Protests spearheaded by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) against Wal-Mart were held across the country on Black Friday. At the demonstration in front of the retail giant's superstore on Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa, approximately 20 people gathered to blast the company for paying an average of $8.81 for their employees. "That's not enough to put food on the table," says Angela Williamson, an organizer with the UFCW International based in Washington D.C. who was leading the local rally.
Williamson says she speaks from experience, having worked on two different occasions for the retailer in the Panhandle city of Gulf Breeze. She says that making such a low-wage puts pressure on employees to be able to support a family. "That's no way to live," she asserts, "especially when you're working for one of the largest retailers in the country."
Mike Ortiz has worked at the Dale Mabry Walmart close to three years unloading delivery trucks. A college student taking online courses at Full Sail University near Winter Park, his biggest gripe (other than his hourly wage of $8.90 an hour) is the actual work environment at the Dale Mabry location.
"The backroom is really cluttered" says Ortiz, who works 24 hours a week at Walmart. "It's a safety hazard pretty much." When asked what his biggest issue was with his employer, he said it was a general lack of respect for the worker.
Like many of his colleagues, Ortiz put in a full day of labor on Thanksgiving, but considered himself fortunate in that his shift ran from 5AM to 2PM, allowing him to spend the rest of his day with his family on the national holiday. But he said he knew many fellow employees who were working 2pm - 10 pm. slots last night. "I think it's shameful" he says of the company's decision in 2012 to open on Thanksgiving. "People should be able to be with their families during certain holidays."
Wal-Mart CEO Bill Simon has aggressively defended his company's position on having his store's open during the holiday. "That's what the industry is heading towards," accused Wal-Mart earlier this month of illegally disciplining workers, including some who were allegedly fired for protesting the retailer’s employee policies">he told the Today Show on Friday.
Jonathan LaFavor has worked at the Wal-Mart location on Gunn Highway for a decade now. He makes $10 an hour and works 40 hours a week, better than a lot of his colleagues, yet not enough to allow the 32-year-old to move out of the house he shares with his mother and a couple of roommates in Carrollwood.
LaFavor participated in a brief strike against the retail giant last Saturday, missing two days of work to protest against working conditions at Wal-Mart before returning back to work. He says his biggest concern on the job are the conditions with pallet jacks. "Some of them don't work right, " he says. "It's hard to find some that work properly. Sometimes we hurt our backs trying to pallet."
Asked to sum up what he'd like from his boss and he replied, "A decent living wage, respect on the job, and better health care."
The name of the group behind the protests is called OUR Walmart, and they promised before today that there would be protests at some 1,500 Walmart stores. The conservative leaning Washington Examiner reported earlier this week that the National Labor Relations Board had approved the UFCW's practice of paying people to protest against Wal-Mart in a legal memorandum earlier this month.
However Teamsters member Miguel Gonzalez flatly denied he'd been offered anything to protest on the day after Thanksgiving. "I want to make my contribution to society and to the workers of this community who have been making Wal-Mart very powerful and rich," he said.
Recently President Obama has come out in support of the Fair Minimum Wage Act, legislation being sponsored in the Senate by Iowa Democrat Tom Harkin and in the House by George Miller (D-California) that would raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour (the federal minimum wage currently is at $7.25 an hour).
"It's a good start, but still $10 an hour in the year 2013 is still a minimal salary, " maintains Bob Ruggiero from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, who said that the growing wealth disparity in this country needs to be addressed by our lawmakers.
In advance of today's protests nationwide, Wal-Mart spokesperson Kory Lundberg told Forbes last week that “There’s nothing new about the [United Food And Commercial Workers] union’s campaign against Wal-Mart," referring to similar protests from a year ago.
The National Labor Relations Board accused Wal-Mart earlier this month of illegally disciplining workers, including some who were allegedly fired for protesting the retailer’s employee policies.
Wal-Mart “unlawfully threatened, disciplined and/or terminated employees” at stores in 13 states for protesting working conditions, according to a statement from the NLRB.
The UFCW's Angela Williamson says that "We are pushing them (the NLRB) to make a quick resolution to it and get these workers back to work immediately."
