Sarah Skidmore Portland, Oregon
WALMART workers and their supporters marched in protest at stores across the US at the weekend, angry at the wages, benefits and treatment of employees at the world’s largest retailer.
However, the pickets seemed to do little to keep shoppers away as the Thanksgiving holiday turned into the feverish start of Christmas shopping season. Walmart said Friday was its best day after Thanksgiving ever.
In Paramount, California, authorities arrested nine people, including three Walmart employees, for blocking a busy street outside a store.
At its height the protest drew about 1 000 people.
“A lot more people showed up than I anticipated, but that just shows you the kind of support we have,” Walmart employee Carlton Smith said.
Walmart has faced intense scrutiny for many years over its wage and benefit policies and treatment of its workers.
Company spokesman Dan Fogleman said the firm provided some of the best jobs in the retail industry and that its wages and benefits typically met or exceeded those of competitors.
The company operates 10 400 stores in 27 countries.
In Lakewood, Colorado, shoppers hesitated as they passed dozens of protesters outside a Walmart but entered without incident.
“This is the way you get a fair shake. You’ve got to fight for it. You’ve always had to,” Charlie May of the Industrial Workers of the World labour organisation said.
A union-backed group called OUR Walmart said it was holding about 1 000 protests in 46 US states and estimated that “hundreds” of employees participated nationwide. Walmart said the figure was exaggerated.
OUR Walmart, made up of current and former Walmart employees, was formed in 2010 to press the company for better working conditions.
Fogleman said the number of associates, as Walmart calls its staff, who missed their shifts on Thursday and Friday was 60 percent lower than last year. “It was proven that OUR Walmart doesn’t speak for the 1.3 million Walmart associates,” the firm said. – Sapa-AP