l i K Street roots
«
7
Education * Dialogue * Independence
NATIONAL
Breaking point
Wal-Mart workers in Washington State say they’re
battling anti-union pressure in effort to organize
J ì m
BY CYDNEY GILLIS
STREET .N EW S SERVICE
SEATTLE, USA-
eya Jerris didn't think she could
afford Wal-Mart’s health plan on the
wages she’earned at the company’s
Federal Way store. Now her story is left for
other workers to tell.
In March, Jerris called the store before
the start o fh e r shift and asked for a sick
day, but was told to come in. The 61-year-old
suffered from excruciating headaches, a
co-worker says, and hadn’t even clocked in
at the store when she collapsed.
On March 10, after undergoing two
surgeries for an aneurism, Jerris died. She
might be alive today, says friend and
co-worker Mary Watkines, if the store had
given Jerris a sick day - one of many
reasons that Watkines and other Wal-Mart
workers are stepping forward to unionize 8
the world’s largest retailer.
It’s an ongoing effort that hasn’t gotten
very far in recent years. But Barack
Obama’s presidency and his promise to sign
legislation— the Employee Free Choice Act
— would make it easier for workers to join a
union and change that, three Wal-Mart
associates said June 4 a t a news conference
outside the Renton (Wash.) Wal-Mart. The
event was. part of a local union organizing
H
d r iv e l a u n c h e d in F e b r u a r y a t t h e s t o r e , a n d
anationalWal-Mart W orkersforChange
campaign backed by the United Food and
Commercial Workers, which held similar
events in more than 20 cities prior to Wal-
M art’s June 5 shareholders meeting. -
. Out of the 400 workers at the Renton
Wal-Mart, 300 want to sign up for a union,
says Kenny James, an associate who has
worked at the store nearly eight years, but
they fear for their jobs;-- with good reason,
says Barbara Holland, a greeter who has a
worked at the store nineyears.
Between March and April, Holland says,
store managers held daily employee
meetings aimed at convincing workers not
to join UFCW Local 21. Executives from
Wal-Mart’s home office-in Bentonville, Ark.,
came to the store, showed anti-unionTilms
and “told (us) how bad it was,” she says.
“We’ve been told that if you speak up, if
you vote for the union, your job could be in
jeopardy or the store can close,” Holland
says.
As a result; she says, many workers have
steered clear of union meetings, but Mary
Nguyen, an organizer with UFCW Local 21/
says some have signed union authorization
cards. If Congress were to pass th e
Employee Free Choice Act, Wal-Mart and
other employers would have to recognize a
union without holding a vote when a
majority of workers sign authorization cards.
, Holland says she wants a union so that
workers can have a voice and do their jobs
Dexter: T'or^exaumpi^/^nSariagersa^e^^^rjr”
strict about employees going to lunch
precisely at the five-hour mark in a shift, she
says. “If you’re helping a customer and you
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PHO TO BY C Y D N E Y ÓILLIS
Barbara H olland calls on fellow workers a t the Renton Wal-Mart to join U F C W Local 21 a t a
June 4 news Conference held in fro n t o f the store The u n io n started a n organizing drive a t the
store in January as p a rt o f a national Wal-Mart Workers fo r Change campaign.
miss it, you get in trouble,” Holland says.
But, “If you want customer satisfaction, then
why are ydu penalizing people?”
With Wal-Mart’s profits reaching nearly
$13 billion last year; Holland, who makes
$12.28 an hour after nine years, also asks
why the company can’t pay more and
provide health insurance, which she says
half of Wal-Mart’s workers forego today due
to premium costs.
. “Some (workers) have to be on state .
Medicaid,” says Kim Quartimon, an
associate at the Federal Way Wal-Mart in
Washington. “We shouldn’t have to, not
w h en w e w ork for su c h a pro fitab le ;
company.”
Michelle Bradford, a Wal-Mart
spokesperson, declined to comment on the
Renton store’s union-related m eetings,but
said that most of thè company’s workers, feel
their wages an d benefits are fine without a ■
union.
“The làrge majority tells us they enjoy
and value their jobs,” Bradford says. “Some
of the things they cite afe that Wal-Mart
jobs are good jobs with competitive wages
and benefits and real opportunities to
advance that are based on m erit and ndt
seniority.”
Quartimon says she doesn’t buy it. “Wal-
M art has dominated their employees for so
Jong with nobody to challenge it,” shesays.
“Well, I’m here to challenge Wal-Mart and .
I’m here to say I’m tired of Wal-Mart
stepping on us.”
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