Alleging a New Wave of Retaliation, Walmart Warehouse Workers Will Strike a Day Early (today)

[Omaha Steve]

Source: The Nation

Update (10 pm Tuesday, November 13): According to a Warehouse Workers United spokesperson, Mira Loma warehouse workers experienced a new wave of retaliation Tuesday. In response, the workers decided tonight to begin their strike a day early, at 8 am Pacific Time Wednesday. The strike will continue into Thursday, when workers will rally with supporters as originally planned.


Original story starts here: Thursday, Walmart warehouse workers are headed back to the picket line. At 8 am PST, twenty-some workers in Mira Loma, California, plan to launch a one-day walkout that could spread to more workers, including retail employees in Walmart stores. Thursday’s strike will be the latest in an unprecedented wave of work stoppages throughout the retail giant’s US supply chain. It follows strikes by seafood workers in June, by warehouse workers in September, and by 160 retail workers in twelve states last month. It comes a week before Black Friday, the post-Thanksgiving shopping extravaganza that workers have pledged—barring concessions from the company—will bring their biggest disruptions yet.

“Hopefully it will make a dent in their production…” said Raymond Castillo, “and it gets their attention, that we’re not playing around.” Castillo and other Mira Loma workers struck in September, and voted Sunday to do it again on Thursday. According to Castillo, workers started organizing because of unsafe and unsanitary conditions: crooked ramps caused serious injuries; workers’ drinking water came from a hose. The organizing brought retaliation, which inspired a strike, which drew more punishment. “Since we’ve all been retaliated against,” said Castillo, “it was a pretty easy decision for all of us to go back on strike.”

On paper, Castillo and his co-workers are employed by a Walmart subcontractor, Warestaff. But because Walmart is the beneficiary of all of his work, and the boss of his boss’ boss, Castillo says his conditions are all Walmart’s fault. Walmart does not agree. But Wisconsin Walmart store worker Jackie Goebel does: “All of us that work for Walmart, either on the retail end of it, or on the warehouse end of it, have the same issues.”

Read more: http://www.thenation.com/blog/171222/alleging-new-wave-retaliation-walmart-warehouse-workers-will-strike-day-early#

[Kingofalldems]

1. Kick and Rec

[Civilization2]

2. if enough of the sage slaves get together they will improve their lot..,

Walmart has a terrible record of employ abuse,. I always try not to shop there, and I support the actions of the workers for better conditions of employment.

[marmar]

3. I'm sure Apall-Mart has dispatched its corporate goons.

Much love and support to the workers. Stay strong !!!! This battle's impact will spread far and wide.

[Earth_First]

4. Workers UNITE!

I hope this spreads to retail on black Friday...

[marmar]

5. ........

(Truthout) Black Friday's shopping bonanza brings people out to line up in front of stores for hours before it begins. It has trampled people, but not profits for companies that reap a large chunk of their annual sales on the day after Thanksgiving.

At Walmart, the world's biggest retailer, the world's largest shopping day generates more than a quarter of annual sales.

Now, with the help of online organizing and Our Walmart, Walmart workers are gearing up for a walkout on Black Friday. The workers hope to highlight what they say is the unfairness of having to work for low wages, in poor conditions, while Walmart profits. ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/news/item/12702-walmart-workers-gear-up-for-black-friday-strike

[Major Nikon]

9. I hope it spreads as far and as widely as possible over the next few years

Call me an optimist.

[Sherman A1]

6. K&R

UNION!

[glowing]

7. You know what would be best for the workers

is for them to show up like they are ready to work. Let the doors open, and as people rush is like maniacs, the workers walk out, and leave only the low level security officers trying to stop the maniac Walmart shoppers from grabbing what they want and heading for the exit themselves.

There is not one of those fiendish, crazed Black Friday shoppers who wouldn't just grab shit and walk away with it if they had no workers or security stopping them. Could you imagine the severe volume of merchandise that Americans would walk away with from the store if they could? No one is loyal to Walmart. They get the early shoppers and the fanatical morons who wait outside to rush into the store for the 5 TV's that Walmart discounted super heavy to attract them in the first place. The reason for Walmart madness being so badly handled on their Black Friday sales bonanza. The reason for people assaulting one another over an underpriced electronic gizmo that they couldn't afford on "regular inflated price".

And really, no one is loyal to Walmart. It's a cheap store, that treats people like shit, treats companies that sell their merchandise like shit, and actually costs govt lots of money to support the roads leading into Walmart, security, food stamps, WIC, Medicaid, along with all the tax exemption demands that they try to impose on cities, counties, etc for building their monster Super stores. All the same while, the Walmart Family rakes in billions of dollars per year. ( and its not as if these Walmart family members are such upstanding citizens, there's that one Hal who can't stop drinking and driving and smashing her way around - them throwing her $ at the legal system to keep herself from seeing jail time). They honestly do not have a following of supportive, loyal customers, they have people who are too poor to shop at other places or its the only place left to shop in their small town America since the big box store shut down the competition (and no competition means being able to keep the prices set at a higher price since there is no where else left to go).

Gosh would I love to see nationwide, as the idiotic media mesmerizes over Black Friday sales and lines for junk. That the Walnart employees let the doors open, and they walk out to leave those crazed shoppers to have at it at the store. There would be no way to pre-fire the workers for the threat of a walk out and replace them with more desperate, out of work people who do need jobs. Even better yet, disable the security cameras, put all the merchandise out on the floor, and let people walk out the sore with what they want. Noe ears or eyes in the sky would really keep corporate from knowing who or what occurred within the store or why all of their merchandise went out the door free for all.

With Walmart, it's time to step outside the box on methods of taking them down or pushing them to allow Labor Unions and a manner in which people who work for them can bargain for humane treatment and living wages.. Get Walmart, and the rest of the box stores would be pushed to follow suit... And part of the bargaining chips should be that at least 50- 75% of the merchandise sold in these stores come with a rag that says "Made in USA"... They make the profit from outsourced merchandise from countries with horrible labor practices on unsafe working conditions, then they ship into warehouses that have disgusting labor practices, truck their shit all over the place, and then do crappy in store shit to their employees and bring the entire community to its knees with their "box store" standards.... They leave a huge carbon imprint, and they have a huge disregard for the degradation of humanity and society, in general.

I would love to see the evil empire of the Walmart brought to its knees by the workers, worldwide would be amazons... That's one company where Unions are very much needed... I support what the workers are able to do. With Walmart, it's going to take some old techniques of organizing and some newer methods (because its super easy to find people to replace the workers), like disabling the security monitoring to allow for shopping freebies for America or rigging the registers to ring up all the merchandise for a penny... Of course, anonymously hacked. It would be SuperGreat!!!

[tkmorris]

10. Think that one through

Inevitably, some shoppers would get injured in the ensuing melee, perhaps even killed. The news reports of said incidences would ALL lead by stating that the chaos was caused by the workers walking out. Some might even claim empathy with the worker's positions but say that they should have made their intentions clear by announcing their strike to management beforehand. That showing up for work and walking out just as the doors open for BF is tantamount to the police showing up to a hostage situation and then going on strike.

It would set labor rights issues, at least at Walmart, back by a decade or more.

[glowing]

12. Then maybe set the registers to ring up everything for a penny...

The labor strike calls for employees to walk out anyway, so, I'm not sure what the difference would be.. and people get hurt anyway in that store on black friday, with the prices on them..

[Springslips]

8. Hell yeah

This is what I like to hear!

No employees should show up if they are scheduled on thanksgiving or anytime before 7am on Friday. We should start a movement; don't show up! We need to shut that shit down. (Unless they want to pay time 2)

[Hugabear]

11. A Black Friday strike would be awesome

How awesome would it be to see Walmart brought to its knees on their busiest day of the year?

[Shilo]

13. Good for them!