Black Friday
- Details
- Published on Tuesday, 25 November 2014 01:22
- Written by editor
Courageous Walmart workers are planning to go on strike on the United States' biggest shopping day of the year -- Black Friday -- to protest Walmart’s abusive working conditions.
But many of them live below the poverty line. Let's make sure they don't have to face a wrenching choice between standing up for their rights or feeding their families.
Can you chip in CA$1 to buy a gift card for a striking Walmart worker to help make up their lost wages?
Donate CA$1 nowDear Paov,
Last week, something amazing happened at Walmart in the United States. Workers at a Los Angeles Walmart began the first sit-down strike in the company’s history. Sick of poverty wages, irregular hours, and retaliation for speaking up, these courageous workers inspired the world with their sit-in. But Walmart hasn't budged -- so now workers are threatening to organize even bigger strikes across the country, on the United States' biggest shopping day of the year: Black Friday.
The workers are taking an enormous risk by going on strike. They have no union, so they will have to go without pay. Some might be illegally fired. Workers who work Walmart’s definition of “full-time” often make just $15,500 a year and can barely make ends meet as it is, so missing just a few days of work could mean their kids go hungry.
These strikes go way beyond what's happening in the U.S. If this worker movement can continue to grow, it could be our biggest chance to end Walmart’s abusive working conditions, which would change the lives of millions of workers around the world.
Let’s help make this strike as big as possible, by raising thousands of dollars to purchase grocery gift cards for the workers who walk off the job. The cards will make up for lost pay -- which will help the families of these courageous workers make ends meet, and make sure they don't have to decide between striking and putting food on the table. The more gift cards we help buy, the more workers will be able to afford to go on strike, and the bigger and more powerful the strike will be.
Can you chip in CA$1 to make sure every Walmart worker who goes on strike can still afford to feed their families this month -- by donating to the Walmart strike fund for gift cards?
Yes, I’ll chip in CA$1 to stand with striking Walmart workers.
Black Friday happens every year the day after American Thanksgiving holiday. Retailers open as early as 4:00am and offer countless promotional deals to kick off the holiday shopping season with a bang. By striking on Black Friday, the workers stand to make the biggest disruption to sales Walmart has ever seen.
Over the last 50 years, Walmart has waged an all-out war on workers -- driving down wages, crushing attempts to organise, and sourcing from sweatshops all over the world.
Today, Walmart is the world’s largest private sector employer (only the Chinese and American militaries employ more people), with over two million employees around the world, including nearly 90,000 in Canada. The average Walmart Associate makes just $8.81 an hour -- which means that hundreds of thousands of them live below the poverty line. And together, the Walmart heirs have greater net worth than the bottom 100 million Americans combined.
When Walmart workers sat down in protest last week, they inspired millions of people like us in the SumOfUs community. We know the workers already have Walmart scared, and if workers walk off the job on Black Friday, it’ll be one of the biggest disruptions that Walmart’s business model has ever faced. And it could be the beginning of something game-changing.
Can you chip in CA$1 to stand with Walmart workers by donating to the Walmart strike fund for Walmart associates?
Yes, I’ll chip in CA$1 to help out striking Walmart workers this Thanksgiving.
Thanks for all you do,