NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS |
February 6, 2015 | PAGE 11
Klamath Falls Walmart fires worker who went on strike
By Don McIntosh
Associate Editor
A Klamath Falls Walmart
store has fired one of the three
workers who took part in a late
November protest strike.
Ismael Nuñez, along with his
wife Jennifer Sanchez, took part
in the nationwide walkout, and
traveled to take part in rallies in
Klamath Falls, Medford, and
Portland. The strike was called
by the group Organization
United for Respect at Walmart
(OUR Walmart) to protest cases
of retaliation by Walmart against
workers who spoke out about
pay and working conditions.
Now Nuñez may be one of
those workers.
Nuñez says he was restocking
frozen food Jan. 16 when his
manager told him to go home,
saying he hadn’t been working
hard enough. With half an hour
left until the end of his nine-hour
graveyard shift, Nuñez stayed
working, and police were called
to escort him out. [This is the
same Walmart where in Decem-
treating their employees that
way. And stop calling the police
on their employees.”
Sanchez says police were
also called when she tried to col-
lect signatures on a petition.
Nunez has applied for unem-
ployment insurance compensa-
tion, and says he plans to file
charges with the National Labor
Relations Board. It’s illegal to
fire a worker for supporting
union efforts or taking part in
Walmart workers Ismael Nuñez and his wife Jennifer Sanchez, take part in a
Black Friday rally Nov. 29 outside a Southeast Portland Walmart. Six weeks
later, Nuñez was suspended and terminated on what he says were phony ac-
cusations.
ber a manager threatened to call
police after ordering a group of
several dozen high school
Christmas carolers to leave the
store.]
Nuñez called in later in the
day, and was told he was sus-
pended without pay pending an
investigation by the store man-
ager Kelly Cooper. He says he
was given few details of any-
thing he’d done wrong, except
for an accusation that he left a
pallet of eggs unrefrigerated for
two hours on Jan. 4. Nuñez de-
nies it, and says it was more like
20 minutes. [Memo to Walmart:
In many countries, eggs are sold
unrefrigerated, and they can sit
out for days without risk to hu-
man health.]
It’s unclear what kind of in-
vestigation Cooper conducted,
and she did not respond to a call
from the Labor Press. But on
Jan. 26, Nuñez was terminated
from his $15.42-an-hour job as
an overnight frozen and dairy
stocker — after 11 years as a
Walmart employee.
“They fired me unjustly,”
Nuñez says. “They should stop
IN MEMORIAM
JOHN C. WAGONER
July 3, 1946 - Nov. 24, 2014
...Unions rally for $15 minimum wage
John C. Wagoner, a re-
tired member of Associ-
ation of Western Pulp
and Paper Workers, died
Nov. 24 at the age of 68.
A medical examiner de-
termined that he died of
accidental drowning.
Wagoner was born in Van-
couver, Washington and lived
his whole life in the Camas and
Washougal area. He served in
the U.S. Army from 1965 to
1971. He worked at the Camas
paper mill 38 years, until retir-
ing. He was active in AWPPW,
and served as area lobbyist for
the union’s Washington/Alaska
Area Council. He also produced
a newsletter called “Politics for
greed will destroy our state, our
nation, our communities, and our
families,” Chamberlain said. “It
is time to hold them accountable.
It is time for the Oregon Legisla-
ture to pass a minimum wage
that lifts workers out of poverty,
not one that drives them into it.”
Tim Stoelb, president of the
Oregon School Employees As-
sociation, called on the Legisla-
ture to “outlaw poverty” by pass-
ing a $15 per hour minimum
wage. “There are 200,000 rea-
sons — that’s the number of
Oregon children who live in
households below the federal
poverty line,” Stoelb said.
After rallying on the steps of
the State Capitol, supporters
marched through the streets of
Salem to share their message.
Some of the labor organiza-
tions at the event were: Oregon
School Employees Association;
American Federation of Teach-
ers; Portland Association of
Teachers; Laborers Local 483;
Oregon Education Association;
Service Employees Locals 49
Transit Union Local 757; IBEW
Local 48; Communications
Workers Local 7901; Musicians
Local 99; International Long-
ONLINE EXTRA
Ismael Nuñez has begun an online
petition urging Walmart to rehire
him. That’s at https://www.coworker.
org/petitions/walmart-stop-retaliate-
against-walmart-workers?
From Page 1
counties in Oregon from raising
the minimum wage locally.
The Legislature convened
Feb. 2 and will be in session for
160 days.
“Almost half a million Orego-
nians work for $12 an hour or
less,” Oregon AFL-CIO Presi-
dent Tom Chamberlain told the
Salem crowd. “In other words,
1-in-4 Oregon workers are
working as hard as they can and
still live in poverty. That is
shameful.”
The state labor federation says
that large low-wage employers
aren’t paying their fair share and,
as a result, taxpayers are picking
up the tab. Each year, Chamber-
lain said Oregonians spend $1.7
billion in taxes to subsidize low-
income wages along with irreg-
ular work schedules and inade-
quate benefits. Meanwhile, the
companies employing low-wage
workers (companies like Wal-
mart, and McDonalds) are bring-
ing in record profits.
“This is wrong. Corporate
“protected, concerted activity”
with co-workers.
“A lot of people just move on
and try to get another job,” says
Sanchez. “We’re going to try to
fight it.”
Southern Oregon Jobs with
Justice and Portland Jobs with
Justice are appealing to support-
ers to call Klamath Falls Wal-
mart manager Kelly Cooper at
541-885-6890 and tell her to put
Ismael back to work.
Workers.” He was active the lo-
cal group Concerned Citizens in
Action.
Wagoner is survived
by his wife Penny,
daughter Taletha, a
grandson, and brothers,
nephews and nieces.
A celebration of life
was held Dec. 5 at the
AWPPW Local 5 union
hall in Camas, accompa-
nied by the American Legion
Cape Horn Honor Guard and
the Patriot Guard Riders.
Wagoner was an avid motor-
cyclist and yachtsman, and lived
on a boat. Friends are collecting
contributions at Riverview
Community Bank in Camas for
a memorial in his name to be
placed at the Port of Camas
Washougal Marina.
Workers hold up signs in support of raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour during a rally Saturday, Jan. 24, at
the Oregon State Capitol in Salem.
and 503; AFSCME Locals 88
and 328; the Oregon Federation
of Nurses and Health Profession-
als Local 5017; Amalgamated
shore and Warehouse Union;
Teamsters; and the Northwest
Oregon, and Marion, Polk,
Yamhill labor councils.