Today,
workers at a Walmart store in Miami went on strike. They held a 7
a.m. protest this morning and will follow up with a 4 p.m. protest
this afternoon. The action is part of the steady buildup toward Black
Friday actions set for the day after Thanksgiving.
Walmart workers
with the non-union worker organization OUR Walmart have been calling
for better wages and an end to retaliation for those who speak out.
This year’s Black Friday will be the second Thanksgiving shopping
holiday that OUR Walmart plans to impact with its strikes and
protests. Organizers announced last week that the retail giant
can expect protests at 1,500 store locations this year.
In
the last three weeks workers at Los Angeles, Sacramento, Seattle,
Dayton, Cincinnati, Dallas, Chicago and Pittsburgh Walmart stores
have gone on strike. In Florida, Miami’s striking workers were
joined for a 7a.m. protest this morning by workers from Walmart’s
Tampa store who went on strike this weekend.
Jaime
Martinez, a Tampa Walmart store employee who works night shifts on
maintenance, was one of them. “We went to Miami to let people know
how the Walmart associates are being treated,” Martinez told
Colorlines. “A lot of them are being treated unfairly.”
Martinez
said he went on strike because he was sick of the treatment he
received after almost 16 years at his job. He recalled an incident
from earlier this year in September when he had to be admitted to the
hospital for a ruptured appendix.
“I called Walmart, and let them
know that I’m not going to be able to return to work right away.”
When he did make it back, he found out that while he was hospitalized
he’d been written up for being absent at work. Enough writeups and
Martinez could lose his job. “That was a slap in my face,”
Martinez said.
Martinez
said about seven workers from the Tampa Walmart where he works went
on strike, and estimated that some 50 people took part in this
morning’s protest.
Source:colorlines
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