Posted on 11/30/2014 12:31:05 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Organizers of a post-Thanksgiving protest on behalf of workers at a Walmart in downtown Washington, D.C. identified only one of the participants as actually working at that store.
The admission underscores the fact that few Walmart workers have been involved in the protests.
"Thirty striking workers from Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland took part in today’s protest, and Melinda Gaino, one of the striking workers, works at the H Street Store," said Julie Anderson, a spokeswoman for the 1.3 million member United Food and Commercial Workers union, which organized the event.
Walmart spokesman Kory Lundberg claimed the number was far smaller. "We recognized about 5 to 10 who are current associates from around the metro area," he said.
UFCW had previously said that 50 Walmart employees from the D.C. metropolitan area, including Virginia and Maryland, would take part in Friday's event. There are 22 Walmarts in a 25-mile radius of the H Street store, meaning that the protest attracted at most about one and a half employees per store in the region. A majority of the protesters were community leaders and liberal activists not affiliated with Walmart.
Nonetheless, UFCW characterized the event in a press release as including "hundreds of Walmart workers and community allies" who "joined the biggest strikes in company history."
The D.C. protest was part of a national effort to disrupt the non-union retail giant on "Black Friday," one of the busiest shopping days of the year. The union has long sought to organize the retailer's estimated 1.3 million employees. Walmart has aggressively resisted all efforts.
The events were organized through OUR Walmart, a nonprofit organization backed by UFCW that claims to represent Walmart workers upset by the company's practices. The organization said there would be 160 events nationally, though it directed reporters only to the ten largest.
"I'm on strike today because I don't believe that anyone who speaks up for positive changes at Walmart should be punished," said Gaino in a statement. "I've worked at this store since it opened, and even though I'm considered full-time and work 40 hours a week, I still rely on government assistance to get by. Walmart needs to respect our right to speak out for a better life."
Walmart annual wages range between $16,000-$23,000 for cashiers, $16,000-27,000 for sales associates, $16,000-28,000 for shelf stockers and $18,000-$31,000 for pharmacists, according to payscale.com, making them comparable to other retailers like Target. By comparison, the annual salary for a 40 hour-week at the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour is $15,080. Anything below $11,670 is defined as poverty by the federal government, though that level rises with every dependent claimed by the worker.
Few other employees at the D.C. location appeared to share Gaino's opinion. "I haven't heard of anyone joining the protest," said one shelf-stocker.
Another worker, busy scrubbing anti-Walmart slogans scrawled in chalk on the sidewalk in front of the store by protesters, shook his head. "They say we are just getting $9.50 an hour (DC's current minimum wage), but that's not so," the employee said.
There did not seem to be much of a groundswell at other metro area stores either. A worker at a Lanham, Md., store that been the site of a 2012 OUR Walmart protest said, "I wouldn't do that. I love my job." She called the D.C. protest "a mess," adding that she wouldn't want to see the store shut down on Black Friday because so many of their local customers depend on it.
Other workers were simply weary. An Easton, Md., Walmart employee said she had headaches as a result of being at the store until closing at 11 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, then coming back in at 5 a.m. on Friday. She wasn't getting overtime either. But she wasn't about to join a protest.
"No, I want to keep my job," she said.
WM pay and benefits are competitive for the industry.
So why are these commie unions attacking Wal-Mart while fraudulently pretending to be “employees” (protesters are paid less by the union than WM pays I would bet) and not other stores, isn’t that a valid question...
By the way, the only people I have seen with a greed problem are leftists and the government types
MDLION’s shift is over. She won’t be back for awhile.
btw- the name or handle sounds familiar
Take some night classes, learn a skill, get a better paying job.
I know that is hard in the Obama economy but what other choice do you have.
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
“And what is Walmart doing to disrespect such rights?”
not paying a living wage as defined by some liberal hack, who probably has never held a job, nor run a business.
Yup. And that poster never got back to me regarding Walmart’s “obligations.”
I think that poster was asking same question as we were, however i is difficult to tell- had run on sentence..
Has happened to me couple of times.
Then again may be a troll- I tend to be somewhat trusting
Leftists and government types can be greedy but so can people on the right.
+1
And thank you for your service, sir.
“on shift”
I said I don’t work at Wal mart anymore and so I’m currently not on the third shift.
As for being a “Lefty”, I’m a Pro-Life voter and vote for Republicans.
How sad that when anyone defends the worker or the poor, he or she is called a leftist or a Communist. I’m a capitalism but I don’t worship capitalism or the market like it’s a golden calf or an idol. Criticism of the excesses of capitalism does not make one a communist or a socialist.
I take issue with your “being sent into combat against their will” thing. You join the military, you’re giving consent. There are literally zero soldiers in the US military who were drafted into service.
“With close to 2.2 million employees worldwide, Walmart has faced ... issues with regard to its workforce. These issues involve low wages, poor working conditions, inadequate health care, as well as issues involving the company’s strong anti-union policies. In November 2013 the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced that in 13 U.S. states Wal-Mart had pressured employees not to engage in strikes on Black Friday, and had illegally disciplined workers who had engaged in strikes. Critics point to Walmart’s high turnover rate as evidence of an unhappy workforce. Approximately 70% of its employees leave within the first year.”
(”Walmart”,en.m.wikipedia.org)
With the exception of the part about Black Friday, this was also pretty much my experience in working for Saint Wal mart.
“union that threatens you livelihood”
For most Wal mart employees, it isn’t much of a “livelihood”.
She’s back at work, attacking Walmart and calling it ‘defending the poor’.
I’d keep attacking me personally too, if I couldn’t refute even one of my points.
I already did refute your greed point, up thread.
You’re saying the one 3-3.5% comment refutes my point? Wal-Mart cleared about $16 billion in profits in the U.S. last year, they can afford to pay their employees better and give them better benefits.
I mostly shop at Hobby Lobby, Kroger, and Target. Hobby Lobby starts their employees at nearly twice the minimum wage and they put up a fight against the ObamaCare abortifacient directive. Can Wal-Mart say that?
The reasons Wal-Mart has such low prices has to do with how much Chinese near slave/slave junk they bring in, all the clothing they bring in from 31 cent an hour sewers in places like Haiti and Bangladesh, and the poor wages and benefits of most of their American workers.
When I shop at Kroger and Target, I don’t get as cheap of prices as at Wal Mart but my conscience is clear because I’m helping employees who make more than Wal mart employees though their companies don’t make as much profit. Kroger is union. They treat their employees well and so don’t have to run endless television commercials about the “OPPORTUNITY” they provide their employees.
When I shop at Hobby Lobby, Kroger, or Target, I’m doing MUCH less to aid in the exploitation of Third World women and children, near slave/slave laborers.
Believe it or not, I’m not a total anti-Wal mart person, I just get tired of conservatives who act like they’re a sacred cow who cannot be criticized in any way.
It refutes the point Leftists make about greed.
Leftists are big on tossing around profit numbers in dollars, as you have done, thinking everyone is as ignorant as they are.
Those numbers are meaningless without the corresponding amounts of wages and salaries paid, capital investment, and a whole slew of other critical dollar values.
Instead, a percentage number incorporates all those dozens of inputs into one discrete value, and in this case it shows that Wal-Mart is not nearly as 'greedy' as many other corporations.
In fact, the stock market values shows it's only a middle of the road kind of company, 'greed' wise.
+++
In addition, Wal-Mart provides employment to many people who want to work, but are virtually unemployable at most other employers.
Now that's something; Wal-Mart showing through their business practices, not just talking like the Leftists do, about how they care about poor people.
++
In any event, you have other websites to visit and post to, you can let your boss know you've done your job here.
I’m a regular poster on the Catholic threads here. Sometimes I’m in the debates on the Bible on the Religion thread. I’m fairly regular on the conservative political threads. That you think I’m paid to come here is ridiculous. Quit being so conspiratorial.That you think all conservative people think Wal Mart is beyond criticism and only leftists who are paid to, criticize them is even more ridiculous. Republicans might have a chance to win the White House again if they would reach out to unions and workers and quit carrying the water of the greed heads who virtually sent this country into a depression in 2008.
That the Walton family adds to their $150 billion fortune while most Wal Mart employees start out at barely above minimum wage with no chance for health insurance for more than a year is obscene and greedy.
Do you have anything to say about Wal Mart exploiting Third World workers who make pennies on the hour or is that one more of the perks of the free market that we dare not question, but only bow before and adore?
As I said at the beginning of all this, I actually worked at Wal Mart. A lot of their employees are “poor people”.
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