Wal-Mart Worker Group Readies for Black Friday Job Actions

Retail

Published: September 18, 2015 10:40 am

Last Updated: April 28, 2020 9:32 am

Demands for a wage of $15 an hour and full-time work will again be the focus of job actions by a worker group organized to push for the changes at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT). The group relaunched itself as a more independent organization Thursday in New York and said that it is preparing for “massive” Black Friday actions across the country.

The group, Organization United For Respect at Walmart, is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit association popularly known as OUR Walmart. The group’s purpose is to help Wal-Mart employees as individuals or groups in their dealings with the company over labor rights and standards and their efforts to have Wal-Mart publicly commit to adhere to labor rights and standards. According to the group’s website, OUR Walmart has no intention of having Wal-Mart recognize or bargain with OUR Walmart as the representative of its employees.

Earlier this year Wal-Mart agreed to raise the pay of more than 500,000 workers to a minimum of $10 an hour by February 1 of next year. And while OUR Walmart hailed the company’s decision, it has maintained its demand for $15 an hour and consistent, full-time hours. The employee group also wants the company to end unfair job reviews and terminations and to address racial justice and women’s rights, as well as be a leader in addressing climate change.

Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich said:

It has been a big year for Walmart workers. 500,000 Walmart workers got a raise this year to $9 an hour and to $10 an hour next year. Now this is at least proof that when working people and those of us who are fed up with income inequality — when we stand together — we can change even the biggest and most powerful corporations in America. … Walmart workers and their families still need public assistance to afford basic necessities — like food and health care. Taxpayers foot the bill — effectively subsidizing Walmart’s low-wage business model. Walmart could break this cycle by paying $15 an hour and providing consistent full time hours. It’s time to make it happen — this Black Friday I’ll be standing with OUR Walmart calling for $15 and full time.

OUR Walmart was organized and held its first job actions against the company in 2012. Last year the group claimed that “tens of thousands of Americans [protested] at 1,600 Walmart stores across the country.”

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