Walmart Continues Employee Intimidation Tactics

Why am I not surprised? I am not sure about whether Wal-Mart being unionized would be a good thing (it would make them a lot less price-competitive); except that maybe they would clean up their act about how they treat their employees and forcing them to go on Food Stamps and SSI instead of providing health care and a living wage.

But outright manipulation of people's voting & employee intimidation? No!


Wal-Mart Employees Speak Out About Mandatory Anti-Union Meetings, Political Intimidation

Today, the Wall Street Journal reported that Wal-Mart has been warning its managers that a Democratic victory in the fall would lead to unionization at Wal-Mart stores. “In recent weeks, thousands of Wal-Mart store managers and department heads have been summoned to mandatory meetings” discussing the downsides of unionization and not-so-subtly telling employees NOT to vote for a Democrat.

Wal-Mart Watch notes that the article “would not have been possible without the several brave Wal-Mart employees” who spoke out against the company’s policies, including the employee below who e-mailed Wal-Mart Watch:

In a statement, Wal-Mart Watch Executive Director David Nassar said the Journal report confirmed stories they have collected from workers:

We have been receiving the reports described in the Journal for the past week. Some of the reports we received were even more egregious than what was described in today’s story. In one case, a worker said they were shown a slide that said ‘Obama = union’ and then were told why unions were bad.

Wal-Mart employees who wish to speak out should contact Wal-Mart Watch to share their stories. Sign a petition to tell Wal-Mart to stop the political intimidation of its employees.

Change to Win executive director Chris Chafe:

"It should be no surprise that Wal-Mart would stretch the limits of the law in an attempt to deny their workers' rights and kill the Employee Free Choice Act. The company knows what all union workers know: workers in unions earn 29 percent higher wages on average, are 62 percent more likely to have employer health coverage, and four times more likely to have a pension."

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