Miami Walmart Workers Protest On Black Friday
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Miami Walmart workers plan to join thousands of their colleagues nationwide for a Black Friday protest demanding what they claim is a living wage.
Community groups and Miami workers will protest at the North Miami Walmart store on 1425 NE 163 Street. Workers and supporters have been emboldened by news from Walmart CEO that hundreds of thousands of Walmart workers are paid less than $25,000 a year and are forced to rely on taxpayer dollars to support their families.
In one of the largest mobilizations of working families in recent history, Walmart workers will demand that the company improve jobs and the economy.
Pointing to poverty wages that have forced Walmart workers to rely on food drives even though they work at a company with $17 billion in profits, the protesters are calling on Walmart to publicly commit to paying $25,000 a year, providing full-time work, and ending the retaliation against workers who have been speaking out for better jobs.
"The support we've seen in the lead up to Black Friday is overwhelming," said Katie Cunningham, a Walmart employee who plans on protesting this Black Friday. "Walmart can improve jobs – and it must. We are standing together to tell the Walton family and Walmart that our country needs more from our largest employer."
Nationwide protests on Black Friday follow revelations last week that Walmart workers don't have enough money to cover Thanksgiving dinner for their families, as well as the historic federal government finding that Walmart has been violating workers' rights nationwide.
Actions in recent weeks, include the largest-ever civil disobedience rally against the retail giant in Los Angeles; strikes in Miami, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Ohio and Dallas, and an online petition to President Obama.
A Walmart spokesman told CBSMiami.com that, "Most of the people who participate in these protests around the country are not Walmart employees."
