Walmart hit with protests on Black Friday

It's becoming a tradition for Black Friday shoppers to
find not just deals, but protests at some Walmart stores.
This year, some of the biggest demonstrations took place
outside Walmarts in Chicago and Washington D.C., as
well in cities in California, Washington, Texas and New
Jersey.
At a store in North Bergen, N.J., about 75 protesters
marched around the parking lot. They carried signs that
read: "People who work deserve a living wage" and
"Shame on Walmart." At times they chanted: "Walmart,
your kingdom must come down."
Most of them were not Walmart employees but are asking
the company to pay all workers at least $15 an hour.
Walmart says it pays full-time workers an average of
$12.94 an hour.
It is the third year in a row that union-backed groups
organized Black Friday protests at some Walmart
locations.
But while organizers said demonstrations were planned
for 1,600 stores, they could not say exactly how many
were taking place. On Friday afternoon, they still
expected it to be the biggest action on Black Friday to
date, according to Dan Schlademan, a campaign director.
Hundreds of workers were participating on Friday, he
said. That includes 30 workers who organizers said
walked off the job at stores in Maryland, Virginia and
D.C. and seven who were arrested for blocking traffic
outside a store in Chicago.
But Walmart spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan said as of
Friday afternoon, no employees at any location had come
into work and then walked off the job. The company had
received a handful of notices from workers who said they
were planning to strike today, she said, but an official tally
of employees who didn't show up for work was not yet
available.
Only one Walmart worker, Barbara Gertz, spoke at the
rally outside the New Jersey store, and she actually
works in Colorado. The union-backed groups often cover
travel costs for workers who come to protest.
Most of the protesters in New Jersey were not workers,
but members of unions including the United Food and
Commercial Workers Union and the American Postal
Workers Union. Some declined to speak with
CNNMoney because they said they were not authorized
to speak on behalf of the union groups. But Randi
Weingarten, president of the American Federation of
Teachers union, got on the megaphone to speak to the
crowd.
"We will not rest until Walmart workers have a right to
a union, a right to a living wage, and a right to decent
working conditions and hours," she said. (While some of
the unions present are not tied to retail and service
employees, they say low hourly wages are a community
issue, not just a Walmart issue.)
In the past, unions have been unsuccessful at organizing
Walmart workers.
The union groups don't represent Walmart and the
protesters do not reflect the view of Walmart associates,
Buchanan said.
There are more than 4,000 Walmart stores across the
country and the company employs about 1.3 million
workers in the U.S.