Fired Walmart Workers Arrested in Protest at Yahoo Headquarters

[Omaha Steve]

Source: The Nation

Josh Eidelson

Sunnyvale, California—Five activists were arrested at Yahoo! headquarters Monday afternoon in a protest over the firing of eleven Walmart employees who this month went on strike. The planned civil disobedience action followed an hour-long demonstration in the Yahoo! lobby; about thirty workers and supporters gathered to demand a meeting with Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer, who joined Walmart’s board last year.

As The Nation first reported, the union-backed group OUR Walmart is alleging a new wave of retaliation against Walmart worker-activists, with terminations or other discipline targeting at least twenty-six of the hundred-some employees who traveled to Arkansas to protest the retail giant’s June 7 shareholder meeting. Congressmen Keith Ellison (DFL-MN) and Alan Grayson both condemned the firings in Saturday comments to The Nation; Ellison, who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, called Walmart’s actions “completely unjust and illegal.”

A Yahoo! spokesperson declined a request for comment regarding the protest and the alleged retaliation. Asked about the firings and disciplinary “coachings” this morning, Walmart spokesperson Kory Lundberg e-mailed that “our decision had everything to do with what was a violation of attendance policy and nothing to do with a specific protest.”

A few workers arrived in the Yahoo! lobby just after noon today, and told the receptionist they were there to meet Mayer. After being told they couldn’t see her without an appointment, an organizer announced that they planned to stay until Mayer became available. One OUR Walmart member told the receptionist that the firings were an emergency; another offered to meet Mayer on her lunch break. Then a larger group arrived and lined up on either side of the lobby. Standing under a purple pillar of Yahoo logos, workers held signs, locked arms and told stories about their own firings or their co-workers’. Some had their children with them; one woman declared the scene “cute” as she walked between the rows of protesters. A handful of Yahoo! employees watched from a balcony above. Then Yahoo! management declared the lobby shut down, and a staffer told the crowd that he would call the police if they didn’t leave.

Read more: Fired Walmart Workers Arrested in Protest at Yahoo Headquarters | The Nation http://www.thenation.com/blog/174964/fired-walmart-workers-arrested-protest-yahoo-headquarters#ixzz2XBYiCoEg
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FULL story at link.


Read more: http://www.thenation.com/blog/174964/fired-walmart-workers-arrested-protest-yahoo-headquarters#axzz2XAsiJH2r

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[midnight]

1. Is there any law to protect these workers from this retaliation?

[DainBramaged]

2. You have rights in the workplace, unless you work for WalMart

http://www.nolo.com/products/your-rights-in-the-workplace-yrw.html



They know this will cost them, next to nothing in the grand scheme of things, they want to put fear into their workforce, that will quell the disobedience.


They hope.

[Pterodactyl]

3. Walmart workers should be paid more and have more benefits.

Then we'd have a better class of employees there. Do they have to straighten the shelves right in front of me when I'm shopping for something. Really? I had to wait five minutes for the clueless employee to move. And the people at the deli counter seem to have no idea what the price is for the chicken dinner - every week!