‘OUR Walmart’ launched

By Will Parry

PSARA Vice President Bette Reed and I witnessed labor history in the making on the evening of Tuesday, June 7.

The setting: A modest hall at Highline Community College. PSARA was one of an impressive array of faith and social action organizations gathered to support the launch of OUR Walmart – shorthand for Organization United for Respect at Walmart.

The stars of the evening were a group of courageous women and men who actually work – or have worked – at Walmart. One after another, each “associate” -- the company term for its workers –- spoke of life under the soulless merchandising behemoth: Poverty-level wages. Too few hours for a decent paycheck. Arbitrary discipline. Above all, lack of respect.

A heroic special guest, Kalpona Akter, gave a first-hand account of the plight of workers in the Asian sweatshops that make the products Walmart sells. A leader in the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity, Akter is the victim of employer-fabricated charges. Currently out on bail, she faces life in prison or possibly the death penalty if convicted.

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 21 brought the Walmart workers and the community leaders together as part of a nationwide campaign to persuade Walmart to become a decent corporate citizen that respects its workers and its suppliers. The Highline Community College meeting is being replicated in other cities as the campaign picks up momentum.

“At the UFCW, we know what makes our union strong: members standing together for respect and dignity in the workplace,” said Elena Perez, Local 21 community organizer. “In the grocery industry, union contracts guarantee protections and a voice on the job. But at the company with the most grocery sales in America, our fellow workers are not receiving the respect they deserve.

“We are making change at Walmart,” Perez said. “We are making change by working directly with Walmart Associates to claim the respect on the job they deserve. We are making change by holding Walmart corporate managers accountable to hourly employees and the public for their practices.”