Black Friday Walmart Protests

Date: 

Friday, November 28, 2014 - 12:00am to Friday, April 19, 2024 - 10:54am

Location: 

The Walmart nearest you. Just 30-45 minutes will do the trick sometime between 7 and 10 AM. Click here for a map of the actions.

WHY

Workers at Walmart want the company to publicly commit to paying them for their hard work, but a select few behind the country’s largest employer are robbing them of a decent living. The Waltons (who own Walmart) choose to ignore what’s happening to workers – and their families – as Walmart manipulates schedules and hours to pay the majority of its workers less than $25,000 a year. The Waltons are focused on growing their $150 billion in wealth while turning a blind eye to the hundreds of thousands of workers unable to feed and clothe their families or provide them with basic financial security.

The Waltons could decide tomorrow to pay a fair wage to the workers who help the company make $16 billion in annual profits. Across the country, workers and their supporters are delivering petitions to the Waltons that call on Walmart to publicly commit to pay workers a minimum of $15 an hour and provide consistent, full-time work.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Show up on Black Friday at a Walmart near you to send Walmart a message. It could be you, you and a few friends, or you could recruit 20 people to have a rally with you if you’re ambitious! Post your action on the Action Network and invite others to join. It is possible that others from your community will come join you!

Once people RSVP to your event, simply email them and coordinate plans like a meet up location. Visit Action Network for materials and tools to organize your event

What do I do once we are there?
1. Post or send in a picture of yourself, family and friends - and as many or as few as you can gather- with a homemade poster explaining that you are out supporting #WalmartStrikers on Black Friday. The coordinators are asking everyone to take this simple but powerful action.

Take a piece of paper or poster board and make a sign that says, for example:
“[CITY, STATE ] stands with #WalmartStrikers on Black Friday 2014."

Then take a picture of you and whoever is with you in front of the Walmart with the sign on Black Friday and email it to support [at] changewalmart.org . Then post it on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. using the hashtag #WalmartStrikers.

2. Deliver it to the store manager. Walmart’s home office in Bentonville, Arkansas will receive a phone call reporting that you were there supporting OUR Walmart, but only if they know you’re there. So after you take your picture, be sure to deliver your sign!

3. You don’t have to stop there. After delivering to the manager, you can take the next step. It’s as simple as deciding if you want to pass out flyers to customers, hold a prayer vigil, or if you’re more adventurous, build a flashmob or rally. You can rally a group of two, three, or 20 and more.