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Wal-Mart attacks union on planned Black Friday strike

November 19, 2012

As a looming labor strike on Black Friday threatens sales, Wal-Mart has filed a complaint against the union it claims is organizing the disruption.

Wal-Mart accused the United Food and Commercial Workers of trying to force the retail giant into collective bargaining by using its subsidiary OUR-Wal-Mart to stage protests outside stores. The complaint filed with the National Labor Relations Board states that protests outside Wal-Mart stores have occurred frequently over the last few months.

Our Wal-Mart says it expects to hold 1,000 events at Wal-Mart stores this week. While the group has not disclosed the locations, Wal-Mart has stores in both Paso Robles and Arroyo Grande. A third San Luis Obispo County Wal-Mart is expected to open soon in Atascadero.

Wal-Mart officials said employees must show up for work as schedule this week or face disciplinary actions.

Workers have traditionally faced difficult conditions in Wal-Mart stores on Black Friday. In 2008, a Black Friday stampede trampled a Wal-Mart employee to death at a New York location.

Arroyo Grande Wal-Mart plans to open for Black Friday at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving night. The Paso Robles location will stay open from 7 a.m. on Thanksgiving day until 11 p.m. Friday.


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Seems as though some folks have forgotten their history! Thanks to the union organizing of the 1950’s, ’60’s and early ’70’s we actually had a middle class , taxes adjusted for inflation were lower and the standard of living was the envy of the planet The currency was stable , federal debt was unheard of and the people at the bank not only knew who you were but didn’t get involved in Monte Carlo style investment instruments like hedge funds and the hell with the loan businness. Higher education was reasonable and damn near free at the local JC.Like “Archie and Edith” used to sing “Those were the days”


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Even if the union are run by thugs I applaud their efforts when it comes to stores like Walmart. The government is now and has been for the last 100 years controlled by big business.


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It’s better than being controlled by China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, etc. So, are we to assume you feel the same way about Albertson’s, Target, Kmart, McDonad’s, etc. although you seem to have found it difficult to actually name these businesses. Is your point with non-union jobs, regardless of these businesses being run as ethical law abiding businesses just not union jobs (some more so, as the employees are not forced to pay bribes). Is that your point? No business should be forced to be unionized in today’s enviroment as there are so many laws, rules, regulations, etc. on the books to take care of the employees. Unions are panicing as they only have about 12% of the workforce under their control today and they are fighting for survival.


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I’m sorry I forgot to add that I am not a union haters, I am for a free market. We cannot compete globally as long as we have these unions around our necks, pulling us down with their ridiculous contracts.. Hostess is a perfect example: Although Hostess has made some bad decisions in the past, has filed Chapter 11 and put the unions on notice as the biggest cost to the company. If anyone wants to take the time to see what a union can do to a business, just go read about this. Twinkies, Hostess, Ding Dongs, Wonder Bread and its products are one company. The unions have over 200 contracts with them. The details of these contracts is mindblogging. And one of the unions, the bakers union of 5,000 is going to affect 18,500 workers. Too much union control!


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YES! That’s why we can’t be like Germany and have globally recognized and competitive brands like Mercades, BMW, Siemens, BASF etc. It’s the union’s fault!!!


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I am sure that you would be much more comfortable living in a society where competition for jobs drives base wages down to a few dollars a day rather than $8-$10 per hour. Oh and don’t forget the negative effect that environmental regulations have on businesses competing in a truly free international market. We need to join the third world in a race to the bottom for everyone but business owners and their political puppets. To that end, I will foot the bill for a Rosetta Stone course in Mandarin Chinese for you if you agree to emigrate to China. (or in Hindi if you would prefer India.)


It is time for people to wake up and realize that unrestrained capitalism and unlimited “free trade” is as much an ideological fantasy as the socialist utopias. Since the 1980s, there has been a new type of “ivory-tower intellectual” that is just as toxic to civilized societies as the socialist/communist ones criticized by former VP Spiro Agnew circa 1970. The only difference is that their ivory towers are in Neo-Con foundation headquarters more than on university campuses.


We need reasonable compromises which take the better features of both systems while exposing the fallacious elements of their philosophies promoted by the ideologues.


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Falling prices are normally a sign of a prosperous economy, aren’t they? Remember the first of anything? Very expensive, hardly anybody can afford it.


What happens then? Mass production, falling prices, and a lot more people who can afford to buy.


Our economy is based on mass exchanges of goods and services. If you can serve only a few, the price tends to be high. If you serve the masses (i.e., the average person), the price comes down.


How did you come up with those figures for the price of wages?


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We wont have unions in the USA much longer, they will have to go to China or India for membership recruiting, as the corporations ship jobs overseas. Living in USA is gonna suck like you wont believe, and sooner than you think


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First, I am not a WalMart fan, I will not be shopping at any store next weekend. While I agree with you I truly do not understand this hate campaign against WalMart. How about Kmart, Target, McDonald’s, Rite Aid, Albertson’s (a union facility I might add). This hate for WalMart is puzzling other than the Union goons. If these people are so family oriented, so home and have dinner with your family instead of being paid by unions to picket outside Walmart Stores. No one is forcing anyone to work at WalMart. The employees are being paid double time. They new when they took the job they would only get one holiday off a year. People can quit and go get another job. I’m sure some hostess workers would love to have those jobs right about not. Leave Capitalism alone in this Country, we need every job that is legal and is within the working guidelines of the law. If they don’t want to be unionize, I strongly support that. We still live in a Country of the Free and the Brave.


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Really? With the fiscal cliff looming, tax hikes and the rising costs of everything, I don’t know how anyone thinks anyone is in the mood to go shopping.


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Hey Tammy…………….. Some people would go to a funeral home if the price was right on used , and slightly faded flowers. Black Friday…. a very good term.


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