Walmart Strikers stand outside the Capital Plaza Walmart before marching toward the store to hand deliver a letter the management.
Walmart workers along with community allies rallied outside three Washington, D.C. area Walmart stores yesterday morning, saying that with the $17 billion in annual profits, the mega-retailer can and should do more to improve jobs and the economy. Mobilizing outside of the Columbia, Laurel, and Capital Plaza Walmart stores, civil rights and community supporters, faith leaders and progressive groups joined with over two dozen Walmart workers who were on an unfair labor practice strike to hand-deliver a letter to the stores’ management calling on Walmart to end illegal retaliation, provide a minimum $25,000/year salary and offer more full-time work.
“Working at the largest employer in the country should mean making a decent living. Those days are long gone,” said Tiffany Beroid, a Walmart worker from Laurel, MD. “Walmart continues to show that it’s afraid to have real conversations about creating better jobs, but would rather scare us into silence. But change at Walmart is too important to our economy and for our families for us to stop speaking out.”
The giant retailer was hit with a series of negative reports in the weeks leading up to Black Friday, the largest shopping day of the year. An Ohio store held a food drive for its own associates, the NLRB decided to prosecute Walmart for firing, disciplining and threatening striking workers, and on Monday, Walmart CEO Mike Duke announced his retirement
Check out the photos from the event on UFCW Local 400’s Facebook page! http://on.fb.me/1c8V2qX