Wal-Mart files legal complaint against growing protests ahead of Black Friday
12:58 pm - 11/20/2012
Wal-Mart is taking legal action against its organized labor opponents, filing an unfair labor practice charge over widespread protests at its stores across the country — as well as rallies planned for Black Friday, considered the biggest shopping day of the year.
The company filed a complaint on Friday against the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, claiming the labor union — one of the nation's largest — has unlawfully disrupted business by staging protests at Wal-Mart's stores and warehouses around the country over the past six months.
The retail giant, which has roughly 1.3 million U.S. workers, is asking the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for an injunction against the rallies and pickets — even flash mobs — that have sprung up at stores nationwide, according to the Wall Street Journal.
"We are taking this action now because we cannot allow the UFCW to continue to intentionally seek to create an environment that could directly and adversely impact our customers and associates," Wal-Mart spokesman David Tovar said in a statement obtained by Reuters. "If they do, they will be held accountable."
NLRB spokeswoman Nancy Cleeland said federal officials will decide quickly whether the complaint has merit and noted that, by statute, the agency must make a charge of illegal picketing a priority before all other cases.
The agency, she said, just decided two main issues: whether workers are picketing and if so, whether the picketing intended to unionize workers.
"This is a complicated case," Cleeland told The Associated Press, adding that if the labor board decides Wal-Mart's complaint has merit, the matter would then go to district court.
Wal-Mart workers protesting their employer complain of low wages, poor working conditions and inadequate health benefits, among other grievances. "Making Change," A Facebook page devoted to the protests, had more than 29,000 followers as of Monday afternoon.
Wal-Mart employees began walking off the job last week week ahead of Black Friday, when three union-backed groups expect thousands of protests nationwide.
"Wal-Mart is doing everything in its power to attempt to silence our voice," said Colby Harris, who works at a Wal-Mart store in Lancaster, Texas. "But nothing — not even this baseless unfair labor practice charge — will stop us from speaking out."
In October, a strike at a Wal-Mart store 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 Wal-Mart 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 Wal-Mart is showing its disregard for our families,” Fletcher said in a statement. “But when our co-workers speak out about problems like these, Wal-Mart turns their schedules upside down, cuts their hours and even fires people. We’re going on strike for an end to Wal-Mart’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, Wal-Mart 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 Wal-Mart," Fogleman said. "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 Wal-Mart this year."
Some of the nation's other large retailers, meanwhile, have announced earlier hours on Thanksgiving to capitalize on the shopping-heavy holiday weekend.
Like Wal-Mart, Sears will open at 8 p.m. Thursday, while Target will open at 9 p.m. That’s two hours earlier than last year for Wal-Mart and three hours earlier for Target. Sears was closed last Thanksgiving, the Arizona Republic reports.
“I won’t participate in Greed Thursday’s openings,” Donna Forry posted on AZCentral.com's Facebook page. “Keep it Black Friday.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
SOURCE
The company filed a complaint on Friday against the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, claiming the labor union — one of the nation's largest — has unlawfully disrupted business by staging protests at Wal-Mart's stores and warehouses around the country over the past six months.
The retail giant, which has roughly 1.3 million U.S. workers, is asking the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for an injunction against the rallies and pickets — even flash mobs — that have sprung up at stores nationwide, according to the Wall Street Journal.
"We are taking this action now because we cannot allow the UFCW to continue to intentionally seek to create an environment that could directly and adversely impact our customers and associates," Wal-Mart spokesman David Tovar said in a statement obtained by Reuters. "If they do, they will be held accountable."
NLRB spokeswoman Nancy Cleeland said federal officials will decide quickly whether the complaint has merit and noted that, by statute, the agency must make a charge of illegal picketing a priority before all other cases.
The agency, she said, just decided two main issues: whether workers are picketing and if so, whether the picketing intended to unionize workers.
"This is a complicated case," Cleeland told The Associated Press, adding that if the labor board decides Wal-Mart's complaint has merit, the matter would then go to district court.
Wal-Mart workers protesting their employer complain of low wages, poor working conditions and inadequate health benefits, among other grievances. "Making Change," A Facebook page devoted to the protests, had more than 29,000 followers as of Monday afternoon.
Wal-Mart employees began walking off the job last week week ahead of Black Friday, when three union-backed groups expect thousands of protests nationwide.
"Wal-Mart is doing everything in its power to attempt to silence our voice," said Colby Harris, who works at a Wal-Mart store in Lancaster, Texas. "But nothing — not even this baseless unfair labor practice charge — will stop us from speaking out."
In October, a strike at a Wal-Mart store 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 Wal-Mart 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 Wal-Mart is showing its disregard for our families,” Fletcher said in a statement. “But when our co-workers speak out about problems like these, Wal-Mart turns their schedules upside down, cuts their hours and even fires people. We’re going on strike for an end to Wal-Mart’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, Wal-Mart 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 Wal-Mart," Fogleman said. "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 Wal-Mart this year."
Some of the nation's other large retailers, meanwhile, have announced earlier hours on Thanksgiving to capitalize on the shopping-heavy holiday weekend.
Like Wal-Mart, Sears will open at 8 p.m. Thursday, while Target will open at 9 p.m. That’s two hours earlier than last year for Wal-Mart and three hours earlier for Target. Sears was closed last Thanksgiving, the Arizona Republic reports.
“I won’t participate in Greed Thursday’s openings,” Donna Forry posted on AZCentral.com's Facebook page. “Keep it Black Friday.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
SOURCE
While it might be fun for some shoppers to buy stuff on Thursday, it is NOT fun for the store's employees, and I also can't imagine that it makes that much of a difference to the store's net retail.
Let your employees have the damn day off. Walmart, especially, abuses them enough the rest of the year, for crying out loud.
And individual shoppers can help the cause by simply not rewarding stores that eat into their employees' time this way. Don't shop on Thursday. Let a bad idea die from lack of interest.
LOL I highly doubt that. In my experience, the vast majority of retail workers dread the holiday season and absolutely loath Black Friday, especially if they have the misfortune of working a shift at a time when they would much rather be sleeping.
For the record, I don't hate my job, not even during the Christmas season. I work at a gadget store and my job is geeking out with customers to get them to buy cool stuff. Black Friday just sucks balls for everyone in retail no matter how much you're okay with your job the rest of the year.
Edited because I swear I can spell, honest.Edited at 2012-11-20 10:07 pm (UTC)
W-M needs to stfu and pay a decent wage, including health care, and stop screwing with schedules and safety, and people in general need to stop being so damn greedy.
you could have stayed closed on Thanksgiving like you USED to. ALL stores need to stay closed on Thanksgiving. people can stay the fuck home and eat their turkey.
Is anyone, in the history of western christian society, caught unawares by christmas so much that 1/6th of the year is hyped for it? And breaking it down, that's one week of the month. Its mindboggling how grabby the holiday is.
I'm working my first Black Friday ever and I'm nervous. I have to work a 12 Hour shift, something I've never done before :/ We open 8PM Thanksgiving but my manager took the night shift with another chick.
And "excited"? Who are you talking to? CEOs who'll make bank? Everyone I know is not excited for this, including a few managers. Everyone has to go into overdrive. Plus, stock. OMG our stupid upper management never sent us more of an item that we barely have any of and it's going to be ridiculously cheap Black Friday. :/
That pisses me off.
I might add that there are lots of doctors and nurses, police, firemen, and numerous others who work in the holiday. But that's a need. Unlike shopping.
tl;dr I hate myself for shopping at WalMart.
If you have an Aldi near you, though, it's worth it. They're private label and thus extremely cheap for most things. The one downside is they only accept cash or debit cards as payment.
Edited at 2012-11-20 11:29 pm (UTC)
fuck that noise. We don't have black friday ( yet) we do have boxing day, but I refuse to ever set foot in a mall dec 15-jan 15. its not worth it.
I get that businesses gotta biz, but at what expense to employees? aren't the missed thanksgivings and tramplings just too much? I think so.
Christmas cheer? Hell no, fuckers, I got MINE!
Of course, now I work for a bank so I get all the government holidays off, though my girlfriend now works at Kohl's, and will be working 10 pm Thursday night until 7 am Friday morning (my old normal shift when I worked at Wal-mart). But I will never, ever participate in Black Thursday/Friday simply on principle.
When my husband was still in retail and I was out, I drove him in on the crazy days like Black Friday, so he didn't have to deal with driving in the shit and parking. One cool thing, though, when we both had to work it, he stopped at Target the Wednesday before, and talked them into giving him the BF deal for the Nintendo DS back then. "It's my wife's birthday and we're both working retail and can't make it in, can you cut me a break?" and they did. LOL
I'm pretty sure this is a big, fat lie. I've never seen a Walmart associate who seemed to give a crap about the customer experience. And for those wages, who could blame them?
Now does Walmart appreciate that? Not one fucking bit.
ETA: My coworkers at my old Kohl's have actually been contemplating a walkout. Of course this happens after I leave ;_;
Edited at 2012-11-21 01:32 am (UTC)
The Toys R Us discount, though, OMG. I loved employee shop night. Last time I did one, I spent like $300. LOL
:( i sincerely hope this is hyperbole.
I'm just really sick of Christmas, honestly. I remember the "Christmas season" used to start the day after Thanksgiving but the stores this year put up all their decorations before Halloween!
I work at Legoland in CA. Last year I watched a grown ADULT MALE punch a CHILD for a Lego set he had in his hands. Sadly he was also a SHOPLIFTER and ran like fuck out of the park via the secondary entrance/exit in that area of the park. I was too slow to catch him and there were too many guests around for me to even try.
If I was a BF shopper before, that would have ended me. But my mother (and my prior years of being a mall employee) trained me that the shit was never worth it because retailers ALWAYS HAVE DEALS. ALWAYS.