FL Walmart Workers Join Fight for Better Wages, Working Conditions
Posted November 24, 2014 06:59 am
TAMPA,
FL– Shoppers will be out this week in search of deep
discounts at Florida's big-box stores, but some workers
at the world's largest private employer want to remind
shoppers that, in their view, Walmart's low prices come
at a cost.
Starting today, employees of some central Florida Walmarts plan to walk off their jobs in protest of what they say are low wages and unfair working conditions. Nancy Reynolds has worked at the Merritt Island Walmart for seven years and says she wants shoppers to consider what goes on behind the scenes when they shop.
"The customers should realize we are being done this way because they keep shopping there," says Reynolds. "And they aren't putting pressure on Walmart as well."
Reynolds is diabetic and says she's routinely scheduled
for long shifts without meal breaks. The United Food and
Commercial Workers Union is coordinating the actions
across Florida this week. In published reports, Walmart
has said the protesters represent a small percentage of
its' workforce of 1.3 million in the U.S.
Angela Williamson is the lead organizer for United Food
and Commercial Workers in central Florida, and a former
Walmart employee. She says she was also treated poorly
and lost her job after an illness. She thinks changes at
Walmart could be the "tipping point" to better working
conditions and wages for people across the country.
"If we could change Walmart and uphold them to better
standards and working conditions, then it would change
retail and grocery basically, and service industry
across the country," she says.
Williamson says more employees are volunteering to
strike this weekend than ever before, saying they're
tired of low wages and employer retaliation when they
complain.
"That's probably one of the biggest things workers say,
is that they're not respected at work," says Williamson.
"Whether it's with their pay, with having benefits taken
away, how they're treated as a person inside the store.
They're just not respected."
According to a report by
Americans for Tax Fairness, the U.S. supports
Walmart's low-wage workers with more than $6 billion
annually in public assistance in the form of SNAP
benefits, Medicaid and subsidized housing.
Photos/graphics added by the Observer
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