Walmart Strike Comes to DC Today
Friday, June 6, 2014
(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)A
nationwide strike against Walmart comes to DC today when AFL-CIO Executive Vice
President Tefere Gebre, union members, community groups and other allies march
on Walmart in downtown DC, where they'll meet up with Walmart moms who are
walking off the job. The march starts at 1P at Union station (see Calendar
for details). Walmart
workers have been striking across the country this week to protest Walmart’s
illegal retaliation against workers who have spoken up about inequality and
gone on strike. Walmart workers have been calling on Walmart to raise
wages to $25,000 a year. This week Walmart’s new CEO will be convening
his first annual shareholders’ meeting. “Let’s make sure that
Walmart
executives hear us all the way in Bentonville, Arkansas,” say strike
organizers. “Our families are going without because we’re not getting
the
hours we need,” said Zacola Simpson, a Walmart worker and single mother.
“And
when brave moms like Barbara Collins struck to end illegal retaliation and
spoke out about the problems at our stores, Walmart fired her. It’s
wrong, it’s illegal, and we cannot allow this to continue.”