Anonymous Wal-Mart workers unload and urge protests on new website
Source: Salon.com
On second day of a strike, labor group to unveil latest tool for combining the Web with old-fashioned organizing
Josh Eidelson
One day into the latest Wal-Mart strike, the union-backed OUR Walmart campaign plans to unveil a new website on which employees can anonymously request protests at their store. The campaign said the website, which was announced to OUR Walmart members in a Wednesday afternoon email, had drawn at least 90 “hand-raisers” to speak out online by midday Thursday.
“Please, show your support for your fellow associates by sharing your own story here,” striking Los Angeles Wal-Mart employee Juan Bacerra urged other workers in the email sharing the site.
The website, associatevoices.org, includes a U.S map showing which Wal-Mart stores have generated comments or protest requests. It’s OUR Walmart’s latest effort to harness the Internet as a handmaiden to labor organizing. Someone identifying as an Eldon, Mo., employee left a comment on the site seeking “transparency” about job openings and saying, “I believe sexism is also a serious problem, as the man’s side has been consistently taken whenever such situations occur.” A Houston commenter identifying herself as Gabriella marked that she’d like a Black Friday protest at her store, and said managers “talk to you like you are they children” and “give you hell” when you’re injured at work.
As I’ve reported, OUR Walmart – closely tied to the United Food & Commercial Workers union – has made extensive use of websites and social media both to target Wal-Mart’s brand and to engage and identify potential supporters among the retail giant’s 1.3 million direct U.S. employees. OUR Wal-Mart staff and worker activists created and maintain a web of public and private Facebook pages, including pages devoted to fired workers, LGBT workers and pregnant workers (“Respect the Bump”). Workers monitor Facebook discussion threads and reach out to remote co-workers they hope to win over.
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Read more: http://www.salon.com/2013/11/07/anonymous_wal_mart_workers_unload_and_urge_protests_on_new_website/
A protester holds up a sing during a protest against Walmart on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Credit: AP/Jae C. Hong)
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