Subject: [SocialistWorker.org] On the line at Wal-Mart
-----
View original article here:
http://socialistworker.org/2012/11/26/on-the-line-at-wal-mart
Report
======== ON THE LINE AT WAL-MART =============================================
Alan Maass and Darrin Hoop round up reports from across the country on Black
Friday walkouts and rallies against the largest private employer in the
world.
November 26, 2012
DAVIDS AROUND the country sent a message to a corporate Goliath when workers
Wal-Mart stores stayed away from their jobs on Black Friday after
Thanksgiving, and supporters joined them for protests at as many as 1,000
stores in all but four of the 50 states.
The Black Friday walkouts and rallies were the latest escalation of the
struggle for living wages, better conditions and respect on the job at
Wal-Mart. The call for action came from OUR Walmart, an organization led by
store workers and supported by organized labor, including the United Food and
Commercial Workers (UFCW) union.
The struggle at Wal-Mart has been building fast, with strikes by warehouse
workers in Southern California and outside Chicago in September, followed by
the first-ever coordinated walkout by Wal-Mart store workers in early
October. More workers walked out on Black Friday, according to OUR Walmart,
and they were joined by an impressive turnout of supporters in many cities.
"I'm so happy that this is history--that my grandkids can learn from this to
stand up for themselves," Elaine Rozier, a Wal-Mart worker in Miami who
joined the walkout, told /The Nation/ [1]. "I always used to sit back and not
say anything...I'm proud of myself tonight."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
THE BLACK Friday protests began the night before, thanks to another
money-making scheme that Wal-Mart introduced last year: starting Black Friday
sales on the evening of Thanksgiving, which wrecks the holiday for workers
who have to prepare the store before opening.
"They had us working all day long on Thanksgiving," said Tony Zollo, as he
picketed the next day outside a Wal-Mart in Philadelphia. "We were unloading
five trucks yesterday and bringing it immediately out to the sales floor
while the store was fully operable and had customers in it...Then on top of
that, we got back, and they wanted us to work a second 10-hour shift after we
got off of our 12, starting immediately."
Spokespeople for Wal-Mart tried to downplay the action, claiming that only 50
"associates" took part around the country and insisting that Black Friday
sales were better than ever.
But OUR Walmart's strategy is built around taking the first steps with a core
of workers who are ready to take a stand, knowing that they represent much
larger numbers of co-workers.
At a Black Friday rally at a store in Renton, Wash., southeast of Seattle,
Rickey Martin, who has worked for Wal-Mart for nearly five years, said that
there were 20 members of OUR Walmart among the 350 or so workers at the
store. "But out of the 20 of us, there's really only two or three or maybe
four of us who are willing to stand up," he said. "Everything has to start
somewhere. Let it start with me."
The number of workers willing to participate in a walkout may remain a small
minority, but this is still a big step forward. As /Labor Notes/ reported
[2]:
>OUR Walmart has come a long way since last Thanksgiving, when it had about
>100 members. The United Food and Commercial Workers-backed group has spread
>to 43 states and grown to thousands of members, who pay dues of $5 a month.
>It's the third union-seeded attempt in a decade to organize at the retail
>giant and has far outstripped previous efforts.
>
OUR Walmart leaders say they always expected Black Friday to be another step
along a long road of struggle.
And indeed, Wal-Mart faced numerous local actions in the lead-up to Black
Friday, as workers walked off the jobs in protest against poor working
conditions or management abuse and retaliation--issues which give the workers
some protection under U.S. labor law. According to Josh Eidelson, reporting
on the Wal-Mart struggle for the /Nation/ [3], organizers in the Washington,
D.C., area said that some 100 workers struck over the course of the week
before Thanksgiving, but no more than a dozen did on Black Friday itself.
Plus, OUR Walmart members believe the Black Friday walkouts and rallies will
boost the confidence of those who may have been intimidated by Wal-Mart's
veiled threats and its long history of retaliating against workers who speak
out.
At 64, Barbara Holland is one of the older workers at the Wal-Mart in
Renton--and one of the store veterans, with 13 years on the job. But Holland
says that means she does "a lot of talking for the workers...they won't say
anything, but they'll come to me." Holland thinks the demonstrations will
give her co-workers the courage to speak up about the disrespect and abuse
they face:
>I feel I have to do this because one day, they're going to have enough
>courage to stand up and say: I have rights...Just like the people before us.
>They fought the fight. We have to fight the fight so we can live. I'm
>talking about Martin Luther King. I'm talking about Malcolm X--by any means
>necessary. If you're doing what you need to do, then you stand up for what's
>right, and you keep standing up.
>
For the many hundreds of labor activists who came out to the rallies to
support Wal-Mart workers, the importance of these actions was obvious.
Jessica Bonebright, president of the Martin Luther King Jr. County Labor
Council in Seattle, pointed out that Wal-Mart leads the way in "union-busting
and doing everything they can to keep their workers from getting a union
wage. Until we can stop them from that, they are a role model for other
companies. We have to go after the big guy."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
REPORTS FROM SocialistWorker.org readers around the country gave a sense of
the enthusiasm for this stand against the very symbol of corporate greed and
union-busting.
-- In *Paramount, Calif.*, south of Los Angeles, more than 1,000 people,
including Wal-Mart workers, unionists from across the region, community and
Occupy activists, and clergy, attended the largest reported Black Friday
action in the country.
"I'm hoping events like today's action will give others the courage to speak
up against the unfairness that Wal-Mart shows its employees," said Victoria
Martinez, an OUR Walmart member who works at the nearby Pico Rivera store,
where 70 workers walked out in October.
Nearly a dozen employees of the Paramount store participated in the Black
Friday strike. And in an act of civil disobedience, eight people, including
Wal-Mart workers, clergy and union activists, were led away in handcuffs
after blocking an intersection.
Maria, a Wal-Mart employee for over six years, said in an interview:
>There is no respect. They won't give us full time hours, so they don't have
>to pay us benefits. You have to work 32 hours a week to get benefits. But
>they will only give me four-and-a-half hours of work per day at $8.40 an
>hour. It's impossible to feed your family on that. For Christmas, they
>promised us a $600 bonus. Then they changed it to $300. At the end, they
>gave us $125.
>
Manolo is a temporary worker at the warehouse in Riverside County where 30
workers went on strike in September. The strikers participated in a 50-mile,
six-day walk to downtown LA. Similarly to members of OUR Walmart, warehouse
workers also face punishment for organizing and speaking out. Manolo said: "I
used to work six days a week, but since I went on strike, I work a lot less
because they refuse to give me enough hours."
The Paramount action was endorsed by the LA County Federation of Labor and
was the largest of several actions in support of Wal-Mart workers across LA
County.
-- In *Chicago*, hundreds of people gathered at 5:30 a.m. on the Southwest
Side, sharing coffee and doughnuts as they waited to board a caravan of
yellow school buses that traveled between multiple Wal-Mart sites for pickets
and rallies.
A broad array of unions and community groups were represented: the Chicago
Teachers Union, SEIU Healthcare Illinois and Indiana Southsiders For Peace,
Teamsters Local 743, the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists and the UFCW, to
name a few.
Michael Brunson, recording secretary of the Chicago Teachers Union,
participated in the day's rallies. He talked about the connections between
the fight at Wal-Mart and other struggles:
>We need to make people aware of the role Wal-Mart is playing in undermining
>our public education system through their role in the so-called "school
>reform" movement. The attack on all things public, including public
>education, public workers and public pensions, in addition to the attack on
>labor are all coming from the same sources. Connect the dots!
>
At least 10 Wal-Mart workers walked off the job in Chicago, and the first
raucous rally of the day had over 400 people. It was staged on the sidewalk
outside of a store in the South Side neighborhood of Chatham. Protesters
marched to the store's entrance and distributed fliers to customers before
being asked to leave by police.
At an impromptu press conference, store worker Charmaine Gibbons Thomas
explained: "I want them to understand that we just want to make a basic wage,
a living wage to be able to pay our bills." She was joined by Mike Compton, a
member of Warehouse Workers for Justice and a participant in the September
strike at Wal-Mart's massive distribution center in Elwood, southwest of
Chicago, who talked about the hazardous working conditions at the facility
and the challenges of forming a union.
Afterward, the group divided into two and traveled to four other Wal-Mart
sites to show solidarity with the striking workers. Despite police
intimidation at several sites, demonstrators kept up spirited protests and
pickets, with chants of "What's outrageous? Unfair wages! What's disgusting?
Union-busting!" Shoppers drove past and honked in solidarity.
-- In *San Leandro, Calif.*, south of Oakland, around 400 people rallied on
Black Friday to support striking workers at a Wal-Mart store. The crowd was
made up of supporters from the community, union members and elected
officials, as well as workers from other Wal-Mart locations.
Wal-Mart workers said they are fed up with difficult working conditions,
wrongful firings and disrespect from managers.
The protest was spirited and got large enough to spill out off the sidewalk
and into the street. A long picket line was formed in front of the store,
with workers and supporters chanting "Stand up, live better!" "We have been
working for months to get this turnout," said Dominic Ware, who was on strike
for the day from the San Leandro store. "I can stand up straight knowing that
I have the community behind me."
Many supporters were from various unions. Katy, a member of the California
Nurses Association said, "It's inspiring that these workers are standing up
without the protection of a union, and that they're standing up to the
biggest and most profitable corporation in the world."
Derik, who works at a Wal-Mart in Fremont, where a smaller protest took place
earlier in the day, said workers there walked out to protest hours being cut
and conditions that are so demanding that "workers are being set up to fail,"
he said.
-- In *Richmond, Calif.*, in the East Bay more than 300 people turned out on
Black Friday to protest the newly remodeled Wal-Mart. Unionists, elected
officials, clergy and community members came to support Wal-Mart workers'
demands for respect and better working conditions.
A few Wal-Mart workers had joined the OUR Walmart campaign and have been
organizing for the past several months. But many of the workers at the
protest had simply become fed up with the constant disrespect by management.
"Some of the managers made racial comments to other workers," said Mario
Hammond, who was recently fired from Wal-Mart. "I've gotten death threats.
When it's time to speak out, it's time to speak out."
Another worker who endured a death threat was Markeith Washington, who is on
the remodeling crew. In late September, one of the store managers told
Washington, who is Black, that he would put a rope around his neck. The
manager then tried to pass off the comment as a joke.
To protest the ongoing abuse by management, Washington and five others staged
a sit-in at a store entrances during the grand re-opening on November 6. "We
demanded to be treated with respect," stated Washington. "I want to be
treated like an adult. If people work hard they should not let people push
them around."
A few days later, many of the participants at the sit-in were terminated.
At the Black Friday picket, protesters demanded that management reinstate the
fired workers. A delegation tried to enter the store to speak to
managers--when the entire picket tried to follow them in, the doors were
slammed shut.
The showing and the spirit of the picket was invigorating. "We're going to
keep fighting," said Pam Davis, who has worked at the Richmond store for
nearly two years. "I'm not in a union right now, but if I ever get a chance,
I'll join one, even if I have to pay dues, because we should not be treated
this way."
-- In *Dallas*, another hub of action against Wal-Mart in recent weeks, the
Black Friday protests started on Thursday evening, when about 60 members and
supporters of OUR Walmart met at the Hampton Inn in Desoto for a Thanksgiving
buffet and then loaded onto a large bus for a roving picket.
The first stop was at the Lancaster store, where organizers were hesitant to
hold a picket because management and police threatened arrests at a protest
earlier in the month. The group gathered in a circle for a prayer vigil. As
one OUR Walmart said, "This isn't just for us, but for everyone struggling
across the country."
At a second store in Balch Springs, outside of Dallas, the bus pulled up as
close to the Wal-Mart as possible. The plan was to picket and have
workers--six of whom were on strike at the store--present their demands to
managers before we were kicked off the property. The picket was spirited,
with lots of chanting and waving signs, and it received support from
enthusiastic passersby.
Protesters loaded onto a bus and headed for a final store that night in South
Dallas on Wheatland Road. Activists marched into the parking lot, chanting
and with arms linked. We were intercepted about three-quarters of the way
across the lot by management and police, so we immediately launched into our
prepared speech, given via mic check. Police tried to encourage us to move
back, but they were outnumbered.
The next morning, more than 110 people arrived at the Hampton Inn for the
day's events. The diversity of organizations present was impressive,
including representatives from the United Auto Workers and the Labor Council
for Latin American Advancement.
We split into two groups. One bus went to a store in Fort Worth off Airport
Road. Only one worker, Billy, walked out at this store. "Originally, we had
21 people at the store planning to strike," Billy said. "But the management
harassment and intimidation was so high, that it ended up just being me."
Billy said he was there because workers "get no respect." He said the final
straw was when he asked a manager for some change for his drawer. "After a
few minutes, they came up and threw a handful of change at my back," he said.
"They said, 'here's your change.'"
The other bus went to the Balch Springs store. We quickly decided to march
off the sidewalk and directly into the parking lot. The chanting was
extremely loud as we approached the group of managers and police officers
waiting at the front of the store. Everyone stopped to listen to the message
delivered to management, and then we continued a sidewalk picket.
The final stop brought both of the buses together again at the Lancaster
store. We unloaded the buses about a block away and marched to the busy
store, where we attracted the attention of dozens of customers, who responded
with some smiles and even chanting along.
-- In *Portland, Ore.*, more than 200 protesters lined 82nd Avenue outside
one of the city's few Wal-Marts on Black Friday. The rally was held with the
support of activists from many local unions, Jobs with Justice, Occupy and
local politicians.
One protester who lived a few blocks away cited her neighbor's foreclosure as
the reason for attending. She said that with four small children, her
neighbor, a Wal-Mart manager, didn't make enough to pay his mortgage and was
evicted at Christmas a few years ago. Now she is active in the
anti-foreclosure movement.
The action brought together other local Black Friday traditions, like the
anti-corporate Buy Nothing campaign and proponents of buying local from the
many independent artisans and fairs for which Portland is well-known.
Organizers united to support the workers who are attempting to improve their
conditions.
-- In *Detroit*, about 200 protestors, including members of Occupy Detroit
and the UFCW, held a protest at a Detroit-area Wal-Mart. The demonstrators
gathered inside the store and began chanting, "Wal-Mart workers deserve
respect," "Stand up, live better!" and "You don't need your boss, your boss
needs you!" The protesters than slowly marched out of the store and held a
rally outside.
-- In *Madison, Wis.*, on the coldest, snowiest day so far this year, about
150 people attended a morning Black Friday demonstration outside the East
Side Wal-Mart Supercenter. Organized by the Interfaith Coalition for Workers
Justice and South Central Federation of Labor, the rally saw a broad turnout
of union members from Madison Teachers Inc., AFSCME, UFCW and SEIU.
At the end of the rally, protesters marched into the store to present
management with a letter outlining our complaints against unfair labor
practices and poverty wages.
-- In *Salem, Mass.*, northeast of Boston, about 50 union workers and
community members gathered at the Wal-Mart to show their support for workers
taking action on Black Friday.
"It's not just about union, it's about workers," said Terry Canavan from UAW
Local 2324. "It's about workers' rights, whether they're union or
not-union...I think it's outrageous that rather than giving their workers
respect and wage increases when all of this came to the surface, Wal-Mart
went to file anti-protest [injunctions] and try to stifle their workers."
Tony Toledo, former member of Teamsters Local 20, agreed. "Those great prices
come at a great cost," he said. "In Massachusetts, if somebody's making a
full-time job at $15,000 a year, you're not going to live on that. I mean,
you can't live under a bridge for that. And yet, these are the very people
who keep the doors open and stock the store."
Earlier, a smaller contingent of community members entered the store to hand
workers thank-you cards from OUR Walmart and talk with them about organizing.
Even though the Black Friday rush had calmed down, the store was still full
of hired security and police who patrolled the aisles. Managers hovered near
overworked "associates."
The injunctions, the harassment, the surveillance on and off the job--all are
designed to stifle worker organizing. Moving forward, community support is
going to be crucial. "This is to let the workers here know that whatever
Wal-Mart does to them, the community of Salem's going to stand up with them,"
said Ben Winthrop, Salem resident. "Salem is a union town, and Wal-Mart needs
to damn well remember it."
-- In *Philadelphia*, there were pickets at all three Wal-Mart locations on
Black Friday. At the Aramingo Avenue store, activists met beforehand and then
arrived individually at the Wal-Mart so as not to attract attention. When we
reached about 40 or 50 people inside, we began marching around the store and
chanting, while handing out leaflets to customers.
Two Wal-Mart workers walked off the job at this store. One of them, Tony
Zollo, one of the main organizers of the day's protests, was fired on the
spot during the demonstration. One of his managers came outside the store and
fired him in front of everybody. "One of the managers came out to oversee our
protest, that we weren't hurting company property or whatever," Zollo said.
"I asked him if I could return to work because I just wanted to walk off to
send a message, and he said absolutely not, you don't have a job here
anymore."
-- In *Connecticut*, protesters held demonstrations at four Wal-Mart
locations: Danbury, Waterbury, Hartford and Milford.
The Milford demonstration was organized in part by 1199/SEIU, which
represents health care workers who have been locked out since the summer by
management at the West River Health Care Center, owned by Healthbridge. About
25 protesters including teachers, environmental justice activists and members
of 1199 picketed and handed out leaflets detailing Wal-Mart's unfair labor
practices.
"Walmart systematically impacts communities by lowering wages and by
providing poor jobs to communities," said union organizer Jesse Martin. "As
union workers who literally work in this town and are fighting for good wages
and to take care of our families, a company like Wal-Mart undermines that
struggle."
-- In *Lakewood, Colo.*, outside Denver, more than 200 people assembled to
show solidarity with Wal-Mart workers. Representatives from many unions were
present, including UFCW Local 7, Service Employees International Union, the
Teamsters and the American Federation of Teachers.
Our steady marching and chants of solidarity turned away some potential
shoppers and elicited complaints from the many managers standing in front of
the doors to prevent demonstrators from entering. After the protest began to
wrap up, activists were asked to take packets containing flyers, stickers and
a letter to corporate management to various Wal-Mart locations.
-- In *Providence, R.I.*, more than 60 people, carrying signs reading "Bust
Wal-Mart, Not Unions" and "Wal-Mart Associates Deserve A Living Wage,"
marched into a store on Black Friday. Using the mic check tactic popularized
by Occupy Wall Street, protesters announced their support for striking
workers and decried the corporation's unfair labor practices, repression of
labor organizers and role in driving down wages.
The protesters had a letter in support of workers to deliver to management,
but supervisors refused to accept it. After being forced to leave the store
by Providence police, activists resumed their protest at the edge of the
parking lot, where passing shoppers honked and applauded in support.
-- In *Atlanta*, over 60 protesters picketed the Howell Mill Wal-Mart store
on Black Friday, slowing traffic into the complex as they talked with
customers about working conditions at Wal-Mart and management's retaliation
against employees. Unions and community groups joined the protest, and sent a
clear message that the people of Atlanta support Wal-Mart workers in their
fight for justice.
-- In *San Diego*, about 70 people gathered outside the College Center
Wal-Mart on the morning of Black Friday for a rally, where they handed out
stickers in support of workers and fliers with information about the strikes
and the OUR Walmart campaign. One San Diego joined the walkout for the day.
People from the UFCW and OUR Walmart stood alongside unionists, as well as
activists from the Occupy movement and the LGBT rights struggle. In contrast
to a Black Friday action last year, this rally was, without a doubt,
pro-worker and not anti-consumer. After the speeches, a dozen people went
inside the store to do a mic check, but were escorted out when they started.
-- Near *Burlington, Vt.*, labor activists picketed two Wal-Marts on Thursday
evening and Friday morning. Most shoppers had not heard of the Wal-Mart
walkouts and Black Friday protests, but responded with great enthusiasm to
signs declaring "Stand Up, Live Better" and "Wal-Mart Special: Two Jobs for
the Price of One."
Meanwhile, Occupy Central Vermont organized a picket line and leafleted
shoppers on the "High Cost of Low Prices" outside the Berlin
(Montpelier/Barre) Wal-Mart. About 25 people total participated during the
morning and afternoon picketing.
-- In *Scarborough, Maine*, 25 people performed a flash mob and held an
informational picket in solidarity with Wal-Mart workers nationally. The
flash mob was a song and dance routine to the tune of Kesha's "Tic-Toc,"
which attracted the attention of workers and customers alike. Tony Zeli, an
organizer with the Southern Maine Workers' Center, felt the day was a
tremendous success: "Customers will be more aware of how Wal-Mart treats
people and will maybe think twice before they shop with them again, and
workers saw solidarity--now they know that we have their back."
The action was also successful in connecting organizations and individuals
concerned about workers' rights in Southern Maine.
-- In *Tacoma, Wash.*, protesters entered a Wal-Mart store on Black Friday
for an action, and then protested outside for several hours. Dave Zink, a
recently laid-off state worker, explained why he joined the protest: "We need
to stop this global spiral to the bottom. Workers everywhere aren't safe when
workers anywhere have been screwed."
Phil Aliff, Adam Balogh, Michael Brown, Miguel Angel Castaneda, Elizabeth
Clinton, Jonathan Cunningham, Joseph Greenwood, Meg Hargis, Owen Hill, Robin
Horne, Brian Huseby, Robert Jay, Natalie Johnson, Marilena Marchetti, Eric
Maroney, Chris Mastrangelo, Chris Morrill, John Osmand, Aaron Petkov, Ben
Ratliffe, Mer Reese, Gillian Russom, Michael Stiles, Alessandro Tinonga and
Nancy Welch contributed to this article.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Published by the International Socialist Organization. Material on this Web
site is licensed by SocialistWorker.org, under a Creative Commons (by-nc-nd
3.0) license, except for articles that are republished with permission.
Readers are welcome to share and use material belonging to this site for
non-commercial purposes, as long as they are attributed to the author and
SocialistWorker.org.
[1] http://www.thenation.com/blog/171435/biggest-strike-against-biggest-employer-walmart-workers-make-history-again
[2] http://labornotes.org/2012/11/walmart-nervous-black-friday-strike-nears
[3] http://www.thenation.com/blog/171435/biggest-strike-against-biggest-employer-walmart-workers-make-history-again
