Critics of Walmart said Thursday that more than a hundred people nationwide would engage in a fast beginning Friday to protest for higher wages for the store’s employees.
However, only a few of them would apparently be engaging in an actual hunger strike and it is not clear how many, if any, actual Walmart employees would joining in.
The nonprofit activist group OUR Walmart sent out a press release Thursday that said “Walmart Workers to Announce 15 Day Fast” for a $15-an-hour wage and promised “nationwide actions and fasting planned through Black Friday in 50 states.” During a call with reporters, OUR Walmart co-director Andrea Dehlendorf said that “over a hundred” Walmart associates would be fasting as way to symbolize how many Walmart employees are just scraping by. The group will hold a week-long fasting event outside of a Walton family home in New York City. The Waltons founded Walmart and family members are the majority shareholders.
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However, Dehlendorf and other activists in the call said that only a portion of the hundred — they did not give an exact number — would be engaging in an actual liquid diet fast and that some participants were fasting for a day. Exactly what would be given up and for how long was apparently being left up to the individual.
“There are different types of fasts. We’re just asking people to fast as in giving up one item or one thing for one day or the whole 15 days,” said Tyfani Faulkner, a former Walmart customer service manager in Sacramento, Calif. “It’s whatever you are comfortable with.”
Faulkner added she hadn’t made up her mind on what she was going to do but was leaning toward giving up “red meat and starches” for the duration. “It’s hard to ask people to do a complete fast for 15 days,” she said.
Asked how many Walmart employees had committed to engaging in a 15-day liquid fast protest, Dehlendorf told the Washington Examiner, “I don’t have that number because people are still signing up all of the time.” Asked how many they had signed up so far, she said, “I don’t have that number.”
Walmart spokesman Brian Nick dismissed the announcement as little more than a media stunt. “Walmart will continue to focus on our commitment to invest $2.7 billion over this year and next in wages, education and training for our associates. We’re thankful for our associates and the millions of customers we’ll serve this holiday season,” he said.
Walmart employs an estimated 1.3 million people in the U.S., making it the nation’s largest employer. Under a policy adopted in February, all employees are paid at least $9 an hour, $1.75 higher than the federal minimum wage. That bottom rate is set to rise to $10 an hour next year. The company is non-union.
OUR Walmart — the “OUR” stands for Organization United for Respect — has staged protests and other events directed at Walmart for several years. It was founded and run by the United Food and Commercial Workers, a union that represents employees at several of Walmart’s rivals, such as Giant, Safeway and Kroger’s. It has long sought to organize the retail giant. UFCW also supports a second activist group, Making Change at Walmart.
In September, an internal schism caused OUR Walmart to split into two rival entities. Co-directors Dehlendorf and Daniel Schlademan announced on Sept. 17 that OUR Walmart was “relaunching” as an organization independent of UFCW. However, the union disputed that, claiming the other group “split from us” and still maintains the original website, forrespect.org as well as the Making Change at Walmart website. Dehlendorf and Schlademan’s group uses united4respect.org.
Thursday’s announcement appears intended at least partly to help the non-UFCW-based group to outbid the union-allied version as the main anti-Walmart group.
“Their message is clear: while Walmart employees can barely put food on the table this Thanksgiving, Walmart continues to thrive as the largest supplier of groceries in the nation and line the pockets of the Walton family with corporate greed. Anything less than $15 and full-time is not enough for Walmart workers,” the group said in its press release.
