemic violations of Walmart’s own Statement of Ethics and Standards for Suppliers.

Standing in front of the proposed site of a Walmart store in Los Angeles’ Chinatown, workers and supporters described working conditions that include enslavement, injury, hazardous equipment, retaliatory firings and chemical exposure in the production, transport and sale of Walmart merchandise.

“This is a pattern. No matter the country, no matter the workplace, no matter the worker, we see that Walmart and its contractors’ deny responsibility, ignore serious problems and fire workers who stand up for change. This behavior should not be rewarded with more stores,” said Guadalupe Palma, a campaign director with Warehouse Workers United, an organization committed to improving warehousing jobs in the Inland Empire.

Warehouse workers who move Walmart goods in Southern California are part of an increasing number of workers stepping out of the shadows and calling attention to unsafe and illegal treatment of workers employed by Walmart and its contractors.

“So many of my coworkers are living in pain because of the pressure to work fast or lose our jobs,” said Limber Herrera, a warehouse worker in Riverside. “We often breathe a thick black dust that gives us nosebleeds and headaches. We want Walmart to take responsibility and fix these bad working conditions.”

Workers and supporters also presented copies of two petitions to Walmart that garnered a combined 250,000 signatures and cast light on conditions faced by seafood workers who work for Walmart suppliers. Ana Rosa Diaz, one of eight guestworkers who exposed forced labor at Walmart supplier C.J.’s Seafood in Louisiana last month, spoke at the event. Only after Diaz went on strike and 150,000 people pledged their support was Walmart forced to admit to labor violations and suspend its contract with the supplier.

“We know that hundreds of other guestworkers at other Walmart suppliers are facing abuse,” said Diaz, a member of the National Guestworker Alliance. “The U.S. Department of Labor has confirmed our claims of abuse at C.J.’s Seafood. Now it’s time for Walmart to sit down with us to agree to a solution to stop abuse across its supply chain.”

In Thailand, it was revealed in June that a major Walmart shrimp supplier was engaged in debt bondage. After workers struck, causing media and consumer scrutiny, the Walmart supplier, Patthana, pledged to end its practice of debt bondage. However, many workers in Walmart’s supply chain remain vulnerable to other abuses. At a Thai pineapple factory, Vita Foods, that also supplies Walmart there are reports of human trafficking similar to those at Patthana, including that children under the age of 15 have been bought and sold to work there.

“Globalization for the working poor of the world means that American warehouse workers today have more in common with factory workers in Thailand’s shrimp and pineapple factories than with the one-percenters in their own country who profit from their labor. Hyper-exploitation is the global labor standard Walmart has chosen to pursue. This just means the fight for justice for Walmart’s workers is that much bigger. Thailand may seem far away to the Walton heirs, but we are going to bring the plight of Thai workers to the suburbs of Arkansas. You bring home the profits, you bring home the struggle too,” said Chancee Martorell, executive director of the Thai Community Development Center, representing the Thai workers.

Through the organization OUR Walmart, store associates are fighting for and winning changes at Walmart to help workers, who are struggling to support their families on low-wages, reductions in hours, unaffordable healthcare, unjust terminations and unsafe and discriminatory working conditions. In Riverside, after warehouse workers filed a comprehensive complaint with the state of California detailing broken equipment, limited access to water, extreme heat and other violations of state law, two warehouse workers were suspended indefinitely. Both Carlos Martinez and David Garcia won their return to work after filing charges with the state.

“We are standing up for ourselves and our co-workers to make real changes at Walmart and we will not be silenced,” said Greg Fletcher, a father of two sons and a member of OUR Walmart. “Even though Walmart is the biggest company in the country, the company is not above the law. When we stand together and hold Walmart accountable, we are winning protections for workers, our community and our economy.”

Fletcher is a six-year Walmart associate in Duarte, California.

Members of the Chinatown community joined the rally saying residents are not interested in the expansion of low wage jobs, retaliation, injury and dangerous working conditions and a destruction of the local community.

“We stand with the workers against retaliation, injury and dangerous working conditions. It is illegal, and it is immoral,” King Cheung, a member of the Chinatown Committee for Equitable Development. “For the world’s largest retailer, Walmart pays its workers substandard low wages. Chinatown deserves better than Walmart. Walmart is well known for bad treatment of its workers. It is also well known for harming small businesses and communities. That is why we do not want Walmart here in LA Chinatown.”

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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.

“A sharply divided Supreme Court closed the door on millions of women working at Walmart today and overturned 40 years of legal precedence in discrimination cases.  In a 5-4 decision, the court ruled that Walmart’s written general discrimination policy was proof enough to overturn a lower court’s determination that Walmart women could join together to address widespread gender discrimination claims as a class.  This decision does not make any ruling on the merits of the women’s discrimination claims.

“Today’s decision is deeply disturbing.  The highest court in our nation has turned its back on collective remedy for workers facing widespread injustices.  The UFCW will continue to demand accountability from Walmart to its workers who deserve fair treatment, fair pay and respect on the job.

“Last week, thousands of Walmart workers announced the Organization United for Respect at Walmart because workers know that they are stronger as a group. Employers like Walmart have long attempted to isolate workers and prevent them from solving problems together.  This decision will not stop workers from joining together, through collective action, or prevent them from continuing to pursue their individual claims against Walmart.

The UFCW believes that Walmart is not too big for justice and will continue to hold Walmart to fair workplace standards.  Its 1.4 million associates deserve better.”

Making Change at Walmart seeks to promote the American values of equality, dignity and respect in the workplace. The campaign is making change by working directly with Walmart Associates to claim the respect on the job they deserve, holding Walmart corporate managers accountable to hourly employees and the public for their practices and joining with community leaders in major cities across America to make sure that any new jobs offered by Walmart meet strong standards for healthy, growing communities.

“I commend the DNCC for doing the right thing. The allegations of bribery and corruption against Walmart are serious and there is no way to know whether these contributions are tainted. Furthermore, Walmart has a long track record of mistreating their workers, discriminating on the basis of gender, trampling on the right to organize, and fostering a race to the bottom in the retail industry that is bad for the middle class and our entire nation. Walmart is also a flagship member of the controversial right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which has been linked to laws busting unions and weakening voting rights. Simply put, this is a company whose conduct flies in the face of the values we stand for as Democrats. I hope the DNCC’s decision to return these gift cards signals the beginning of the end of the Democratic Party’s relationship with Walmart.”

“The New York Times story about the Walmart Mexico corruption scandal and reported cover-up exposes serious violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and demands an immediate and thorough investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. Walmart senior management exposed its lack of corporate morality and internal ethics to workers, shareholders, consumers and community members.

“Walmart has spent millions of dollars to rehabilitate its image and buy the support of key allies in an effort to break into new markets while making promises about the benefits of its business model. But by pursuing a relentless strategy in the U.S. and abroad of ‘growth at any cost’ in pursuit of profits, Walmart’s senior management has proven that it is willing to trample on worker rights, discriminate against women, damage small businesses and the environment, and now potentially violate laws in the U.S., Mexico and other countries.

“The reported cover-up by Walmart executives at the highest levels exposes a core truth: Walmart cannot be taken at its word. A Department of Justice investigation into foreign bribery is an urgently needed first step. Congress should immediately convene hearings to examine whether Walmart is using these unethical business practices in their U.S. operations.”</p

Walmart shares have underperformed those of other retailers. For the three-year period ending April 12 2012, the S&P 500 Retailing index was up over 88%, while the price of Walmart shares had grown by less than 17%. Critical indicators such as same-store sales have also lagged behind other retailers, while ROI has declined for 5 years in a row. In 2011, after growing market share consistently since its founding in the 1960s, Walmart lost market share in the US for the second year in a row.

Concerns about executive pay at Walmart were raised last year when The New York Times reported that the company’s compensation committee had altered performance metrics used to award long-term incentive compensation. Specifically, by removing same-store sales from executives’ bonus formula and replacing that metric with total sales growth, The Times stated Walmart was “shifting the goal posts” on compensation policy, resulting in higher pay for CEO Mike Duke.

Shareholders will have an opportunity to weigh in on executive pay at the company this year when they cast their ballots on a new proposal which calls on the Walmart board to review executive performance pay goals to ensure they are not creating incentives that undermine shareholder value.

Mary Tifft, a 24-year Walmart employee in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and one of the shareholders who petitioned to place Proposal #6 on the ballot, said she hoped the proposal would bring more scrutiny to executive pay at Walmart. Tifft started buying Walmart shares through the company’s share purchase program in 1992, and currently owns 1,008 shares of Walmart stock.

“I’ve been a Walmart shareholder for 20 years, and an associate for even longer,” said Tifft. “Walmart used to be a good company, one that I was proud to work for, but I’m afraid the company has lost its way. We think this proposal is an important step in getting the company back on track.”

Along with Tifft, Proposal #6 is co-sponsored by Jackie Goebel, Girshriela Green and Carlton Smith, all of whom are current Walmart associates, with, collectively, over 60 years of experience with the company.

Important disclosure: The UFCW and OUR Walmart have provided technical assistance to the four shareholder sponsors of Proposal #6, and we continue to support their efforts to campaign on its behalf.

The following is a statement from UFCW International President Joseph T. Hansen on Walmart’s plan to roll back health care coverage for part time workers:

“Walmart’s plan to roll back health care coverage for part-time workers and raise premiums for full-time employees should set off alarm bells for American workers. This lowering of working standards will have repercussions throughout the retail industry—particularly for part-time workers.

“Retail jobs are the jobs of the future. In fact, retail is one of the only sectors of our economy that’s growing. Many of those jobs will be part-time. Much like manufacturing once did, retail jobs will define how it is to live and work in America in the 21st Century. It’s critically important that retail employers compensate their workers with pay and benefits that allow them to live in the middle class.

“That’s why retail workers have been sticking together in their union for decades. Together in the UFCW, they’ve bargained good health care coverage for more part-timers than any other union. In doing so, they’ve brought up the economic standards for hundreds of thousands of workers, their families, and communities.

“Yet today, many retail workers are forced to work two or more jobs to make ends meet, partly due to the fact that companies are moving to a part-time model. Outside of companies where workers have a union voice on the job, most retail part-time jobs do not come with the benefits that workers need to take care of their families. So, despite working multiple jobs, many workers must rely on government health care or go without.

“As the largest retail employer in the country, Walmart could – 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. That’s why for years, the UFCW has fought to change companies like Walmart and push them to be more responsible employers. A few years ago, when the public learned that many of its workers were on Medicaid because they could not afford the company’s health care plan or did not qualify to be on it, the UFCW and our community partners pressured Walmart to make a commitment to expand their health care coverage for part time workers.

“But it looks like Walmart is once again succumbing to corporate greed, and putting profits ahead of people. The Waltons are one of the wealthiest families in the country; they own the largest corporation in America, and that means they have a responsibility to provide good jobs and help shore up our middle class – not take advantage of the economic crisis. We at the UFCW call on the Waltons and Walmart to provide good jobs with affordable health care benefits for part-timers and full-timers alike. It’s the right thing to do for the future of our economy, our country, and our communities.”

“”Walmart’s plan to roll back health care coverage for part-time workers and raise premiums for full-time employees should set off alarm bells for American workers. This lowering of working standards will have repercussions throughout the retail industry—particularly for part-time workers.

“”Retail jobs are the jobs of the future. In fact, retail is one of the only sectors of our economy that’s growing. Many of those jobs will be part-time. Much like manufacturing once did, retail jobs will define how it is to live and work in America in the 21^st Century. It’s critically important that retail employers compensate their workers with pay and benefits that allow them to live in the middle class.

“”That’s why retail workers have been sticking together in their union for decades. Together in the UFCW, they’ve bargained good health care coverage for more part-timers than any other union. In doing so, they’ve brought up the economic standards for hundreds of thousands of workers, their families, and communities.

“”Yet today, many retail workers are forced to work two or more jobs to make ends meet, partly due to the fact that companies are moving to a part-time model. Outside of companies where workers have a union voice on the job, most retail part-time jobs do not come with the benefits that workers need to take care of their families. So, despite working multiple jobs, many workers must rely on government health care or go without.

“”As the largest retail employer in the country, Walmart could – 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. That’s why for years, the UFCW has fought to change companies like Walmart and push them to be more responsible employers. A few years ago, when the public learned that many of its workers were on Medicaid because they could not afford the company’s health care plan or did not qualify to be on it, the UFCW and our community partners pressured Walmart to make a commitment to expand their health care coverage for part time workers.

“”But it looks like Walmart is once again succumbing to corporate greed, and putting profits ahead of people. The Waltons are one of the wealthiest families in the country; they own the largest corporation in America, and that means they have a responsibility to provide good jobs and help shore up our middle class – not take advantage of the economic crisis. We at the UFCW call on the Waltons and Walmart to provide good jobs with affordable health care benefits for part-timers and full-timers alike. It’s the right thing to do for the future of our economy, our country, and our communities.”"

“The First Lady’s commitment to addressing childhood obesity in the U.S. is laudable and the UFCW commends her for her enthusiasm for such a worthy endeavor. But with income disparity between the rich and the poor at more extreme levels than during the Great Depression, Walmart must be held accountable for its track record of lower standards for millions of retail workers.

“Walmart is more responsible than any other private employer in our country for creating poverty-level jobs that leave workers unable to purchase healthy food or provide a good life for their families.

“I met Walmart Associate Girshreila Green last month who told me that she got her job at the inner-city Crenshaw Walmart in Los Angeles through the welfare-to-work program. And after three years of work and an excellent employment record at what she calls the ‘ghetto Walmart,’ Girshreila still has a welfare card in her pocket, right along with her Walmart I.D. and Walmart discount card.

“There is no economic justification that our nation’s largest private employer should pay wages so low that any of its employees qualify for public assistance.  But the fact that tens of thousands of Walmart associates qualify and utilize food stamps, Medicare, and Medicaid is reason enough that the White House should join with our union and tell Walmart – enough is enough.

“Our national economic crisis is made worse by companies like Walmart suppressing wages for its 1.4 million hourly workers who live and work in communities across the country.

“Walmart claims it wants to open stores in urban markets like Washington, D.C., Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and other major cities.  Workers, community leaders and consumers in each of those cities have called on Walmart to commit to providing good jobs that pay wages high enough to improve the lives of workers in those cities. The fact is, when Walmart opens in a community, it replaces what were good jobs with poverty-level ones.  Walmart continues to drive the cycle of poverty by lowering wage rates and preventing associates from lifting themselves out of economic insecurity.

“Millions of grocery workers serve communities of every income level and hold good jobs with fair wages, affordable health care, and a voice on the job.  The White House should laud employers who are fueling economic recovery by creating good jobs where workers can afford to take care of their families and buy the healthy food their children deserve.”

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Videos of Girshreila Green speaking out about her experience as a Walmart associate can be found at: http://vimeo.com/26640913 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTEuBHSvfFg

Making Change at Walmart seeks to promote the American values of equality, dignity and respect in the workplace. The campaign is making change by working directly with Walmart Associates to claim the respect on the job they deserve, holding Walmart corporate managers accountable to hourly employees and the public for their practices and joining with community leaders in major cities across America to make sure that any new jobs offered by Walmart meet strong standards for healthy, growing communities.

“”The Walmart Associates who traveled to Arkansas today showed tremendous courage and sent a clear message that their concerns will no longer be silenced,” said Dan Schlademan, Director of Making Change at Walmart. “”These Associates are leaders for their company and an inspiration for others who want to make change at Walmart.”"

“”Making Change at Walmart is proud to stand with these Associates who care about their company and their co-workers enough to come together and try to make it better. How Walmart treats Associates has a ripple effect on the rest of the retail industry and the economy as a whole. We will stand with these Associates until we make real change at Walmart. That change will improve their lives and their company, the working conditions for the retail and grocery industry, and the future for all working people.”"