Why Walmart Cant Ignore Its Employees Any More

A STRUGGLE WITHIN: It has survived union protests before, but with OUR Walmart taking up a cause that affects every American to make Walmart a better place to work & shop the retail giant faces its biggest labour challenge yet

Cindy Murray has been working at Walmart store No. 1985 in Laurel, Md, for 13 years. Shes stationed in the fitting rooms and earns $12.40 an hour. Murray, whos in her 50s, says she loves her job. She thinks of herself as a model employee. She also helped start OUR Walmart, or Organisation United for Respect at Walmart, the group of employees who defied one of the most powerful companies in America by holding protests at about 1,000 stores on the busiest day of the year for retailers. OUR Walmart says it has at least 4,000 members. The protests, on the Friday after Thanksgiving, involved about 500 of them, as well as many thousands of others sympathetic to their cause. Murray and her colleagues are asking Walmart Stores for more full-time jobs with predictable schedules instead of part-time work with hours that can change every three weeksand wages that can provide their families a decent life. They also want respect. On the morning of November 23, instead of going to work, Murray put on her bright green OUR Walmart T-shirt and boarded a bus provided by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW), which has tried and failed to unionise Walmart associates for more than a decade. Walmart isnt on a good path, and someone needs to stand up and speak out, says Murray. But we always have fear inside of us, too. They werent sure how many police would be present or if shoppers would support them. They werent sure if afterward their hours would be cut or if managers would make their lives difficult. None of them could afford to lose their jobs. Growth at What Cost? Walmart is the largest private employer in the US, with nearly 1.4 million workers in 4,602 stores. The company operates in 26 other countries, employing an additional 780,000 people. Its efficiency, in stores and throughout its supply chain, has remade the retail industry. When Walmart decides to sell mortgages, local produce, or compact fluorescent light bulbs, the effects ripple through the economy. So do its decisions about workers schedules, wages, and benefits. With revenue of $464 billion over the past year, its the biggest company in the US. As it has expanded, Walmart has been vilified by activists and watchdog groups who say the companys relentless growth has come at the expense of its workers, the environment, and the law. Since 2005 it has agreed to pay about $1 billion in damages in six different cases related to unpaid work. Walmart has survived labour fights before. But Murray and a core group of about 100 employees along with the largest union of retail employees in the country and a branding firm founded by a top adviser to President Obama are the

architects of what may prove to be the most potent challenge yet. Crucially, the thousands of associates who have joined OUR Walmart say theyre not agitating for legal recognition or collective bargaining rights; unlike previous efforts, theyre not trying to unionise. They say they want to make Walmart a better place to work and shop. Its a cause that affects every American. Theres also growing financial pressure. Walmart wants to expand into big cities where its size and power are controversial. Elected officials, community leaders, and residents often see the company as a disruptive economic force and a socially dubious one as well. A business case can be made that it would be smart for them to figure out a way to improve the situation for their workers so that OUR Walmart is an ally, not an opponent, says Ken Jacobs, chairman of the University of California at Berkeley Labor Center. Or it could continue to dismiss OUR Walmart as a small group of disgruntled associates who speak only for themselves and their union backers. Despite the organisations success in attracting attention to the Black Friday strikes, less than 0.1% of the companys US workforce participated. Whats certain is that Walmarts management is facing a new kind of unrest at a time when its already vulnerable. Says Julius Getman, a labour law professor at the University of Texas School of Law: This is a battle for the soul of Walmarts workforce. Walmart has been opposed to unions since Sam Walton opened his first store in Rogers, Ark., in 1962. These days, we have human resources teams all over the country who are available to talk to associates, and we will get questions about joining a union, says David Tovar, a spokesman for the company. We would say: Let us remind you of all that Walmart offers, and of what might go away. Quarterly bonuses might go away, vacation time might go away. Six-Year-Old Fight Murrays campaign started six years ago. Backed by the UFCW, and a coalition it called Wake Up Walmart, Murray tried to get workers in her store to join the union. She didnt get far. We knew we had to do something different this time, she says. The organisation had to be made by associates and for associates so they would feel more free to join. Organisers at the UFCW felt the same way. In 2010 the union hired a veteran labour leader, Dan Schlademan, to be the director of Making Change at Walmart, a campaign it had just launched. We needed to build something new, says Schlademan. He connected with Murray and a few other Walmart employees and then turned to ASGK Public Strategies, the media and branding firm started by David Axelrod, a senior political adviser to President Obama. (Axelrod had sold his stake by 2010.) In the fall of 2010, ASGK began conducting opinion research about how to effectively reach Walmart employees. The firm declined to comment on its work, but as a former executive described it, they realised that buying an ad on Facebook would allow them to target users who had identified themselves as Walmart employees. There were about 150,000 of them. Then ASGK asked the employees to rate

themselves according to how committed they were to Walmart. It focused on the group in the middle: dedicated employees with a couple of complaints. Chief among them was that they werent treated with respect by their managers. Second was their pay. OUR Walmart is Born In June 2011, OUR Walmart made its debut. At the UFCWs expense, Murray, Van Ness, and Tifft, along with 97 other associates, travelled to Walmarts headquarters a couple of weeks after the companys annual shareholder meeting. They wrote a 12point declaration that asked for wages and benefits that ensured no associate would have to rely on government assistance. They also called for dependable schedules, expanded health-care coverage, and the freedom to speak up without facing retaliation. In the parking lot, they presented the document to Karen Casey, the senior vice president for global labor relations. It was really scary, says Murray. I think the executives were just as shocked as we were. Walmart heard us, but they didnt listen. The Bentonville trip was the first time many OUR Walmart members met face to face. I was so taken aback listening to other associates stories, says Tifft. It made me want to speak louder. The first discussion about holding protests on a Black Friday began then. At a hotel conference room, Schlademan set up computers for associates to learn how to use Facebook to stay in touch and reach other potential members. Gaining in Strength OUR Walmart returned to Bentonville in June 2012 for the annual meeting, which coincided with Walmarts 50th anniversary. At the meeting, Walmart noted how well it treats its associates. It had already issued guidelines to store managers about how to respond to walkouts or work stoppages on Black Friday. We wanted to ensure we provided the safest possible shopping environment for our customers, says Walmart spokesman Tovar. The company also engaged in its own workers campaign. If OUR Walmart people are in a store trying to talk to associates about joining a union, we do educate them about what it would mean. OUR Walmarts decision to create a new kind of organisation makes it a less predictable adversary than the company is used to. Yet its hard to assess if the group will achieve its goals without the legal protections that come with union recognition. Walmart has the advantage of money and power, but these things can be overcome, says Getman of the University of Texas. The very fact that the situation is unusual gives an advantage to OUR Walmart. The group has gotten Walmarts attention. Beyond that, it may be years before its possible to assess its impact on the company. UFCW is reviewing over 100 allegations of workers rights violations by Walmart and has promised to continue supporting OUR Walmart as long as the group needs help. Everything will be building toward an even bigger Black Friday 2013, says Schlademan. Says Murray: Im pretty sure Bentonville knows that were here to stay. Im not going anywhere. Im not backing down. Bloomberg BusinessWeek