An undetermined number of Wal-Mart employees at several Los Angeles-area stores walked off the job Thursday, claiming the Bentonville-based retailer was attempting to retaliate against workers seeking better pay and more hours on the clock.
Dan Fogleman, a company spokesman, characterized the event as a publicity stunt aimed at furthering the political agenda of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which has failed in several attempts to organize Wal-Mart workers.
Allison Mannos, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, said employees have been seeking better work conditions and pay, and that the “strike” is part of a broader strategy to “hold Wal-Mart accountable.” The walkout started with about half-a-dozen employees, Mannos said, but she added that she expected as many as 75 by the end of the day.
Mannos said the move was part of a national organizing effort to improve working conditions, not to recruit new union members. Wal-Mart employees whosupport the effort have seen their hours cut, she said.
“There’s been a lot of retaliation around the country,” she said.
The effort is being promoted by a group known as OUR Wal-Mart (Organization United for Respect at Wal-Mart).
Dawn Le, a spokesman for Making Change at Wal-Mart, another union-funded group,said the walkout was spurred by what she said was the company’s retaliation against workers - including firings - for seeking better working conditions.
Outside a Pico Rivera, Calif., Wal-Mart store, people carried signs that said “Stand Up, Live Better, Stop Retaliation” and “Stop Trying to Silence Us.”
Fogleman said most of the people “on strike” outside Los Angeles Wal-Mart facilities were union activists, not Wal-Mart employees.
“Our associates have repeatedly rejected unionization,” he said. “They seem to recognize that Wal-Mart has some of the best jobs in the industry, with good pay, affordable benefits and a chance for advancement. In fact, our wages and benefits typically meet or exceed those of our competitors, and that includes unionized competitors.”
Wal-Mart’s stock closed Thursday at $74.72, up 52 cents, or 0.7 percent. The stock has traded between $52.33 and $75.24 in the past year.
Business, Pages 21 on 10/05/2012