Breaking: Wal-Mart workers on strike, defying firings
“I don’t have fear,” striker Jose Bello told Salon in Spanish. “I don’t have any fear. They could punish us – we’re used to that.” Bello said that at least 80 of the employees at his Hialeah, Fla., store had joined the strike, which began at 9 a.m. Wal-Mart did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “I decided a long time ago to do this, but we needed to come together as a group to make the decision,” said Bello. He described the strike as a response to “abuse and discrimination” by managers, as well as insufficient hours. “I have four years here,” he said, and “they’re give me 29 hours … as a human being, I want 40 hours.” Bello told Salon that workers met Thursday and decided to strike. As Salon first reported, workers last fall mounted the first ever coordinated U.S. Wal-Mart strikes, including a high-profile “Black Friday” walkout the day after Thanksgiving. The group behind those strikes was OUR Walmart, a non-union labor group closely tied to the United Food &... |
