The People's Record

An ongoing chronicle of communities of resistance around the world: anti-racism, anti-zionism, anti-imperialism, the Arab Spring, anti-austerity protests in Greece and across Europe, student movements all around the world, the Occupy Movement, anti-capitalist movements, anarchist movements, socialist movements, leftist communities and other relevant international news.

photo

Walmart workers on strike across multiple stores October 4, 2012 Employees protesting working conditions and retaliation are flexing their organizing muscle. But the first-of-its-kind strike carries risks. Today, for the first time in Walmart’s fifty-year history, workers at multiple stores are out on strike. Minutes ago, dozens of workers at Southern California stores launched a one-day work stoppage in protest of alleged retaliation against their attempts to organize. In a few hours, they’ll join supporters for a mass rally outside a Pico Rivera, CA store. This is the latest – and most dramatic – of the recent escalations in the decades-long struggle between organized labor and the largest private employer in the world. “I’m excited, I’m nervous, I’m scared…” Pico Rivera Walmart employee Evelin Cruz told Salon yesterday about her decision to join today’s strike. “But I think the time has come, so they take notice that these associates are tired of all the issues in the stores, all the management retaliating against you.” Rivera, a department manager, said her store is chronically understaffed: “They expect the work to be done, without having the people to do the job.” Walmart is entirely union-free in North America, and has worked aggressively to stay that way. Today’s strike is an outgrowth of a year of organizing by OUR Walmart, an organization of Walmart workers. OUR Walmart is backed by the United Food and Commercial Workers union, but hasn’t sought union recognition from Walmart; its members have campaigned for improvements in their local stores and converged at Walmart’s annual shareholder meeting. They say their efforts have won some modest improvements, but also inspired a wave of illegal retaliation by the retail giant, which they charge is more concerned suppressing activism than complying with the law. I reported in July on three workers’ allegations that Walmart retaliated against them for their activism. Since then, OUR Walmart has filed many more Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charges with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging further punishment of activists. Source

Walmart workers on strike across multiple stores

October 4, 2012

Employees protesting working conditions and retaliation are flexing their organizing muscle. But the first-of-its-kind strike carries risks.

Today, for the first time in Walmart’s fifty-year history, workers at multiple stores are out on strike. Minutes ago, dozens of workers at Southern California stores launched a one-day work stoppage in protest of alleged retaliation against their attempts to organize. In a few hours, they’ll join supporters for a mass rally outside a Pico Rivera, CA store. This is the latest – and most dramatic – of the recent escalations in the decades-long struggle between organized labor and the largest private employer in the world.

“I’m excited, I’m nervous, I’m scared…” Pico Rivera Walmart employee Evelin Cruz told Salon yesterday about her decision to join today’s strike. “But I think the time has come, so they take notice that these associates are tired of all the issues in the stores, all the management retaliating against you.” Rivera, a department manager, said her store is chronically understaffed: “They expect the work to be done, without having the people to do the job.”

Walmart is entirely union-free in North America, and has worked aggressively to stay that way. Today’s strike is an outgrowth of a year of organizing by OUR Walmart, an organization of Walmart workers. OUR Walmart is backed by the United Food and Commercial Workers union, but hasn’t sought union recognition from Walmart; its members have campaigned for improvements in their local stores and converged at Walmart’s annual shareholder meeting.

They say their efforts have won some modest improvements, but also inspired a wave of illegal retaliation by the retail giant, which they charge is more concerned suppressing activism than complying with the law. I reported in July on three workers’ allegations that Walmart retaliated against them for their activism. Since then, OUR Walmart has filed many more Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charges with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging further punishment of activists.

Source

  1. lacommunarde reblogged this from lajacobine
  2. progressivebrittania reblogged this from s0c1al1sm
  3. theabsurditiesoflife reblogged this from frozenrevolutionary
  4. frozenrevolutionary reblogged this from theveganarchist
  5. darthnickels reblogged this from theveganarchist
  6. theveganarchist reblogged this from thepeoplesrecord
  7. emir-dynamite reblogged this from lajacobine
  8. lajacobine reblogged this from thepeoplesrecord
  9. apatheticfan reblogged this from genderbitch
  10. j3nn1f0r reblogged this from mmilk-steak
  11. garlicpunk reblogged this from queeraztlan
  12. silas216 reblogged this from thepeoplesrecord
  13. layyourhandsinmine reblogged this from questionall and added:
    I worked for that fucking company and on the first day, we watched a movie about how bad unions were. I stayed there...
  14. juharr reblogged this from thepeoplesrecord
  15. s0c1al1sm reblogged this from thepeoplesrecord
  16. roger-sterlings-lsd-trip reblogged this from mmilk-steak
  17. my-heart-bleeds-for-villains reblogged this from questionall
  18. nosce-hostem reblogged this from trotskitty
  19. leftistnaija reblogged this from trotskitty
  20. mmilk-steak reblogged this from questionall
  21. trotskitty reblogged this from end-the-republican-mafia

Following