Above: Walmart employees are planning to strike in 15 U.S. cities Thursday. Rick Wilking/Reuters
Employees in 15 cities set to demand better pay and working conditions from country’s largest private employer
Thousands of Walmart employees are planning to strike Thursday in cities across the United States, demanding better pay and to protest the firing of workers who previously demonstrated against the company, which, with 1.3 million workers, is the largest private employer in the country.
The strike comes just one week after fast-food workers staged walk-outs at fast-food restaurants in 60 U.S. cities to call for hourly pay of $15 instead of minimum wage, signaling a trend of worker unrest at non-union companies. According to strike organizers, many Walmart workers earn the minimum wage, which varies from state to state but typically hovers near $7 to $8 per hour.
Thursday’s action is expected to be the largest strike since Black Friday of 2012 which spanned at least nine cities, organizers say.
According to a press release from the Organization United for Respect WalMart (OUR Walmart) and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which back the strike, the workers are seeking a “wage floor” of $25,000 per year.
Strike organizers also charge that the company benefits from federal social-welfare programs by paying wages too low for workers to live on or by not providing health insurance, forcing employees to sign up for food stamps or Medicaid.
In a press release, the organizations said the strikes follow Walmart’s failure to meet a Sept. 1 deadline for reinstating employees fired for leading protests against the company. Strike organizers say that the firings violate U.S. labor law, which prevents reprisals from employers against workers who attempt to form a union.
“Rather than providing good jobs that American workers need and deserve, Walmart is trying to silence workers who are standing up with their co-workers to live better and spending its time and money trying to deny workers a decent day’s pay,” the press release said.
Walmart denies the labor organizers’ charge that workers make minimum wage, saying that the average wage at the company is about $12 dollars per hour, and that most employees work full time and receive health insurance.
Kory Lundberg, a spokesperson for the company, said the workers allegedly fired for protesting the company were let go for attendance reasons.
“Many of these associates did not show up for work without any notice. It’s pretty disrespectful to their co-workers, because it disrespects those who now have to pick up that extra work,” Lundberg told Al Jazeera.
The press release cites a congressional study finding that Walmart receives government subsidy in the form of welfare for their workers, but Lundberg decried the report as “politically motivated” and subject to flawed methodology because it only examined one Walmart store in Wisconsin.
Cities where Walmart employees are slated to strike on Thursday include Baton Rouge, La., Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Orlando, Fla., Sacramento, Calif., San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.