Fighting the hunger games at Walmart

[TBF]

Elizabeth Schulte reports on preparations for Black Friday protests at Walmart.
November 26, 2014

FOR THE third Black Friday in a row, Walmart workers are turning the busiest shipping day of the year into the busiest protest day of the year at the country's largest retailer. The demands of this year's protests are $15 an hour, full-time hours and an end to retaliation by management.

The fact that this day of action is taking place the day after Thanksgiving dramatizes the difficulty many Walmart employees face just feeding their families. With average wages of just $8.81 an hour, Walmart employees who work "full time"--which, according to Walmart, is 34 hours a week--make $15,500 per year, which is about $8,000 below the federal poverty line for a family of four.

"There are people who are homeless and living in their cars who work at Walmart and can't afford to pay rent," Venanzi Luna, a Walmart employee and OUR Walmart activist living in Southern California, said in an interview. "They can't afford a better life, because they live check by check."

One in 10 retail workers are employed at Walmart, so the chain sets the standard for the whole low-wage industry. And Walmart sets the standard very, very, very low ....

Much more here: http://socialistworker.org/2014/11/26/fighting-the-hunger-games-at-walmart

[raging moderate]

1. I liked the idea to buy things at other stores to donate to Walmart Associates.

Maybe this could be combined with Small Business Saturday. We could all buy some things at the smallest local businesses and bring them to the nearest Walmart and leave them outside the store somehow. I am terrible at logistics, but I offer the idea for possible brainstorming.

[TBF]

2. The strikes are very important

but doing things individually is always good too. I agree about shopping at small local businesses. And if you don't have that in your area there are many craftspeople selling their artistic efforts on Etsy and sources like that