DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... Wal*Mart Employees planning Black Friday Walkout

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/11/16/walmart-walkout-workers-mount-black-friday-job-action/

Walmart employees began walking off the job this week in advance of Black Friday, when three-union backed groups expect thousands of protests nationwide.
In October, a strike at a Walmart in Los Angeles spread to stores in 12 other cities, with local and national leaders holding protests at more than 200 stores for better pay, fairer schedules and more affordable health care. Since that time, workers have since walked off the job in Dallas and Richmond, Calif., and other upcoming strikes and protests are expected at stores in Chicago, Miami, Milwaukee and Washington, D.C.
Charlene Fletcher, who works with her husband William at a Walmart in Duarte, Calif., became enraged when she learned that both were scheduled to work on Thanksgiving, missing the holiday with their children, ages 2 and 5.
“It’s heartbreaking to miss the holiday with them, and it’s just one more way that Walmart is showing its disregard for our families,” Fletcher said in a statement. “But when our co-workers speak out about problems like these, Walmart turns their schedules upside down, cuts their hours and even fires people. We’re going on strike for an end to Walmart’s attempts to silence its workers.”
Three groups — Making Change at Walmart, OUR Walmart and watchdog group Corporate Action Network — are now calling on the nation’s largest employer to end what they claim are retaliatory tactics against employees who seek out better working conditions.
In a statement to FoxNews.com, Walmart spokesman Dan Fogleman characterized the movement as "another exaggerated publicity campaign aimed at generating headlines to mislead" customers and employees.
"We have a great group of associates at Walmart," the statement read. "We’ll have more than one million associates working throughout the holiday weekend and they’re excited about our Black Friday plans this year. This is the Super Bowl for retailers and we’re ready.
"We’ve been working on our Black Friday plans for almost a year now and we’re prepared to have a great event. Our associates care about providing a great customer experience on Black Friday and we’re confident that’s what customers will have at Walmart this year."
Protests were held Thursday at Walmart stores in Eastvale and in Mira Loma, where six people were arrested for blocking traffic, KTLA reports.
Many customers, however, told KTLA they weren’t so convinced by the workers’ plans.
"If you come into a workplace knowing that's an agreement you might have to make, then that's your choice to have that job," shopper Rae Luce told the station.

Anyone that walks off a job should have been considered to have quit their jobs. If they try to come back to work after walking away, they should be refused entry into the store. Wal-Mart managers should be keeping track of who is supposed to be working and either walk out and have their assistant managers calling those 'former employees' where they want their final paychecks mailed to.

Good for them.

Its about time they unite and stand up for themselves

King

I'm sure there are plenty of people who are willing to take these jobs, the unwilling ingrates should be shown the door. Maybe Walmart should hire illegals, at least they're actually willing to work, not just stand their with their hands out.

I suppose we could get used to saying "hola" to the greeters.

But for management, a job at Wally World is barely livable. What class mobility is there when your work is strictly part-time, randomly scheduled, and at minimum wage?

You mean illegals wont be able to stand up for themselves

Its always easier to step on the helpless

King

I was exaggerating the point. Walmart can't hire illegals.

They will be considered to have voluntarily quit depending on state laws, and company policy. (unless they use the approved call off system) If they used the approved system, the only acceptable reasons to call off are illness, and a few others. I'm sure that they would be in violation of the employee rules if they called off to picket outside their stores.

They also lose benefits (extra discounts, Sunday pay, etc) if they called off on a holiday.

(Full disclosure) My Mom works for WalMart .... and yes, she has to work Thanksgiving.

I've worked a lot of retail jobs.

During every interview for those retail jobs, I've been asked, "Are you available to works nights, weekends, and holidays?"

If these people weren't, they should have said so. They knew from Day 1 that they were going to be asked to work these days and hours.

Yeah, it sucks, but you know what? There's millions of people out there working the same shift you are. Deal with it and go to work like everyone else.

I think it goes a bit deepet than that

King

The article says that they are protesting over " better pay, fairer schedules and more affordable health care".

Well, no one is going to see pay increases with the cost of Obamacare hanging over employers' heads. WalMart pays pretty well. Should a greeter, or a cashier, make $20/hour? I don't think so. My Mom makes over $11/hour as a greeter. Good luck finding that kind of wage in most retail jobs. Better pay is BS. WalMart pays well, and they start above minimum wages in many cases.

Fairer schedules? Each employee has to submit when they are available to be scheduled. They can have 1 day per week off with absolute certainty. (My mom takes Wednesdays, and she cannot be scheduled on a Wednesday no matter what happens) As far as I know, WalMart isn't scheduling people for split shifts, or things like that. They are cutting back to a workforce composed mainly of part time, 28 hours/week or less employees so they don't have to pay the Obamacare tax. This was as predictable as the sun rising in the morning.

What is "more affordable healthcare", and why would they need to protest for it? The government is going to mandate exactly what each person must have, and what each employer must provide. There is zero flexibility for employers to make adjustments to the mandate to lower costs to employees. The costs will be what the government mandates.

People are whiny anymore. Man, I used to work almost every Thanksgiving. I used to work almost every New Years Day morning. (No biggie though, since I stay home on Amateur Night on New years Eve anyway) I can see the married couple having an issue with not being able to see their kids, but WalMart provides vacation and personal days even for part time employees. If it was that important, they could have used one to take the day off, or even could have set their permanent day off for Thursday so they could not even be scheduled on Thursdays.

There will be a number of people in line to happily take their jobs. Anyone working retail, as well as a number of different jobs, know they have to work odd hours, weekends and holidays.

Quote:

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Charlene Fletcher, who works with her husband William at a Walmart in Duarte, Calif., became enraged when she learned that both were scheduled to work on Thanksgiving, missing the holiday with their children, ages 2 and 5.
“It’s heartbreaking to miss the holiday with them... "

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The alternative is to enjoy it with them...under a bridge or in a cardboard box.

You don't wanna work? You don't have to. Find a different job. You can't find a different job? Then you've chosen to risk losing your paycheck and the ability to feed your kids.

Working is not a right. When you sign the application saying you are willing to work any shift then walk-out when scheduled, that makes you a liar.

Rule #1 of the Universe: Life isn't fair.

I'm sorry they don't get to spend Thanksgiving with their kids, but that was never a right.

j/c

I work as an RN in a hospital that is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It is accepted that yes, we will work weekends and holidays(12 hour shifts). But we rotate weekends and holidays, and we always get the day off before and/or after a holiday. I agree with most posters on here, someone is always in line to work if you don't want to, so make your schedule work for you. Our family celebrates the holidays according to my schedule. It's simple to do, and the kids understand.

Ive worked holidays before. It sucks, but you do what you have to do... With Unemployment what it is, and the economy they way it is, I wouldnt be walking off of anything. I bet nothing substantial comes of this.

Yeah, I'm guessing across the country there may be less than 200 that walk off.

When I worked retail, we were told the only way to get Black Friday off, without losing our jobs, was to either be dead, in Jair or in the hospital. No other excuses. I used to just ask to work that night, so I wouldn't have to rush back after Thanksgiving dinner (living in Columbus at the time and all my family is near Akron)

My niece just took a job at a nursing home, and she was told that she would have to work the holidays until such time as she had enough seniority to allow her not to. That should be somewhere in the 5-8 year range. lol

Is she planning on throwing a hissy-fit and threaten to picket them?

j/c


If they don't show up, fire them. Pretty simple.

I'm self employed. I work most holidays, and holiday weekends. Know what? I do it with a smile on my face. It doesn't affect my family, as they know I work most holidays. We celebrate before or after. That's just how it is for us.

So does this mean I'm going to have to stand in line longer at Target?

Sorry, but I don't understand the "newer" tradition of retailers being open Thanksgiving Day. Bars, however, I understand.

If they want to do some kind of Black Friday sale, you should open at 12AM Thanksgiving night. Anything earlier than that is not really needed. Only places that should be open are fast food places, hospitals, police, and possibly a few other places. I say let people enjoy the holiday with their family. For places such as Walmart there is no need to be open earlier except wanting to make an extra buck. Are the employees getting paid holiday pay?

I do not shop wal mart unless I have no choice.

I disagree that they dont care about anything or anyone, and only care about money. Many of their pharmacy prescription prices are significantly less than chain pharmacies. They also have a four dollar drug program and give out free pharmacy discount cards. On one of my meds I save 480 dollars per refill over what costs to have the same prescription filled at CVS. They dont have to have such discounted prices, and people like me who dont have insurance sure appreciate it.

Just how much do you think that cashiers and stock people should be paid?

These are entry level type jobs. They are lower end jobs. These aren't high end jobs with heavy education requirements. They are lower end, entry level type jobs.

It's ridiculous the public is that starved for consumer goods, that they would go out on Thanksgiving night. I have thousands in my bank account, I be damned I waste my holiday to go out shopping to try to save a few bucks. I work in the food industry. If I had to work on Christmas, and Thanksgiving, I would seriously go look at another field. Chick Fila is closed on Sunday, yet makes more sales per store than Mcdonald's. It's just greed by some of these business owners.

I know in the restaurant field, it's very hard to find a great company. Most are just takers, and don't want to give much in return. My dad goes into this dunkin donuts in the youngstown area every night for coffee. He told me this one young kid working there, just received a nickle raise. Are you kidding me a nickle raise? THis is a kid that is going to college, trying to earn some extra cash. Who gives nickle raises?

Not everyone celebrates every holiday. (as many have reminded Christians about Christmas for years now)

To people coming here from another country, Thanksgiving probably has zero meaning. They may adopt it as their new tradition, but then again, they may not.

Then they can work on those days. At regular pay.

Also, I think it is fun for a lot of females who enjoy shopping and love finding a deal. It is also good for families trying to save money. The men are not so much going to be into it. I think most men would rather stab themselves in the eye before fighting crowds on thursday or friday.

The majority of the country have those 2 days off. What country do you have if you can't even be home to celebrate those 2 holidays? I'm an American. I celebrate them.

Most Muslims don't celebrate either holiday.

I've worked all the major holidays before... it's not fun, but I knew going into my job that i might have to work them at some point... and those times I did I choose to celebrate the holiday with my family on another day....

but I do agree that I think it's silly for these stores to be open on thanksgiving... Friday I get... Thursday I don't....

Not even close to being the only one. They didn't put out their Thanksgiving week schedule until late so they didn't have to have as many days oÝ complaining. lol