Some Walmart Workers Plan Black Friday Walkout
RANCHO CORDOVA (CBS13) - The big Black Friday fights won't just be happening inside the stores. Some Walmart workers say they're taking a stand and walking off the job during one of the biggest shopping days of the year.
Employees are fighting the retail giant for better pay, cheaper benefits and more hours.
Barbara Andridge of Placerville is one of the workers preparing to strike.
"Pay is an issue for a lot of us," she told CBS13 on Monday. "Tired of living in poverty. A lot of us are on food stamps."
She is with "Our Walmart," a national group organizing walkouts in hopes of getting Walmart's attention.
Barbara says her hours keep getting cut and her health benefits are way too pricey.
"I can't live off that," she said.
Walmart isn't unionized and Barbara says she is concerned she could get fired for striking.
"It would be silly not to be (worried), but that is part of the risk that I am taking," she said. "You've got to stand up for what is right."
Odin Rasco says he agrees his job could be better, but it is a job even if he does have to work on Thanksgiving along with some of his co-workers.
"I am on the fence about it," he said of the planned walkout. "I don't know if I should go with my morals or go with my need too have an income at the moment."
Shoppers we talked to are split too.
"I will not shop here Friday if they are on strike," one woman said at a Rancho Cordova Walmart.
Others said they feel for the workers but not enough to avoid the sales and convenience.
"I'll come in, but I will be a bit more reluctant to come in," one man said Monday.
Walmart told us it expects a very small percentage of its workers to participate in the walkout and that its pay and benefits are better than its competitors.
