Activism Labor Rights

Walmart Employees Strike Nationwide to Demand Higher Wages

Walmart employees and union organizers with OUR Walmart held strikes in over 20 US cities Wednesday in a campaign to raise wages for workers.

via OURWalmart
via OURWalmart

 

The protesters demand that Walmart pay associates at least $25,000 per year and not retaliate against workers who strike. Earlier this year, the National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against Walmart for retaliating against 60 workers who had participated in strikes or protests against Walmart stores.

“I am trying to tell Walmart that they should not retaliate against workers, and that they need to raise wages and respect us,” said Bene’t Holmes, a Walmart-employee earning $8.75 per hour at a Chicago-area store, at a candlelight vigil held earlier this week outside the home of Walmart’s board chairman, Rob Walton.

The strike and other actions were scheduled around the chain’s annual shareholder meeting taking place in Arkansas today.

Walmart employees and organizers have been striking against the company for several years now because of its low wages and poor treatment of its workers, such as widespread discrimination against women. The largest protest yet was held last November. These campaigns, like those of the nationwide movement by fast food workers and other minimum-wage workers, seek to make employers – often bringing in billions of dollars in profit – pay their workers living wages.

An increase in wages would primarily benefit women workers, who make up the majority of low-wage workers in the retail industry. According to a study released by Demos earlier this week, 1.3 million women working in the retail industry live in or near poverty. Low-wages, unpredictable hours, and lack of full-time opportunities, all present real obstacles to these workers’ economic security.

Walmart has also been heavily criticized recently for refusing to join the Bangladesh accord, a legally binding agreement to improve working conditions for overseas factory workers that manufacture their clothes. The accord was created after a garment factory where Walmart materials were produced collapsed in Bangladesh, killing an estimated 1,300 workers. Activists have also been demanding that Walmart pay reparations to survivors of the collapse and victims’ families.

Media Resources: CNN 6/3/14; The Guardian 1/15/14, 6/4/14; Demos 6/2/14; International Labor Rights Forum 11/29/13; Feminist Newswire 9/25/12, 5/20/13, 11/11/13, 12/5/13

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