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SkydiveJonathan

Walmart Warehouse Workers Strike

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As communities across the country raise their voices in calls for changes at Walmart, workers from nearly a dozen stores in the Los Angeles-area went on strike this morning in the first-ever Walmart Associate walk-out in protest of attempts to silence and retaliate against workers for speaking out for improvements on the job. Hundreds of community supporters, including Dr. Jose Moreno, Executive Director of Los Amigos, Maria Elena Durazo, Secretary-Treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, Rev. Eric Lee, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, are joining Walmart Associates in their ongoing calls on Walmart and Chairman Rob Walton to address take home pay so low that Associates are forced to rely on public programs to support their families and understaffing that is keeping workers from receiving sufficient hours and is also hurting customer service. The company has not only refused to address these concerns that are affecting 1.4 million Associates across the country, it has attempted to silence those who speak out and has retaliated against workers for raising concerns that would help the company, workers and the community.

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A forest is made of trees.


a forest with 2 less trees is....
still a forest.



And a forest fire starts with only one tree.



Usually not a tree actually. Usually some douchebag who is careless with his campsite or decides to start the fire on purpose.

Kind of like a manager not running his store right, or a union bussing in protesters from outside of the area.
--
Rob

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These widespread problems have also thwarted Walmart’s plans for growth, particularly in urban markets. Calling the company a “bad actor,” New York City mayoral candidates have all been outspoken in their opposition to Walmart entering the city without addressing labor and community relations’ problems. This month, the city’s largest developer announced an agreement with a union-grocery store at a site that Walmart had hoped would be its first location in New York. In Los Angeles, mayoral candidates are refusing to accept campaign donations from the deep pockets of Walmart, and in Boston, Walmart was forced to suspend its expansion into the city after facing significant community opposition.

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These widespread problems have also thwarted Walmart’s plans for growth, particularly in urban markets. Calling the company a “bad actor,” New York City mayoral candidates have all been outspoken in their opposition to Walmart entering the city without addressing labor and community relations’ problems. This month, the city’s largest developer announced an agreement with a union-grocery store at a site that Walmart had hoped would be its first location in New York. In Los Angeles, mayoral candidates are refusing to accept campaign donations from the deep pockets of Walmart, and in Boston, Walmart was forced to suspend its expansion into the city after facing significant community opposition.



the opposition doesn't stem from labor concerns, but rather about the impact on other businesses. So many urban areas have created laws that effectively zone them out from opening a normal footprint store.

People in the bigger cities aren't clamoring for one either, though oddly Target is perceived in much more positive terms, and people in SF look forward to their new opening next week.

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Thousands of workers at Foxconn in China have gone on strike over working conditions related to production of the iPhone 5.

Three to four thousand employees walked out of Foxconn's Zhengzhou factory on Friday, according to China Labor Watch. It said Foxconn and Apple had "raised overly strict demands on product quality" without providing adequate training.

The strike comes just weeks after Foxconn was forced to close a plant in Taiyuan, when a brawl involving as many as 2,000 workers left a number of people needing hospital treatment.

China Labor Watch, a labor rights group which monitors factory conditions in China, said Friday's strike came after Foxconn and Apple introduced new quality controls, while at the same time Foxconn forced employees to work during a public holiday.

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South Africa’s striking miners warned of more violence this weekend as platinum giant Amplats fired 12,000 workers just hours after troubles in the mining industry claimed another life.

Amplats, a subsidiary of FTSE 100 company Anglo American, said it had dismissed the staff for failing to appear before disciplinary hearings related to an unlawful strike.

The move came after a man died in clashes between police and workers on strike at the Amplats mine in Rustenburg. Miners said he was killed late on Thursday when police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse strikers.

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On Tuesday workers walked off the job in Dallas, Seattle, the San Francisco Bay area, Miami, the Washington, D.C. area, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Chicago, Orlando, and in parts of Kentucky, Missouri and Minnesota, said Dan Schlademan, director of the United Food and Commercial Workers' Making Change At Walmart campaign.

"I make $8.90 an hour and I've worked at Walmart for three years," said Colby Harris, 22, of Dallas. "Everyone at my store lives from check to check and borrows money from each other just to make it through the week."

"The six heirs to Walmart founder Sam Walton, meanwhile, are worth $89.5 billion, or as much as the bottom 41.5 percent of Americans combined," Huffington Post adds.

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Only a matter of time now before walmart is fully unionised.



I'll grant that you've listed far more than two stores, and have a bit of geographic diversity. But that's still a very very VERY long way from creating a union. And when you measure the unemployment in the regions where Walmart is a primary employer...that's a tall barrier.

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Only a matter of time now before walmart is fully unionised.



I'll grant that you've listed far more than two stores, and have a bit of geographic diversity. But that's still a very very VERY long way from creating a union. And when you measure the unemployment in the regions where Walmart is a primary employer...that's a tall barrier.



The battle is going to be interesting - I wouldn't be surrpised if Occupy didn't take this up as a cause. The Waltons are now a big fat juicy target for the 99%.

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>I wouldn't be surrpised if Occupy didn't take this up as a cause.

I bet the Waltons are praying for that. "Please, let Occupy take this up! We'll come off looking like the sane ones."



No kidding. Occupy doesn't invoke much sympathy and in SF they are struggling just to maintain their homeless camp near the Federal Reserve (got kicked out 2 weeks ago for "sprinkler maintenence")

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The six Walmart heirs now have more wealth than the bottom 42 percent of Americans combined, up from 30 percent in 2007. Between 2007 and 2010, the collective wealth of the six richest Waltons rose from $73 billion to $90 billion, while the wealth of the average American declined from $126,000 to $77,000.



Maybe some need a better financial advisor. Since when is it the Waltons problem that many lost value? It wasn't walmarts fault that banks gave out loans to unqualified people to avoid being harrassed by the liberal left which started the financial meltdown. the government picking winners caused the meltdown and some smart people in the walmart corporation found a way to profit from it. sounds like smart business to me. but now that some people were sucsesful those that don't have want to steal from those that have by telling the government to take it from them in the form of taxes. I say get a second job, work harder, save and invest, or find a better job.

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