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Tag Archives: Black Friday
Rashad Robinson, ColorOfChange.org
WALMART
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Write a 
Every week, it’s more bad news for Walmart. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), charged with protecting workers’ rights to organize and demand better working conditions, just announced it will prosecute Walmart for illegal firings and threats to workers in 13 states.1 News of Walmart’s canned food drive for its own employees — who aren’t paid enough to afford Thanksgiving dinner — has gone viral.2
Walmart workers are leading a movement to end the systemic labor exploitation Walmart has made the norm.3 They’re standing up and saying no to part-time, temporary, poorly paid work that keeps our families struggling to put food on the table and holds our economy back. This week, as they engage in historic, nationwide strikes for the second Black Friday in a row, Walmart associates are putting their lives and livelihoods on the line for all of us — and they need our support.
Despite raking in record-breaking billions in annual profits, Walmart recently got caught admitting that most of its employees make under $25,000 a year.4 And the company knows that it can afford to give workers a full 50% raise without harming its profitability — bringing take-home earnings up to $33,000 for cash-strapped associates who are now forced to depend on government, food banks and even each other to make ends meet.5
All workers are harmed by Walmart’s artificially low pay, wage theft, and aggressive reliance on intimidation tactics — up to and including illegal firings — to keep employees from speaking up for their most basic rights on the job. But as the single largest employer of Black workers in the country,6 Walmart has become a critical battleground in the fight to reverse the devastating shrinking of Black economic opportunity we’ve seen over the past few decades.7
Walmart won’t suddenly do what’s right on its own — it’s up to us to make the company pay a fair wage for a day’s work and treat its employees with basic respect. By sending a letter to the editor of your local paper — especially in communities with a Walmart store — you are providing exactly the kind of support a worker needs when making the difficult choice to leave work and stand up for all of us. It’s easy with our simple tool: click below to get talking points and writing tips, then submit your letter directly to your local paper online.
Thanks and Peace,
–Rashad, Matt, Arisha, Aimée, Johnny, Kim and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team November 23rd, 2013
Help support our work. ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU — your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or large corporations that don’t share our values, and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way.
References
1. “National Labor Relations Board to Prosecute Walmart For Violating Workers’ Rights,” ThinkProgress, 11-18-13 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3087?t=9&akid=3188.1174326.mtLIG3
2. “Walmart Store Holding Thanksgiving Food Drive For Its Own Workers,” Huffington Post, 11-18-13 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3091?t=11&akid=3188.1174326.mtLIG3
3. “Josh Eidelson: Walmart Is a Pioneer in Unionbusting,” The Nation, 11-21-12 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3095?t=13&akid=3188.1174326.mtLIG3
4. “Why Wal-Mart can afford to give its workers a 50% raise,” CNN Money, 11-12-13 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3089?t=15&akid=3188.1174326.mtLIG3
5. “A Higher Wage Is Possible,” Demos, 11-19-13 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3090?t=17&akid=3188.1174326.mtLIG3
6. “Will Black Friday Be Blue for Wal-Mart?” The Root, 10-13-12 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3094?t=19&akid=3188.1174326.mtLIG3
7. “Black workers embody the new low-wage economy,” Al Jazeera America, 09-12-13 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3096?t=21&akid=3188.1174326.mtLIG3
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the War on Holidays …
Which Companies Are Ruining Thanksgiving For Their Workers?
It’s that time of the year: conservatives are once again decrying the non-existent War on Christmas.
Meanwhile, retailers across the country are engaged in a very real War on Thanksgiving by forcing their low-wage workers to come in and work on Thanksgiving Day so the rest of us can start shopping a few hours earlier.
Here’s the ThinkProgress guide to the War on Thanksgiving.
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Walmart: Bah, humbug
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Just like the workers toiling thanklessly for Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol, Walmart employees are rewarded for their efforts with insults and disrespect. Walmart’s notoriously poor wages and working conditions — designed to squeeze every last dollar of productivity out of its “associates” — mean workers struggle to survive on poverty wages while executives and the Walton family rake in record profits.1
On Black Friday, workers across the country told Walmart loud and clear: enough is enough. Historic protests held at over 1,000 Walmart stores demonstrated the powerful need for real change at the company.2
You and nearly 55,000 ColorOfChange members are helping us take the fight for good jobs to the next level, by demanding that Walmart’s Board meet with workers and take immediate steps to improve working conditions. Now, with the holiday shopping season in full swing — and Walmart scrambling to avoid any more negative publicity3 — it’s time to further expose America’s biggest Scrooge.
Please share this image with your friends and family: show Walmart that we demand respect for all workers.
The odds are stacked against low wage workers — many of whom are Black women. Service sector jobs continue to dominate the post-recession labor market, and they’re not going anywhere.4 This is why it’s essential we make companies like Walmart a better place to work and shop.
At the end of A Christmas Carol, Scrooge learns the importance of treating people well, and if Walmart ever hopes to be embraced as a good company, it needs to learn the same lesson. Walmart can start by ensuring that its employees work reasonable hours, have adequate health care and can support their families.
Please share this Humbug image to show Walmart workers that you support them and their demands for respect in the workplace. And when you do, please ask your friends and family to do the same.
Thanks and peace,
— Rashad, Matt, Arisha, Aimée, Kim, Johnny and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team December 21st, 2012
P.S. Click here to download either the full-size version or the Facebook cover photo size of the image.
Help support our work. ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU—your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or large corporations that don’t share our values, and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way.
References
1. “Corporate Profits Just Hit An All-Time High, Wages Just Hit An All-Time Low,” Business Insider, 06-22-12 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2021?t=7&akid=2762.1174326.evKS2S
2. “Walmart impoverishing and endangering workers,” The Hill, 12-07-12 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2022?t=9&akid=2762.1174326.evKS2S
3. “Hold Walmart accountable to Black workers,” ColorOfChange.org, 11-15-12 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2023?t=11&akid=2762.1174326.evKS2S
4. “A Fast Food Nation Fights for Living Wages — Against Long Odds,” Colorlines, 12-07-12 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2024?t=13&akid=2762.1174326.evKS2S
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Cage-Free Egg McMuffins …Stephanie Feldstein, Change.org
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A shocking undercover video released on Friday reveals gruesome and scary conditions in the production of McDonald’s Egg McMuffins. Tell McDonald’s to stop torturing chickens and switch to cage-free eggs
The video is hard to watch. Chicks’ beaks are seared off. Male chicks are tossed in plastic bags to suffocate. Hens live out their entire lives in wire battery cages, packed wing to wing. And dead chickens are left to rot in the cages that serve as living quarters for remaining chickens. Outside of these standard operations, staff members are shown swinging a bird around by its feet and crushing a chick alive. Mercy For Animals is the group that carried out the undercover investigation. Now, it has started a petition on Change.org to get McDonald’s to abandon these kinds of cruel and inhumane practices altogether by going cage-free. Will you sign Mercy For Animals’ petition to get McDonald’s to commit to purchasing 100% cage-free eggs in the US? Right after the video aired on Friday, McDonald’s cut ties with Sparboe Farms, whose facilities and staff in Iowa, Minnesota and Colorado are documented in the investigation. But cutting ties with Sparboe Farms won’t end the torture of chickens for Egg McMuffins. The kind of abhorrent conditions at Sparboe are actually standard among battery cage egg suppliers. The only way McDonald’s can guarantee its eggs aren’t produced in the same conditions is to go 100% cage-free. And McDonald’s has already done this for their locations in Europe, where McDonald’s eggs are already guaranteed to be 100% cage-free. With the mega fast-food chain dropping Sparboe Farms, it’s clear that the public outcry generated by Mercy For Animals’ investigation is having a big impact. Now is the time to push McDonald’s to take real, meaningful action to distance itself from all battery cage eggs and not just move to another battery cage egg supplier. Tell McDonald’s to publicly commit to sourcing 100% cage-free eggs now: http://www.change.org/petitions/urge-mcdonalds-to-stop-torturing-hens-for-egg-mcmuffins Thanks for being a change-maker, – Stephanie and the Change.org team P.S. People are taking action on important issues using Change.org everyday. Please check out these urgent petitions that need your support:
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