Walmart Workers Ask For Basic Rights, Walmart Calls Riot Police

[TalkingDog]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/walmart-workers-strike-for-safe-warehouse-conditio

About 650 people protested a major Walmart distribution center Monday in Elwood, Illinois, the Chicago Tribute reports.

At Walmart contractor Roadlink, workers have been on strike since mid-September, claiming unsafe working conditions and unfair wages. From the movement's website:

No one should come to work and endure extreme temperatures, inhale dust and chemical residue, and lift thousands of boxes weighing up to 250lbs with no support. Workers never know how long the work day will be- sometimes its two hours, sometimes its 16 hours. Injuries are common, as is discrimination against women and illegal retaliation against workers who speak up for better treatment.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. This is happening all over the coutry

and this is part of the cost of doing business with Walmart.

[lunasun]

2. On the riot vehicle photo -is that the sound numbing thing used at the NATO protests

in Chicago this summer?? - if it is , what overkill and drama

Elwood is south of Joliet about 50-60 miles SW of Chicago

[tech3149]

3. Yes, it's called LRAD

Long Range Acoustic Device. Wait till they bring out the big guns (microwave devices that cook your skin, but not too deep).
The LRAD's are bad enough. In there basic usage they can generate sound pressure levels that are not only painful but can cause hearing damage. When fed with the right audio signal they can induce nausea, vomiting, and loss of balance.

[lunasun]

5. for a work site protest ???scary now

LRAD yes and riot police put down hood and cant hear it
once you are ill will they take you to the FEMA camps in the future???
I can not believe how the Right to protest has been removed here in Illinois

[Mnemosyne]

4. The Pinkerton's? ffs nt

[awoke_in_2003]

12. Yes exactly...

the rich man wlll alway find someone to fight their battles for them.

[Mnemosyne]

18. Just sickening how cheaply some will sell out. nt

[99Forever]

6. I stopped doing buniness with those assholes...

.. almost 2 decades ago. Would have been sooner had I known of the shit they do earlier.

Fuck Walmart. Fuck the Waltons. Hanging is too good for them.

[progressoid]

7. But if 650 people rush the store for Christmas specials, and trample some to death,

they just open up more registers.

[HiPointDem]

10. they don't even do that. 'collateral damage' of shopping. maybe they have dead peasants'

insurance on their customers, too.

[xfundy]

8. The Walton Family

should be forced into the house and poverty of their tv cousins.

Nite, Scum-Bob!

[HiPointDem]

9. 17 arrested. Police used zip-ties to restrain demonstrators.

Reports from the protest vary, but photos show riot police restraining some protesters with zip-ties. The rally had apparently been declared an "unlawful assembly." Pat Barcas of Fox Valley Labor News reports that 17 people were arrested.



Police called out to protect us from these desperados (I think they're praying)



Is it just me, or does that look like a whole lotta overkill?

[TalkingDog]

17. Can't be too careful with the 47%, they are like feral dogs

that you'd zip tie to the top of your car.

[DollarBillHines]

11. Fuck WalMart. Who needs them?

We used to do quite fine without that behemoth.

We spent our dollars in our neighbors' stores.

I, personally, will never step foot into that crackhouse.

Fuck them and all of their customers.

Fuck them.
DBH

[Luminous Animal]

13. Kick.

[PossumSqueezins]

14. Reminiscent of the coal mine strikes around 1900

History will eventually repeat itself. Very sad.

[DLevine]

15. K&R. nt

[marmar]

16. And sadly, this company is the posterchild for contemporary capitalism.

nt

[madokie]

19. We're in the process of weening ourselves off walmart

Mind you it will be tough as walmart pretty much has run everyone else out of town so we'll be putting more money in the big oil coffers. I don't know which is worse

[midnight]

20. K&R For basic rights not becoming an illegal act....

[BarackTheVote]

21. When walmart employees finally and successfully unionize

it will be one of the most important victories for workers rights... ever... I'd love to help them somehow...

History *will* repeat itself... the corporadoes need to be taught once again that the worker will take only so much. They need to be reminded that this country belongs to the people who are actually, you know... PEOPLE.