AP: a7e8ee12-6a09-43db-a6f5-1244b3e0e1c0
Some employees at Walmart stores opening early on Thanksgiving night are walking out in protest or refusing to come in for their shift. (AP Photo)

More protests planned for Seattle Walmart stores

BY Stephanie Klein  on November 16, 2012 @ 12:52 pm (Updated: 1:12 pm - 11/16/12 )

Related:
Many stores are rolling out their doorbuster ads and shopoholics are giddy with excitement as Black Friday is just a week away.

But not everyone is thrilled. Some employees at stores opening early on Thanksgiving night are walking out in protest or refusing to come in for their shift.

About 30 Walmart employees walked out from six different stores in Seattle on Thursday, according to BusinessWeek. More walk-outs are planned for next week.

The workers involved are part of a employee-coalition called Making Change at Walmart. Walmart has stifled attempts by employees to organize.

More protests are planned at Walmart stores around the country in Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, Minnesota, and Washington, D.C.

According to BusinessWeek, the protests are not just about having to work on Thanksgiving, but about the company's scaled back contributions to employee health-care premiums.

Sears and Target also plan to open at 8:00 pm on Thursday, Nov. 22.

You might also like:

Dori Monson: Whining about working on Thanksgiving

Stephanie Klein, MyNorthwest.com Editor
Stephanie joined the MyNorthwest.com team in February 2008. She has built the site into a two-time National Edward R. Murrow Award winner (Best Radio Website 2010, 2012).
Related:
More Local News
Top Stories
MyNorthwest.com - Purpose of Comments statement
Bonneville Media encourages site users to express their opinions by posting comments. Our goal is to maintain a civil dialogue in which readers feel comfortable. At times, the comments can descend to personal attacks. Please do not engage in such behavior. We encourage your thoughtful comments which: have a positive and constructive tone, are on topic, are respectful toward others and their opinions. Bonneville reserves the right to remove comments which do not conform to these criteria.

Comments (23)


  • Add A Comment

  • cigarfan wrote...
    Have fun with the lines...............
    November 16, 2012 1:19 pm
    When only 10% of the staff shows up (mainly managers and low information workers) the lines should be pretty funny!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • flipper wrote...
    Anyone need a job?
    November 16, 2012 1:30 pm
    ...that's right, with the new Obamaconomy, we all sit on our backside and wait for our Obamaphones and Obamacare and the government supplying everything, who needs a job? There is something you can do if you don't like working on Thanksgiving...quit. It's what I did after working Thanksgiving day one year. Then what did I do? I went out and got another job.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Howdy wrote...
    Anyone who sympathizes
    November 16, 2012 2:16 pm
    should go down and deliver some Hostess bakery items to the hungry picketers
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Dan1 wrote...
    OK then
    November 16, 2012 2:24 pm
    fire them!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • happy happy joy joy wrote...
    in this economy
    November 16, 2012 2:35 pm
    They shouldn't have a hard time replacing those workers.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Sean wrote...
    I must have missed the part
    November 16, 2012 3:21 pm
    where the gun was held to their head to make them be employed there.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Zoeller wrote...
    Why are these people working at Walmart if -
    November 16, 2012 3:28 pm
    They despise the company so badly?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • cigarfan wrote...
    @Zoeller
    November 16, 2012 8:15 pm
    You don't improve conditions by acquiescing to exploitation.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Bloodsurf69 wrote...
    Walmart
    November 16, 2012 3:44 pm
    Walmart sucks sooooo BAD! All they are is a middle man for China. There products fall apart. I would rather buy a shirt for $20 that i can wash 50 times than buy a shirt for $5 that falls apart the first time you wash it. On the other hand most custumers there don't wash their clothes anyway.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • maplefish wrote...
    Bloodsurf69
    November 16, 2012 8:08 pm
    Well, then smart guy, don't shop there. This is America. You have the right to shop elsewhere.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Snout wrote...
    Huh.
    November 16, 2012 4:49 pm
    You apply for a job then get hired. They didn't have to hire you and you didn't have to accept the offer. Now some Jimmy Hoffa wannabe tells you to walk out like it's 1949 Chicago? Grow a spine, losers, put that apron back on or go home and let someone else stock the shelves and man the checkout counter. There are plenty of people willing to do honest work for honest pay.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • cigarfan wrote...
    @Snout
    November 16, 2012 8:16 pm
    There are plenty of honest people willing to improve their working conditions as well. The trouble with right wing nutcases is they can't help but brown nose and bootlick the boss. Hat's off to workers who fight for better working conditions and win!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • HikerACE wrote...
    Hmmm
    November 16, 2012 5:02 pm
    I bet they would like to be home watching TV or partaking in some other activity that requires someone else to work on a holiday. Whiners!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • dori monson fan wrote...
    if you don't like working holidays
    November 16, 2012 8:27 pm
    pick a different career. avoid hospital, police, ems, firefighting, and power company jobs too. and honestly, how many walmart workers really even celebrate thanksgiving?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • cigarfan wrote...
    @dori monson fan
    November 16, 2012 8:29 pm
    or ORGANIZE the workers to improve conditions!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • O-town listener wrote...
    that is right cigarfan.. unions did so good for hostess..
    November 16, 2012 9:42 pm

    The problem is Walmart is successful for one reason and one reason only - they are cheap. Walmart in the first 6 months of the year had $227B in revenue and made about $8B in income. $8B - those guys are rich and have plenty of money to pass around! Although, at the end of that period they did have about $110B in debts.. not to mention $160B in PPE that is on average about a third through its useful life based on the accum. depr. so they have to put some money into capital investments..

    Even so, once you look passed all the P&L stuff, their cash flow for the period was actually about $1.4B. Walmart employes about 1.5M people in the U.S. If it gave its entire cash flow for the period to its employees, that would amount to an extra $933 dollars per employee over the 6 month period. Staggering..

    That said, the problem is not the corporations, it is us, the consumer and worker. We all want to get paid $100,000 / year but buy our groceries at the lowest available prices. And Walmart wouldn't be opening its doors on Thanksgiving if it didn't know people were going to flock there to buy stuff.. But sure, lets unionize, that'll solve the problems.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • O-town listener wrote...
    now granted.. the waltons got rich..
    November 16, 2012 9:53 pm
    but Walmart has been around for 50 years. According to wikipedia (best I've got at the moment), the waltons are worth $102 Billion. Divide that by 50 years and it averages out to about $2 billion a year.. or, with 1.5 million workers, about $1,400 per worker. Take their entire $102 billion dollars and pass it out to the 1.5 million workers and that is about $68,000 per worker which would be a nice bonus, but then what do you do to salaries the next year? Now that you have paid everyone $68k are they going to stick around? will the new batch demand $15 bucks an hour? Woops.. even at 15 hours per week for 52 weeks a jump from $10 to $15 bucks per hour for each of the 1.5M workers is $6 billion dollars per year. Wonder how high Walmart would need to raise its prices to cover.. how much would they lose in sales as a result.. how much would they then have to raise when the union called a strike to get $17 per hour.. wonder where this is going..? twinkie anyone?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • O-town listener wrote...
    it is late, so my math may be off somewhere..
    November 16, 2012 9:55 pm
    let me know.. I just get annoyed with the "hey - they are a big corporation, they can afford to pay every person more" when the impacts get staggering considering the impact * the number of employees.. It just isn't that simple. If you want to blame people, blame the consumers that shop there for the prices.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • cigarfan wrote...
    @O-town listener
    November 16, 2012 10:00 pm
    Solve the problems for the workers, maybe not the executives. I am on the side of the workers, not the bosses. I don't care if the CEO has a 6th summer home, I'm interested in the workers being able to earn a (union)living wage.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • O-town listener wrote...
    cigarfan..
    November 16, 2012 10:43 pm
    ok.. so completely ignored the math there? How much more do you think Walmart should pay per hour? Do you seriously and honestly believe that the pay increase * 1.5M workers will not be substantial to the company? Do you seriously and honestly believe that those pay raises will not result in increased prices at Walmart? If the cost of everything goes up, have the Walmart employees really gained anything? Perhaps they should go to school and get a degree...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • O-town listener wrote...
    cigarfan..
    November 16, 2012 10:46 pm

    Walmart CEO makes $35M / year on the high end. Divide by 1.5M workers and that is $23 dollars and 33 cents per worker. Congratz on giving them that living wage! Woo!

    Walmart CEO ensure 1.5MM people have a job.. Walmart employee ensures product gets put on a shelf.. CEO definately shouldn't make more than them! I'm sure all the Walmart employees will be lining up to give you a giant hug for their $23 dollars / year pay raise! You the man!

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }