Walmart: Bah, humbug

We stand on the side of Walmart workers. Please share this image to show your support.

 

Just like the workers toiling thanklessly for Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol, Walmart employees are rewarded for their efforts with insults and disrespect.  Walmart’s notoriously poor wages and working conditions — designed to squeeze every last dollar of productivity out of its “associates” — mean workers struggle to survive on poverty wages while executives and the Walton family rake in record profits.¹

On Black Friday, workers across the country told Walmart loud and clear: enough is enough. Historic protests held at over 1,000 Walmart stores demonstrated the powerful need for real change at the company.²

You and nearly 55,000 ColorOfChange members are helping us take the fight for good jobs to the next level, by demanding that Walmart’s Board meet with workers and take immediate steps to improve working conditions. Now, with the holiday shopping season in full swing — and Walmart scrambling to avoid any more negative publicity³ — it’s time to further expose America’s biggest Scrooge.

Please share this image with your friends and family: show Walmart that we demand respect for all workers.

The odds are stacked against low wage workers — many of whom are Black women. Service sector jobs continue to dominate the post-recession labor market, and they’re not going anywhere.⁴ This is why it’s essential we make companies like Walmart a better place to work and shop.

At the end of A Christmas Carol, Scrooge learns the importance of treating people well, and if Walmart ever hopes to be embraced as a good company, it needs to learn the same lesson. Walmart can start by ensuring that its employees work reasonable hours, have adequate health care and can support their families.

Please share this Humbug image to show Walmart workers that you support them and their demands for respect in the workplace. And when you do, please ask your friends and family to do the same.

Thanks and peace,

– Rashad, Matt, Arisha, Aimée, Kim, Johnny and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team     December 21st, 2012

P.S. Click here to download either the full-size version or the Facebook cover photo size of the image.

Help support our work. ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU—your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or large corporations that don’t share our values, and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way.

References

1. “Corporate Profits Just Hit An All-Time High, Wages Just Hit An All-Time Low,” Business Insider, 06-22-12
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2021?t=7&akid=2762.1174326.evKS2S

2. “Walmart impoverishing and endangering workers,” The Hill, 12-07-12
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2022?t=9&akid=2762.1174326.evKS2S

3. “Hold Walmart accountable to Black workers,” ColorOfChange.org, 11-15-12
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2023?t=11&akid=2762.1174326.evKS2S

4. “A Fast Food Nation Fights for Living Wages — Against Long Odds,” Colorlines, 12-07-12
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2024?t=13&akid=2762.1174326.evKS2S

Burma : Welcome to West Wing Week

 

West Wing Week: 11/22/12 or “Hello Burma!” bywhitehouse

Welcome to the West Wing Week, your guide to everything that’s happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. This week, the President made an historic trip to Thailand, Burma, and Cambodia, attended the East Asia Summit, and pardoned the National Thanksgiving Turkey at the White House with the First Family.

Black Friday …

 

NOTHING! PLEDGE TO BOYCOTT WAL-MART!Wal-mart workers routinely face unsafe working conditions, poverty-level low wages and intimidation and retaliation when attempting to speak-up or organize. This is why this Black Friday Wal-mart workers and their supporters are taking part in over 1,000 protests nationwide. These will include strikes, boycotts and direct actions to fight back against unfair and abusive labor practices. We need you to join in! Watch video and pledge to boycott Wal-Mart on Black Friday! Wal-mart workers are taking enormous risks in staging these actions and need your full support. Share this video and pledge with your family, friends and network. Together we can make an impact. Yours, Axel Caballero and the Cuéntame team. PS – Please help support our work. Cuéntame depends on your support to continue investigating issues and producing content. We are a non-profit and we take no money from the government, lobbyists, or corporations. You can contribute any amount here so we can continue to uncover stories that are important to you. Every dollar helps. Thanks!

Cage-Free Egg McMuffins …Stephanie Feldstein, Change.org

A shocking undercover video released on Friday reveals gruesome and scary conditions in the production of McDonald’s Egg McMuffins. Tell McDonald’s to stop torturing chickens and switch to cage-free eggs   The video is hard to watch. Chicks’ beaks are seared off. Male chicks are tossed in plastic bags to suffocate. Hens live out their entire lives in wire battery cages, packed wing to wing. And dead chickens are left to rot in the cages that serve as living quarters for remaining chickens. Outside of these standard operations, staff members are shown swinging a bird around by its feet and crushing a chick alive. Mercy For Animals is the group that carried out the undercover investigation. Now, it has started a petition on Change.org to get McDonald’s to abandon these kinds of cruel and inhumane practices altogether by going cage-free. Will you sign Mercy For Animals’ petition to get McDonald’s to commit to purchasing 100% cage-free eggs in the US? Right after the video aired on Friday, McDonald’s cut ties with Sparboe Farms, whose facilities and staff in Iowa, Minnesota and Colorado are documented in the investigation. But cutting ties with Sparboe Farms won’t end the torture of chickens for Egg McMuffins. The kind of abhorrent conditions at Sparboe are actually standard among battery cage egg suppliers. The only way McDonald’s can guarantee its eggs aren’t produced in the same conditions is to go 100% cage-free. And McDonald’s has already done this for their locations in Europe, where McDonald’s eggs are already guaranteed to be 100% cage-free. With the mega fast-food chain dropping Sparboe Farms, it’s clear that the public outcry generated by Mercy For Animals’ investigation is having a big impact. Now is the time to push McDonald’s to take real, meaningful action to distance itself from all battery cage eggs and not just move to another battery cage egg supplier. Tell McDonald’s to publicly commit to sourcing 100% cage-free eggs now: http://www.change.org/petitions/urge-mcdonalds-to-stop-torturing-hens-for-egg-mcmuffins Thanks for being a change-maker, - Stephanie and the Change.org team P.S. People are taking action on important issues using Change.org everyday. Please check out these urgent petitions that need your support: David Buscho was attacked with pepper-spray while protesting on his campus at University of California Davis. Now he’s leading a campaign to get Chancellor Linda Katehi to resign for attacking peaceful student protesters. Paolo Ziritti survived 18 months of torture and abuse in a “clinic” in Ecuador trying to “cure” her of being a lesbian. A brave group of women called Fundacion Causana started a petition to shut down the 187 remaining “ex-gay clinics” like the one Paola was forcibly confined in. Anthony Hardwick is leading a campaign to Save Thanksgiving for workers and consumers. Join more than 190,000 people calling on Target to not open at midnight on Thanksgiving for Black Friday sales. The musical group Florence + the Machine is known for music videos that push the envelope, but Catherine Burks thinks their latest goes too far. Join Catherine in calling on the band to remove prevalent racist imagery from Florence + the Machine’s new video. The Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages started a petition to support legislation in the New York state Senate to shut down the New York City’s abusive horse-drawn carriage industry.

Working on Thanksgivi​ng …Jess Kutch, Change.org

Join Anthony’s massive campaign to save Thanksgiving for families. Ask Target to open at 5AM, not midnight, on Black Friday. Anthony Hardwick’s campaign to save Thanksgiving from the holiday shopping arms race has made headlines in literally thousands of media outlets around the country — and sparked a national conversation about protecting family time on Thanksgiving. To recap: Last week, Anthony, a Target employee from Omaha, started a Change.org petition asking Target to move back its Black Friday opening time from midnight on Thanksgiving to (the somewhat less crazy) 5 a.m., so that thousands of workers and shoppers could have Thanksgiving dinner with their families. Nearly 100,000 people have signed, and more than 50 other petitions have been started asking stores like Best Buy and Macy’s to move back their openings, too. Will you add your name to Anthony’s petition? Anthony’s campaign is already making huge strides: Several of Target’s competitors, like J.C. Penney and Sears, have now proudly announced that they’re opening later to give workers time to celebrate the holiday with loved ones. And there’s no doubt that Target and others will think twice before opening so early next year. It’s up to you to keep up the pressure. Please sign Anthony’s petition and forward this email to everyone you know: http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-target-to-save-thanksgiving Thanks for being a change-maker, - Jess and the Change.org team P.S. Here are some of the other top Change.org petitions this week: Rick Melargni is a Best Buy employee from Tampa, Florida. He started a petition on Change.org asking Best Buy to not open at midnight on Thanksgiving so families can share the holiday together. Monique White lost her job as a youth counselor at a group home in Minnesota after state budget cuts. Now she’s fighting to stop US Bank from evicting her from her foreclosed home. Sign Monique’s petition to keep her home from US Bank. Shawn Ambrose bought a ticket on a Greyhound bus for his daughter in college — but because the ticket was a gift, Greyhound charged him an extra $18 fee. Sign Shawn’s petition asking Greyhound to cancel its $18 “gift fee” for families traveling during the holidays. Students at the University of Nevada want to save their school’s “working farm” — one of the few left in the country, where students can learn about farming and agriculture. Sign Wendy Baroli’s petition to stop the school from destroying the farm. “Pancho” Ramos-Stierle was arrested on Monday morning while meditating in a peaceful protest at the Occupy Wall Street movement in Oakland, California. But because he’s undocumented, he faces deportation. His friends started a petition asking immigration officials to release Pancho immediately. An Oklahoma man brutally injured a horse after dragging it behind his ATV. Now a group called “Hand 4 Paws” is asking a judge to impose the maximum sentence in the case.

Newser Nine at Nine – IMF: Ireland Should Cut Taxes—for Women

The nine most recent stories, in your inbox bright and early.

IMF: Ireland Should Cut Taxes—for Women

(Newser) – The International Monetary Fund has proposed a range of measures to help Ireland restore its economy to health and some Irishmen are finding one in particular hard to swallow. The IMF recommends that the country cut income tax rates by 5%—for women only. Economists say this would boost the… More  »

15 Best Stores to Hit on Black Friday

(Newser) – Planning your Black Friday shopping agenda? The Daily Beast rounds up the 15 stores you should definitely hit up, having ranked the largest national retailers based on prices, hours, and extra perks offered. The ones that scored the highest: Sam’s Club: Opens at 5am and offers a free breakfast of… More  »

Karzai Government Slams ‘Premature’ Election Results

(Newser) – The results are in and the government of President Hamid Karzai is none too pleased: As the United Nations stepped up to endorse Afghanistan’s long-awaited parliamentary election results yesterday, Karzai’s government promised to challenge the outcome. The New York Times reports that Karzai can count on about 100 of the… More  »

New Zealand Mourns 29 Lost Miners

(Newser) – As New Zealand mourns the 29 miners lost in Tuesday’s second explosion , civic leaders are already calling for the mine to be reopened. “A big part of our economy on the west coast is coal and, yes, we want our men back down the mine working,” says… More  »

Kanye Blasts Taylor Swift

(Newser) – It’s been more than a year since Kanye West’s drunken stage invasion during Taylor Swift’s VMA acceptance speech—and it looks like he still hasn’t forgiven her. “Taylor never came to my defense in any interview,” the rapper complained in a rambling rant at a New York show…. More  »

South Korea Defense Minister Resigns

(Newser) – South Korea promised today to boost defenses on the island North Korea attacked, as the country’s defense minister resigned and China offered an official response to the incident. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak held a security meeting today to draft new defense strategies and rules of engagement including increasing… More  »

World’s Hardiest Creatures Survive ‘Martian Soil’

(Newser) – A tiny but incredibly tough creature called the tardigrade has been identified as the Earth-dweller most likely to hitch a ride to Mars and survive once there—indicating that our methods for sterilizing Mars rovers may not be up to snuff. The millimeter-long creature, also known as the water bear,… More  »

DEA Banning Legal Highs

(Newser) – “Legal highs” with marijuana-like effects aren’t going to be legal for much longer. The Drug Enforcement Agency has launched an emergency action to outlaw chemicals used to make synthetic marijuana, which is sold online and in head shops, WebMD reports. The “fake pot” is sold under brand names… More  »

Boxer Christy Martin Stabbed, Shot By Husband

(Newser) – Boxing’s first female superstar is recovering in hospital after being attacked with a knife and handgun by her husband, police say. Christy Martin managed to escape from the couple’s Orlando-area home and flag down a motorist who took her to hospital, the Orlando Sentinel reports. Police are searching for her… More  »

India’s 1B IDs; Thinking Big on Black Friday; Canadian Confidence

Bettering a Billion Lives, India’s Unique ID System The leader of India’s unique identification system has identified four critical changes taking place across India that are the backdrop to his rollout of access to key services for hundreds of millions of people. (full story)

Kids in the U.S. Eyeing Big-Ticket Tech This Holiday Season With Black Friday rapidly approaching, parents may want to get up early Friday morning to find deals, as a recent survey shows their kids are eyeing some wallet-stretching electronics this holiday season. (full story)

Canadian Consumer Confidence Stalled in Q3 The fragile worldwide economic recovery is evident by the drop of three Consumer Confidence Index points in quarter three to 90. Canada is fairing better with a level of 101, which held fairly steady from Q2. (full story)

Food: The Social Network of the Ages Food is the age-old bonding agent among friends and family, connecting people in ways technology simply can’t match. As the economy forced families to tighten budgets, food-related activities from watching cooking shows and reading cookbooks to dining-in meal preparations all increased. (full story)

Survey: Americans Ready to Spend on Black Friday A new survey by The Nielsen Company shows that nearly one in five Americans will shop the Friday after Thanksgiving (aka Black Friday) and more than half (61 percent) plan to spend $100 – $500. (full story)

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