Tag Archives: Walmart

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the War on Holidays …


By 

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.

war_on_thanksgiving_graphic-01
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Her worst fear


National Women's Law Center
 by Emily J. Martin, National Women’s Law Center
When Svetlana Arizanovska found out she was pregnant, she  was very excited. A mother of three daughters, Svetlana worked two jobs to  support her family. By day, she worked for a medical supply company. At night,  she worked at Wal-Mart.
At Wal-Mart, Svetlana often lifted heavy merchandise to  stock the store’s shelves. Due to her pregnancy, her doctor told her not to  lift more than 20 pounds — but Wal-Mart refused to comply. In fact, Wal-Mart has  a policy saying pregnant employees are not eligible for reassignments to  another position, even though reassignments are available when employees need  them because of a disability. One day,  while she was lifting heavy merchandise for Wal-Mart, Svetlana started  bleeding. She told her boss, but he ignored her.
The next morning,  Svetlana went to the emergency room and realized her worst fears were true —  she had miscarried.
No one should have to choose between her pregnancy, her  health, and her job. But that’s exactly what happens to many women like Svetlana.
Please  help us fight for women facing challenges in the workplace and beyond. We need  to raise $10,000 by midnight on Thursday. Click here to chip in $10 or more to  help us reach our goal.

Employers typically accommodate workers with limitations  due to a temporary disability and often accommodate workers with injuries — but  when pregnant women need a temporary change in their job, many bosses refuse to  make even the smallest adjustments. They may not know they’re breaking the law  when they deny women like Svetlana the ability to work without compromising  their health or the health of their pregnancies.
Too many pregnant women have been faced with a choice no  one should have to make: Keep working and risk the health of their pregnancy —  or lose their job. It’s time for employers to stop breaking the law by using  pregnancy as an excuse to push women out of work.
It’s up to us to take  a stand against policies that punish women.
Your donation will  help us fight back. We depend on your support for our work on behalf of  women and families.
Thank you, as always, for everything you do.
Sincerely,
Emily J. Martin Vice President and General Counsel National Women’s Law Center
P.S. We depend on your support to help us fight for women  and their families. Please help us  reach our $10,000 goal before midnight on Thursday.
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Building momentum for workers’ rights nationwide


Paid sick time is now a reality for a million more working New Yorkers.

Deal for Paid Sick Leave: Approved

Bring the fight for humane working conditions to Walmart and Darden Restaurants.

Over the past several months, thousands of ColorOfChange members and our partners helped build such monumental support for New York’s Earned Sick Time Act that the City Council easily overrode Mayor Bloomberg‘s callous veto earlier this week.1 The paid sick time benefit will improve the lives of over a million low-wage, largely Black and brown workers2 — it’s an important victory that we should all celebrate and feel proud of.

But there’s much more work to be done to ensure we’re all treated humanely in the workplace, and to effectively combat the growing attacks on workers’ rights we’re seeing across the nation. We’re working to shine a spotlight on the most egregious offenders — like Walmart and Darden Restaurants, which owns the Olive Garden and Red Lobster brands — whose long record of labor abuses has had devastating effects for Black workers in particular.

Can you chip in $10 or more to keep up the momentum of New York’s critical workers’ rights victory and help put an end to the endemic culture of worker abuse across the country?

Despite powerful business interests’ attempts to obstruct a vote on New York’s Earned Sick Time Act, ColorOfChange members,3 advocacy groups, labor unions and everyday New Yorkers remained undeterred, overcoming fierce anti-worker objections from Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Now when New Yorkers get sick, they can stay home instead of spreading airborne illness to co-workers, customers and fellow riders of public transportation.4

But the sad reality is that millions of Black folks across the country will still report to work tomorrow under inhumane conditions — without the benefit of paid sick time, and to workplaces where wage discrimination, worker abuse and harsh retaliation for speaking up are the norm.5,6 And these workers need your help, because corporations like Darden and Walmart have shown a stubborn commitment to squeezing as much profit as they can out of their underpaid employees. Both companies made headlines for slashing workers’ hours to avoid obligations under President Obama’s health care reform law,7 and Walmart is notorious for paying such meager wages that full-time workers must rely on public assistance to survive.8

ColorOfChange members have joined Darden and Walmart workers to force these companies into taking decisive action to reform their exploitative practices with regard to wages, scheduling, benefits, hiring and promotion policy, and workplace safety. And we’ve supported the first nationwide worker strike in the Walmart’s 50-year history.9 We will continue to stand with Walmart, Darden and other workers seeking humane working conditions and sensible, dignified benefit packages. But in order to secure more critical victories for workers’ rights like the one we we’re celebrating in New York, we’ll need your support.

Can you donate today to help build on New York City’s workers’ rights achievement? Click here to donate $10 or or whatever you can afford to help ColorOfChange effect positive change at Walmart and Darden. And when you do, please ask your friends and family to do the same.

Thanks and Peace,

–Rashad, Matt, Arisha, Jamar, Kim and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team    July 3rd, 2013

References

1. “City council overrides Bloomberg; paid sick leave passes,” Amsterdam News, 06-27-13 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2738?t=8&akid=2967.1174326.amnBxC

2. “Paid Sick Leave for One Million New York workers,” Community Service Society, 08-30-12 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2731?t=10&akid=2967.1174326.amnBxC

3. “Black leaders increase pressure on Quinn to allow a paid sick leave vote,” Capital New York, 03-13-13 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2739?t=12&akid=2967.1174326.amnBxC

4. “NYC Needs Paid Sick Days, Not Lame Excuses,” City Limits, 04-03-12 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/1658?t=14&akid=2967.1174326.amnBxC

5. “Workers grill Darden’s CEO at shareholders meeting,” Orlando Sentinel, 09-18-12 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2720?t=16&akid=2967.1174326.amnBxC

6. “Wal-Mart punishes its workers,” Salon, 07-26-12 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/1915?t=18&akid=2967.1174326.amnBxC

7. “Darden CEO Fights California Bill That Would Fine Medicaid-Dependent Companies,” Huffington Post, 06-19-13 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2721?t=20&akid=2967.1174326.amnBxC

8. “Walmart Workers Need a Raise and a Voice, Truthout, 06-06-13 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2740?t=22&akid=2967.1174326.amnBxC

9. “Walmart employees kick off longest strike yet,” MSNBC, 05-28-13 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2722?t=24&akid=2967.1174326.amnBxC

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Walmart: Bah, humbug


We stand on the side of Walmart workers.Humbug

Please share this image to show your support.

 

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