Protestors and Former Employees Boycott Little Rock Walmart On Black Friday
By: Marci Manley, KARK 4 News
Updated: November 23, 2012
"It's someone honking and saying the like what we're out here for," Cayt Lawley tells her, standing in front of the Walmart location.
Lawley, a former Walmart associate, is teaching her three-year-old niece Lexi about boycotting a company on Black Friday.
"If Lexi ever had to go work for Walmart -- I know it's just going to be worse when she gets older," she said. "I don't want her to deal with what I'm going through."
Lawley was fired from the Searcy Walmart store two weeks ago.
"I had attended an OUR Walmart strike in California and another in Bentonville," she said. "After that, they were trying to catch anything I was doing -- trying to find a way to get me out."
According to Lawley she made a mistake at the register, but met with management who told her she would not be in trouble. Two weeks later, she said, she was terminated for the mistake.
"There was some serious retaliation going on," she said.
Lawley believes she wasn't terminated for the mistake, but for speaking out about working conditions and wages.
"They're stating they are paying employees much higher wages than they are. They say the hours are going to be there...then they won't offer them to you," she said.
Walmart denied her claim, saying in a statement, "Ms. Lawley was terminated due to an excessive cash drawer error. The Walmart Corporation does not condone or tolerate retaliation of any employee."
But Javier Ybarra, of the national OUR Walmart organization made up of Walmart employees, said retaliation runs rampant.
"We see repeatedly over and over again where Walmart associates stand up and speak out to improve working conditions then Walmart retaliates and attempts to silence them," he said.
According to Lawley, getting unions in to Walmart isn't part of the plan, though the public seems to think that's the overall goal.
"I don't want the union. Most employees in OUR Walmart don't want a union," she said. "We are just employees that want Walmart to do the right thing."
And Ybarra said there's no goal to shutdown the American retailer, either.
"We don't want Walmart to shutdown. That wouldn't be good for anyone," he said. "Communities and people rely on the jobs they bring. We just want to make sure they are good jobs, because it could be our children one day that have to end up working there."
Lawley has faced criticism from some folks for speaking out.
"People say 'If you don't like it then quit. If you don't like it go find a different job. It's not that easy," she said. "I have a family to support. While I wasn't getting a lot of hours, those hours I needed them to make ends meet. And it's not easy to find a job elsewhere."
But she feels she can't stay silent, because too much is at stake.
"If someone doesn't start making them stand up to a different level, things are never going to change -- they're just going to continue to get worse," she said.


