Walmart workers threaten to strike on 'Black Friday'
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. -- Several Walmart workers walked off the job on Thursday, and the employees are now threatening to strike on one of the biggest shopping days of the year.
Walmart workers are not unionized, but growing unrest over what they call low wages, shortened hours and few benefits has some of the employees threatening to strike.
"I'm not making livable wages. I can't move out of my mom's house and I have him to support," said employee Brittany Springer.
Nearly 20 workers from the Puget Sound area showed their solidarity for the one-day walkout at a Thursday rally. The employees will return to work on Friday, but they're also working on bigger plans, which could include a Black Friday strike.
Walmart has experienced its share of Black Friday mayhem, but that's generally due to the throngs of shoppers.
On Black Friday, which is the day following Thanksgiving and typically the biggest shopping day of the year, Walmart could experience a completely different type of mayhem if workers refuse to show up.
"Yes, I'm going to walk on Black Friday. Most definitely," said Gerardo Paladin. "Because I want to show to Walmart I stand on my rights."
Barbara Holland, who works at a Renton Walmart, said striking on Black Friday will show Walmart that employees are needed and should be treated better.
Reached Thursday, Walmart officials called the walkout "unlawful union tactics." The company doesn't know how many of its 1 million workers will join the strike, but representatives from the retail giant say Black Friday will be business as usual, even if customers have to walk through picketers to get inside.
Walmart will actually be open all day on Thanksgiving, with Black Friday sales beginning at 8 p.m.
Walmart workers are not unionized, but growing unrest over what they call low wages, shortened hours and few benefits has some of the employees threatening to strike.
"I'm not making livable wages. I can't move out of my mom's house and I have him to support," said employee Brittany Springer.
Nearly 20 workers from the Puget Sound area showed their solidarity for the one-day walkout at a Thursday rally. The employees will return to work on Friday, but they're also working on bigger plans, which could include a Black Friday strike.
Walmart has experienced its share of Black Friday mayhem, but that's generally due to the throngs of shoppers.
On Black Friday, which is the day following Thanksgiving and typically the biggest shopping day of the year, Walmart could experience a completely different type of mayhem if workers refuse to show up.
"Yes, I'm going to walk on Black Friday. Most definitely," said Gerardo Paladin. "Because I want to show to Walmart I stand on my rights."
Barbara Holland, who works at a Renton Walmart, said striking on Black Friday will show Walmart that employees are needed and should be treated better.
Reached Thursday, Walmart officials called the walkout "unlawful union tactics." The company doesn't know how many of its 1 million workers will join the strike, but representatives from the retail giant say Black Friday will be business as usual, even if customers have to walk through picketers to get inside.
Walmart will actually be open all day on Thanksgiving, with Black Friday sales beginning at 8 p.m.
Walmart needs to be stopped some how,it's about time,I got hurt and I lost my job.no money no ins.its been 10 mouth and I'm not any better.maybe striking will help other so this will never again to anyone else.
how nice of Walmart to actually be open all day Thanksgiving - keeps the employees from worrying about that special holiday meal they can't afford.
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Walmart is such a nasty place.
Walmart Tells new employees how to go apply for food stamps!! What is up with that? Is that the sign of a good, profitable company to work for? Unless your working for the dc your fucked! Working in the store sucks! AND THAT COMES STRAIGHT FROM THE EMPLOYEES THAT WORK THERE!!! Honestly if my ass werent so dirt ass broke I would shop more at local facilities but that is what walmart does pray on the poor and hire the poor!!!
I am a senior citizen how has worked the better part of my life and when I first job was $1.60 per hour and gradually rose to $5.00 per hour in the mid 1970's. at that time I was raising my family with my husband and together we could not hardly support our family and over the years the wages have seen wages gone up along with the cost of living.
People today do not know how to survive without the the instant made products or be creative on how to make choices of their wants and their needs. I can remember my father that credit would only get us into trouble. Because I was young and inexperienced and thought I wanted what the world wanted me to believe that I could have anything if I only had credit. I know have no credit things are tough I am retired and things are even tougher even with my husband still working so we can to hould on to our dream of a home that we have worked for all of our lives. It comes to a point in our lives to remember that we can be thankful for what we have no matter how much we have and to know that we have a better provider if we have faith and believe that we can not store or riches on earth but we have a better place above with our Father in Heaven. Remember to cherish what you have especially your family and friends and support one another. Happy Thanksgiving
"That right buddy..you just bear down and tell that turd who's boss!"
 @I Like Meat did you know walmart tells there new hires how to go and apply for food stamps? lets just say for A COMPANY THAT RUNS COMPANYS OUT OF BUSSINESS THEY SUCK!!!!
Do it!!!! Show those tyrant CEO's who really runs that company!
I work for Walmart, I am still looking for a better paying job, but I live on the peninsula so there aren't very many out there. In the meantime, I am looking into going back to college to get a BAS degree. The local college has a 100% online program that I think I can do. I do believe Walmart needs to change a lot of their policies and be more employee friendly. I do not believe unionization is the way to go. It is up to me, not Walmart, to create a better future for myself. It's not as easy as simply quitting (as I have kids and bills), and finding a new job (which there aren't very many around here)...but it's not impossible either...you just have to actually try and find a way to do it.
My wife, who has been unemployed now for two years, is about ready to smack the next person she hears complaining about their job.
GOOD JOB WALMART WORKERS!!  THIS COMPANY NEEDS UNION REPRESENTATION FOR IT WORKERS MORE THAN N AY OTHER IN THE USA RIGHT NOW!  ...DON'T LET THEM BACK YOU DOWN AND SCARE YOU!...UNION WORKERS UNITE!
 @Six Pack Fury Dan you all are going to make walmart go broke like Hostess.............if you dont like the pay get another job nobody owes anyone anything dont like the pay stay at home and collect welfare like the rest of the liberal losersÂ
 @Six Pack Fury Dan they should be happy we're doing what we are. It shows they have committed workers who just want better. Not asking for a lot.
Taking a sick day following T-Giving, will bring WalMart to it's knees.
Walmart doesn't owe you anything other than the hourly wage you agreed to when you entered into the contract of working for them. It doesn't matter how wealthy they or the company is. Its theirs not yours. If they choose to reward you then great. Unions had their place back in the day but government regs cover most of the issues they were originally designed to address. Now they are a parasite to the working population. If you don't like what you make find another job that pays more.
You agreed to the wages and hours when you started, please walk of the job unemployed for someone willing to step in. If you want better wages and hours get a job offer letter worth something and that you agree with. Minimum wage jobs were never suppose to be a liveable wage, the benefit to minimum wage jobs is reduced/flexible hours to be able to go to school and make something of your life. If walmart has to pay $20.00 per hour, just watch the cost of living in your area go up with it.
But what if some people can't qualify for better jobs or schools, and a job like this is the only way they can start somewhere in thier life?  People need to realize that not everyone is raised the same or have the same opportunities as others.... Huge companies like this can afford to pay thier employee's a little more than minimum wage! That little pay increase could save a family from going hungry.. It's amazing how cold and dissmisive people can be over this issue... Yes they signed up for the job, but what if it was thier only option?
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The Walton family is wealthy beyond reason, they continue building stores but refuse to pay their employees even areasonable wage. The employees do not have to be unionized to get some respect form their wealthy employeer and recieve a descent wage and benefits. They deserve to be fairly compensated. Could you see the Christy Walton working in one of the stores, stocking shelves, building displays or even dealing with the customers. Before WalMart was a gant it was a small local store run by Sam Walton and his family, now Corperate Greed has taken over. Employees deserve better, they deserve a descent wage, benefits and respect. They deserve to be treated as humans not a pawn for Corperate Greed..... CEO's make millions upon millions for themselves they have the best of everything, they do not go without. Many of the employees for these companies go without, they have to subsidize their meger income with Goverment Assistance our Goverment is in enough trouble without having to helpout large wealthy corperations. Give a little back to the little people.  Maybe, we the shopper should boycott WalMart!Â
 @grannysabiker Why do you keep saying WalMart employees need lower wages.... it seems to contradict your entire message. Oh wait. Descent = decent. Got it.
Not a fan of overpaid CEOs, but to be a little more non-emotional, The CEO does not own the company, and even if all of the money the Walmart CEO makes was given to employees it would  be less than  a penny / hour increase to their wage. The profits are really given to the shareholders. In this case some of the largest are retirmenet and pension funds etc, who do not want to put their investment into something that is not going to show the best business results, it is the reality of business and trade. But you are right - shopper boycott is one effcetive way of change, but this whole corporate greed concept has gotten a little overblown and out of persepctive - defintily true for some areas (such as non-product prodcuing  beusinees like financial institutions) , but to blanket all big businesses, and to start making bsuinesss in general as a bad guy is not a healthy or correct perceptive.  Â
What's all the tweets about - this is and will continue to be the natual order of employee / employer dynamics. Walmart being a public company is obligated to #1 be as proftiable to their owners (i.e. shareholders - which includes teacher retirement funds, Union negotiated retirement funds, etc) which means they are obligated to not increase expenses needlessly (which for employees means to pay at a sufficient level to maintain the work force needed). Thus Boeing and Microsoft don't pay high wages becuase they love their employees, they pay them in order to retain the talent needed to drive their business; the same is true for Walmart.   In contrast, there is the employees who have the right to argue and try to inlfuence business to improve their position, thru walkouts, etc.  The company can then decide the pros / cons (public percpetion and loss of business; cost of business disruption, inability to get the quality of people needed); and decide to change or not. This friction between employees and employers is natural.  So both sides are doing what they should be doing.  Of course outside of employer/ employee dynamics, there is the individual dynamic for improving position, which of course is based on improving ones value (thru education, improving a craft or trade, etc). Â
Yeah, bite the hand that feeds you. Online stores will quite soon kill traditional retailers. Instead of trying to milk more from this sick cow, do yourself a favor and study. Get prepared for when you will loose this job anyways. Well, or keep the strike on black Friday, and help killing the dinosaur faster.
These have to be Progressive Democrat union thugs. the unions have contracts with J.C.Penney on the brink of going out of business. Have contracts with Sears ,just reported a 500 million dollar loss. Just put Hostess out of business. I guess Walmart is the only one left.Â
 @Maynard G Krebbs Yes, those thugs that got children out of the factories, thugs that gave us a 5 day work week, that fought for living wages, and that bring up the wages in any industry they work it. You can go ahead and keep bending over for your masters though, that's fine.
sadly, union employees get very rich benefits vs those non union folks. and it is ultimately at the consumer's/ taxpayers expense.
@jennieb Actually a very large part of âthe very foundation of this countryâ is people banding together into groups, militias, congresses, unions, etc. for their own betterment. Not necessarily for the betterment of royalty, the wealthy, corporations, etc. Please donât continue to just mindlessly parrot what your particular minders are continually feeding to you.
 @jennieb jenn... read your own statement... people have been foolish enough to allow unions to be voted out of their workplace, and then have watched their pay decrease, the hours increase, their benefits erode, and their working conditions diminish. Quid's entirely correct. The mentality of you and people like you is entirely self defeating. You've bought into a planned and carefully orchestrated propaganda campaign that you deserve less, and are lucky to get the scraps that corporations "allow" to trickle down to you. You vote to give up any collective voice (that's all a union is... a collective voice for the workers)... and then you can't comprehend why union workers get more?
 @jennieb Yes, because union protections have slowly been chiseled away. My first job, I was automatically shown a video talking about the EVILS of unions. Funny enough, the only jobs that have ever showed me these videos were minimum wage crap jobs.It shouldn't be a privilege to join a union, it should be a right.  Walmart has a history of shutting down stores overnight when the entire store managed to pull together a union. It's a disgusting company that doesn't respect human rights or dignity. Sam Walton  is rolling in his grave.Â
very few are privleged to be able to join a union.Â
 @jennieb But they aren't pulling themselves up by pulling others down.  They are simply dragging people who have a good work environment down so that everyone can have the same crappy environment. Unions work to make everyone have a GOOD environment.
it is not putting other people down. It is the current reality. People need to pull themselves up - that is the very foundation of this country - people being self-sufficient
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 @jennieb People need to drop this crab mentality. Don't try to pull other people down, try to rise yourself up
If they strike, they are stupid. They can be fired for walking off the job, and if I were Walmart, I'd be issuing pink slips to each and every one of them that don't report to work. There are plenty of people who would be happy to have the work.
@The WA Mama
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What a sad state of our union that plenty of people would be happy to work for so little when the owners and executive management makes so much.
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Shoppers of Wal-Mart should be ashamed to contribute even one dollar to this companyâs greed because of their own personal greed to have the lowest retail cost regardless of the negative impact to the employee.
 @The WA Mama That's what I was thinking. Let people who want to work have the jobs
You don't like it quit. It's that simple!! I understand that you can't raise a family on minimum wage BUT neither can someone woriking at Taco Bell, Jack in the box, Denny's or Payless SO if you want more then you have to chose to make more out of your life.
 @tkyed Actually, I paid for a BA and part of a MBA waiting tables at Denny's.....
people across the US are trying to raise families on minimum wage. Ultimately many have to rely on goverrnment intervention. Sadly, it goes back to having families which one cannot support - and going to the taxpayer for healthcare/ food stamps/ etc. . . .People today have to be realistic about what they can and cannot afford and that includes the number of children. In spite of gov't aid, the situation is not likely to change . . .ever. If consumer spending is down, it is perhaps many of us are simply not buying "stuff" that we really do not need.Â
@jennieb Why do you wait for somebody else to fix your problems? If you work hard, you find your way. If you expect to live out of selling groceries, well...
Wallyworld isn't that hot. They have prices on some cr@p that is so cheaply made that yes, no one else can compete. However, the rest of their merchandise is at or above other competitors. Fred Meyer and Target for example have competing products that we have found to be at or lower than those at wallyworld. The way they treat their employees is as if they are one step better than dirt. They get cr@p wages, little to no benefits, and treat most of them like indentured servants. They can lie to the press and say it's in an effort to provide better prices to customers but the prices aren't that great when compared to others in the same market. So really, it's about maximising profits for those at the top.
 @what?  @p  @p safeway and Fred Meyer lost some of my shopping when they stopped carrying the brands I wanted. Go to the pancake mix section.  One brand Krusteaz. I like Aunt Jemima and Happy Jack. I like IBC sodas, Safeway and Fred Meyer used to have these brands .not anymore.  I am not going to drive all over town or switch to a brand I do NOT want .  Also name brand products are name brand products ,no matter where you buy them ,why pay more. if the unions can't compete with non-union businesses maybe the union should take a step back and look around .Or maybe this is why unions are no longer a high number in private sector.
@Maynard G Krebbs TMI.
 @what?  Is that surprising? WalMart is a corporation and is in business to make $$$.
Want better wages? Try working somewhere that isn't named Walmart.Â
 You knew what they payed when you hired on. If you didn't like the deal then you didn't have to take it. Maybe they can go the way of the Hostess union employees. C Ya !!
Black friday is already the most despicable display of having a bunch of humans together in a tight space.
I mean what the hell is that? Once a year for 24 hours the retailers sell their stuff for a price that they should be selling the stuff in the first place, what a joke
Sweet
Walmart employees, for the most part, agreed to work for the company for said hours and wages.  If that's the case, what's the deal here? Those "union" reps that are stirring people are really not there to help (have had that same issue where I work.)Â
Good for them! Walmart is a drain on the economy. Because they don't pay a living wage, they are taking money out of all of our pockets every time an employee is forced to use medicaid to cover their hospital bills. Also, Walmart doesn't support American manufacturers.Â
 @quidproquo How can anyone support AMERICAN  manufacturers when the unions have chased them all over seas ? Between the unions with high benefit and legacy costs, government regulations, government intervention  adding to cost it is easier to just move. . Don't believe this ? Look at Brach candies,sugar subsidies made it so expensive to make candy ,Brach's moved across the Detroit river to Windsor Canada to buy cheaper goods,along with no unions.
 @Maynard G Krebbs Actually, Manufacturing goods here in America is 100% viable. It would only cost you $30.00 more buy your iphone here in the US and considering Apple has 75 billion banked, they could easily take the hit.  US manufacturing has only gone overseas so the CEOs could take home more millions per year.
 @quidproquo Anyone without insurance can get free healthcare. Walmart is not a drain on the economy because I would prefer shopping there to Whole Paycheck for my food.Â
 @Northend The average consumer only saves about 1.20 on their whole walmart purchase.  I do most of my produce shopping at the U district farmers market and the quality, cost, and shopping experience are all better.