On Friday, Walmart filed an unfair labor practice charge against UFCW with the National Labor Relations Board to stop what Walmart says are illegal disturbances against its businesses.
A group of Walmart employes, encouraged by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) and OUR Walmart, are expected to strike on Black Friday. Black Friday is the store’s busiest day of the year, and this may be the largest strike against the company in its history.
Two groups affiliated with the UFCW — OUR Walmart and Making Change at Walmart — have been organizing demonstrations and flash mobs outside of Walmarts.
According to Reuters, the National Labor Relations Act “prohibits such picketing for more than 30 days without the filing of a representation petition” and “requires the NLRB to seek a federal court injunction against such activity.”
“We are taking this action now because we cannot allow the UFCW to continue to intentionally seek to create an environment that could directly and adversely impact our customers and associates,” Walmart spokesman David Tovar said. “If they do, they will be held accountable.”
OUR Walmart is not a union though many of Walmart employees pay the group $5 a month in dues. The group has organized over 1,000 protests and has organized online to disrupt Walmarts on in the days leading Black Friday.
Walmart has insisted that “anyone who is not an employee is prohibited from coming onto its owned or controlled parking lots or other facilities to solicit, hand out literature or otherwise engage in any demonstration” and reiterated the company intends for “for the UFCW to be held accountable for any injury or property damage that may occur as a result of the actions led by the union, OUR Walmart or any of its other affiliates.”
Past attempts to unionize Walmart U.S. workers have failed, and Walmart currently does not have any union-represented workers in any of its stores in the United States.
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