Hundreds of Wal-Mart workers in 12 U.S. cities have walked off their jobs in the longest strike in the mega retailer’s history.
Click here to sign a petition demanding fair wages and working conditions for those workers. Participants will be hand-delivering the petition to the retailer’s shareholders and executives at their annual meeting in Bentonville, AR, on June 7.
Wal-Mart earns more than $16 billion in profits each year and compensates its workers with as little as it can get away with. Wal-Mart associates are often stuck without steady schedules or benefits. Many can’t afford the basics and even qualify for food stamps. And workers who are brave enough to speak up in protest pay even more of a price with reduced shifts, bad schedules, no raises and pink slips.
Vanessa Ferreira of St. Cloud, FL, loved her job as a Wal-Mart cake decorator – she just wanted the company to treat its workers better. The 59-year-old had worked at Wal-Mart for nearly eight years when she was fired. Ferreira believes it was in retaliation for walking off the job in a historic strike last fall.
“Wal-Mart does not want you to say anything,” said Ferreira. “They don’t want you to ask questions. When you start asking questions, they start retaliating.”
For decades, Wal-Mart has been using its influence to push down wages and benefits for its workers and the communities in which they live. But it can do better. It can treat workers with respect, pay them a living wage and not silence them when they speak up for their rights.
Show your support by signing the Wal-Mart petition today. Click here.