WalMart employees launch a new campaign

UFCW-organised WalMart Workers for Change, a new campaign of thousands of Wal-Mart’s 1.3 million associates across the country who are standing up and demanding a voice in the workplace, have released a video that “highlights the sorts of anti-worker tactics they are facing” from the world’s largest retailer. “The associates are afraid,” said Cynthia Murray, a Wal-Mart associate in Laurel, Maryland. “They’re intimidated, and they are afraid. My family and other families have paid the price for freedom. And when you tell me I can’t talk about a union, you’re taking my freedom from me.” Workers in more than 100 stores in 15 states across the country have joined together and signed union representation cards, citing a lack of respect from the company, as well as poverty-level wages and sub-par benefits as reasons they need a union voice on the job. “Wal-Mart’s slogan is ‘Save Money, Live Better,’” said Vikki Gill, a former Wal-Mart manager in St. Louis, Missouri. “Wal-Mart is saving money and living better at the associates’ expense.” Wal-Mart Workers for Change is a new campaign made up of thousands of Wal-Mart workers joining together to form a union and negotiate better benefits, higher wages, and more opportunity for a better future. The campaign is a project of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) trade union.

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