Wal –mart which gives employment to over a million people of the United States is facing problems lately due to the protest of many of its workers in different cities. The major reason they are facing problems is due to the salary hike which its employees are asking for.
Workers of the renowned wal –mart organization which has been catering to customers every shopping need have gone on a strike in fifteen cities of the United States. Their protest was based on two conditions, one was giving them better working conditions and the other was increase in wages per hour.
Increase in Wages of Employees
The police officers of New York had arrested three protestors because they were attempting to deliver a petition to the board members of the company, Christopher Williams which clearly stated a $13 wage per hour. The group also organized the national day of protest. Also a week after that U.S. fast food worker also started same type of protest and demanded an increase in their wages also.
Protest going on by Workers
Presently the workers at wal –mart are working every hour at $8.81. But most of them are as part time workers there. This is because this way they are unable to pay the extra benefits. The federal workers, last week demanded an increase in their wages from $7.25 to $15 per hour. The campaign which was held last week called for higher wage increase which would help the workers of the United States to take home around $25000 per year.
Firing the Workers by Wal –Mart
The workers at wal –mart also protested initially in the month of June, wherein 100 employees protested in Bentoville during a shareholder meeting. It was also stated that during and after this protest they had fired about 20 people. Whereas on the contrary the Union group said they had filed over 100 unfair labour practices with the National labor relations board in relation to the other employees getting fired.
Whereas for the same, Wal –mart stated that they did not illegally fire these employees, they did so based on their number of missing days.
Carlton Smith, a worker at the organization said that they are protesting so that they get better wages for the work done, sufficient health care for ourselves. Another wal –mart worker, Raymond Bravo said that he was fired after he took part in the protest in the month of June. Similarly, another employee named Bravo earned $10.25 an hour led to the reduction of his hours per week.
Targeted Areas of Protest
The protest was also planned for the cities of Washington D.C, Boston, Sacramento, Miami and Dallas as well, but took place only in New York and San Francisco only.
Wal –Mart stated that its employees are not being paid less wages. They said that the full time associates are getting wages of about $12.4 per hour. So they stated these objections which are being raised on them are totally useless.
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