Some Walmart Workers Plan Black Friday Walkout, Store Calls it Publicity Stunt

This could cause a crimp in the checkout lines. A group of Walmart workers are planning to stage a walkout next week on Black Friday.

The walkout builds on an October strike that started at a location in Los Angeles and spread to stores in 12 other cities. More than 100 workers joined in the October actions.
 
During that walk out, the union-backed groups OUR Walmart and Making Change at Walmart, and a watchdog group Corporate Action Network demonstrated outside the retailer's Bentonville office.

The group has been calling on Walmart to end what they call "retaliation against employees who speak out for better pay, fair schedules and affordable health care."

Walmart sent KNWA a statement today, calling the planned event a publicity stunt:

"This is just another exaggerated publicity campaign aimed at generating headlines to mislead our customers and associates.

"We have a great group of associates at Walmart. We'll have more than one million associates working throughout the holiday weekend and they're excited about our Black Friday plans this year. This is the Super Bowl for retailers and we're ready.

"We've been working on our Black Friday plans for almost a year now and we're prepared to have a great event. Our associates care about providing a great customer experience on Black Friday and we're confident that's what customers will have at Walmart this year.

"The fact is, many of these ongoing tactics being orchestrated by the UFCW are unlawful and we will act to protect our associates and customers from the ongoing illegal conduct."

On Black Friday, the organizations expect employees at about 1,000 stores to strike. But Walmart doesn't seem to be worried. A Walmart spokeswoman said the number of workers who are raising concerns is very small and don't represent the views of the vast majority of its workforce of 1.3 million.

Labor experts say that even a small number of workers could make an impact.

A similar thing happened when workers at a Quebec store attempted to unionize in 2005, Bianco said. Walmart closed that store a few months after that. The company said at the time that its decision was prompted by the union wanting to change how the store operated.