Archived Holy cow! Wal-mart workers going on strike!

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They've apparently had 6 CEOs over the last 10 years. Clearly, they had bigger problems than the union.
 
Hostess also filed chapt 11 twice (2009 & earlier this yr) trying to reorganize their debt. They were demanding cuts & benefits concessions from the union employees even as they were giving exec pay bumps.
Hostess' problems didn't stem from the unions but executive greed they ATTEMPTED to blame on the unions.
Guess they ain't the "hostess with the mostest" any more.
 
the unions made huge concessions last time around to prevent hostess from bankruptcy...so what does the ceo and the top brass at hostess do? GIVE THEMSELVES RAISES. Guest Attendant, please read up on the Hostess situation before you start just popping off quotes from the anti-union Target video. I understand that unions can definitely be a bad thing sometimes, but if you truly believe they are the main culprit behind the liquidation of Hostess, you've been watching Fox News too much.
 
The local news here mentioned that customers thinking of shopping at Walmart on Black Friday might have some problems.....striking employees!
 
lac704 said:
Lately the Christmas "bonus" from Walmart to all of its employees is a 10% discount on groceries. Usually Walmart employees are not entitled to an employee discount on groceries. The discount is good on all other non-clearance merchandise in the store though, including auto service.
I still save more at Target with my debit Red Card.
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When my fiancee worked at Walmart as a ZMS, his biggest complaint wasn't about the customers or his employees, it was the fact that he couldn't use his discount on groceries. His last bonus before he left Walmart was a 10% discount on groceries for a full day. Also, for working on Black Friday and Thanksgiving, he got an extra 10 percent on one purchase on a set day, since they didn't pay them holiday pay.
After living with someone who worked for Walmart from when they were 16 to 20, it really puts your life into perspective. I definitely do not blame Walmart workers for striking and petitioning and I honestly feel like they have more of a reason to do so than us at Target ( though I don't blame the people who are petitioning working on Thanksgiving at Target).
 
One of the national news programs mentioned that Walmart workers are planning to S on BF. It's nice to see that there is national interest regarding this possible S. I sure do hope that there are stores that will go on S.
 
All of the online petitions and whining on company Facebook pages won't do anything. Employees walking out will get noticed. They can't be fired because of federal laws protecting their rights.
What will also get noticed is low sales.
 
lac704 said:
All of the online petitions and whining on company Facebook pages won't do anything. Employees walking out will get noticed. They can't be fired because of federal laws protecting their rights.
What will also get noticed is low sales.
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Errr.... That is only kind of true. If the people going on S are not actual union members (the wal-mart employees are not union members, they are just backed by one) they can much more easily be fired with no chance of being rehired.

Actually, under federal law, anyone who goes on S - union member or not - can be terminated. However, union members almost always get their jobs back after the S when a union contract is created. The only exception to this is a wildcat S, which means people went on S without union approval. (i.e. their coworkers did not vote to go on S, and a few people decided on their own to do it)

Federal law only prohibits employers from firing people for talking about a union, trying to form a union, or joining a union.
 
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Actually, it's only legal to fire people when it is a public sector job/union striking for illegal reasons.
 
Retail Girl said:
Actually, it's only legal to fire people when it is a public sector job/union striking for illegal reasons.
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The problem is that the wal-mart employees have no declared themselves a union. Because of that, as far as the law is concerned, they are simply individual employees walking off the job. (job abandonment) Which means wal-mart can fire them even though they are going on S.

This, IMO, is why the wal-mart workers will fail. They want to S like union workers, but don't want to call themselves a union.... which means they have none of the legal protection that being a union gives them.... and wal-mart is going to completely screw them over.
 
StateofTarget said:
The problem is that the wal-mart employees have no declared themselves a union. Because of that, as far as the law is concerned, they are simply individual employees walking off the job. (job abandonment) Which means wal-mart can fire them even though they are going on S.

This, IMO, is why the wal-mart workers will fail. They want to S like union workers, but don't want to call themselves a union.... which means they have none of the legal protection that being a union gives them.... and wal-mart is going to completely screw them over.
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Probably but at least they are attempting to get their point across, even if they do get screwed over... At least someone has the balls to do it.
 
Here's the problem... they announced it in advance. Now I guarantee those stores have a plan in place to cover the workers in case they do walk out and Walmart has a reason to let them go if they so choose. This will unfortunately not be very effective, I think.
 
Maybe not be effective immediately but it will at least get it in the public's eyes and ears that something isn't going right and maybe start something bigger in the future. Its already gathering national news coverage so that's a pretty good start.
 
EvanM2007 said:
Probably but at least they are attempting to get their point across, even if they do get screwed over... At least someone has the balls to do it.
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Don't get me wrong.... I totally support them. I am just saying, they really hurt themselves by not just going all out and calling themselves a union. Now wal-mart can pick them off one by one, and they really can't do anything about it. I don't think wal-mart will terminate them until 4th quarter ends.... too risky of a move with all the shopping going on. However, I think all of them are toast after 4th quarter. Probably won't be a massive firing.... just a few at a time over the coming months.

Also, I really think if they are going to be successful this will have to spread. It can't be a wal-mart only thing. Everyone working retail at every other retailer is dealing with the same issues. It is going to require people at other retailers standing up, otherwise these corporations will just keep rolling them over.
 
StateofTarget said:
The problem is that the wal-mart employees have no declared themselves a union. Because of that, as far as the law is concerned, they are simply individual employees walking off the job. (job abandonment) Which means wal-mart can fire them even though they are going on S.

This, IMO, is why the wal-mart workers will fail. They want to S like union workers, but don't want to call themselves a union.... which means they have none of the legal protection that being a union gives them.... and wal-mart is going to completely screw them over.
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I realize all of that. I was just responding to your assertion that a company can fire union members simply for striking.
 
StateofTarget said:
Don't get me wrong.... I totally support them. I am just saying, they really hurt themselves by not just going all out and calling themselves a union. Now wal-mart can pick them off one by one, and they really can't do anything about it. I don't think wal-mart will terminate them until 4th quarter ends.... too risky of a move with all the shopping going on. However, I think all of them are toast after 4th quarter. Probably won't be a massive firing.... just a few at a time over the coming months.

Also, I really think if they are going to be successful this will have to spread. It can't be a wal-mart only thing. Everyone working retail at every other retailer is dealing with the same issues. It is going to require people at other retailers standing up, otherwise these corporations will just keep rolling them over.
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They can't call themselves a union because they haven't fully organized so they WILL FAIL. Walmart will not wait until 4th quarter ends to terminate these "associates". Walmart will take quick, decisive action to handle any workers who may be prone to organize. Use your noodle on this one...do you really think they will let people who want to unionize hang around if those employees have handed them an excuse to term them?
 
TheManInRed said:
They can't call themselves a union because they haven't fully organized so they WILL FAIL. Walmart will not wait until 4th quarter ends to terminate these "associates". Walmart will take quick, decisive action to handle any workers who may be prone to organize. Use your noodle on this one...do you really think they will let people who want to unionize hang around if those employees have handed them an excuse to term them?
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They know that, which is why they are waiting till now to do the most damage.
 
Great article in the Huffington Post about this with Huffpost Live.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/20/walmart-black-friday-S-huffpost-live_n_2168257.html

This is the part that struck me the most;

Despite retaliation that workers say they have faced since striking in October, Walmart workers say they will move forward with the Black Friday S. Colby Harris, a Walmart associate in Lancaster, Texas, said speaking up is worth the risk for him.

"In order to gain, you have to lose sometimes," Harris said. "We've been dealing with these issues for so long, we could care less about losing our jobs. We just want some things to change."
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commiecorvus said:
They know that, which is why they are waiting till now to do the most damage.
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i've heard a couple of folks say they're waiting in line at target instead of risking walmart with employee chaos. our local store isn't striking, or at least, they're not saying it outright. should be a fun day.
 
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