Walmart Black Friday are two words that usually get many shoppers excited this time of year as they try to get the best deal on a wide-screen T.V. or the latest tech gadget. This year, however, several Walmart workers are planning to protest the big box store for their low wages and poor health benefits.
Walmart employees are holding walkouts across the country as they protest against low wages, spiking health care premiums, and alleged retaliation from management.
"I'll do whatever it takes to speak out about our concerns -- I'm willing to put my job on the line," says Monique Velasquez, a single mother of five who works in Wal-Mart's photo department in Pico Rivera, Californi, according to CNN.
The union-backed group OUR Walmart, which has helped organize the post-Thanksgiving walk-out, expects thousands of workers around the country to participate. Walmart is the country's biggest employer.
Walmart gives raises of 20 to 40 cents an hour through incremental promotion to low-level workers who typically start near minimum wage, according to Walmart pay policy. For flawless performance, the company gives a 60 cent raise per year, regardless of how much time an employee has worked for the company.
As a result, a "solid performer" who starts at Walmart as a cart pusher making $8 an hour and receives one promotion, about the average rate, can expect to make $10.60 after working at the company for 6 years.
Walmart and other large retail stores like Target and Sears are planning to open retail stores at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving night just ahead of Black Friday. Employees said they weren't given a choice as to whether they would work on Thanksgiving and were told to do so with little warning. The workers said that when they complain about scheduling and other problems, management cuts their hours or fires people.
Darlene Fletcher, who works with her husband William at a Walmart in Duarte, Calif., became enraged when she learned that both were scheduled to work on Thanksgiving, missing the holiday with their children, ages 2 and 5, according to Fox News.
"It's heartbreaking to miss the holiday with them, and it's just one more way that Walmart is showing its disregard for our families," Fletcher said in a statement. "But when our co-workers speak out about problems like these, Walmart turns their schedules upside down, cuts their hours and even fires people. We're going on strike for an end to Walmart's attempts to silence its workers.
