yep,the Mother of all Strikes,Protests and Boycotts it was!
Seems the Consumers have taught the Unions a Lesson!

Cenk talks to Florida Rep.-Elect Alan Grayson (D) about his support of Wal-Mart workers who walked out or protested on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Grayson says, “Wal-Mart could give every single employee it’s got, even the CEO, a 30 percent raise, and Wal-Mart would still be profitable.” Because so many employees earn so little, they often receive housing, food and other government assistance to make ends meet. Grayson says, “I don’t think Wal-Mart should in effect be the largest recipient of public aid in the country. Taxpayers shouldn’t have to bear that burden.”
http://fromthetrenchesworldreport.com/rep-elect-grayson-wal-mart-could-give-every-employee-even-the-ceo-a-30-raise-and-still-be-profitable/26726/

http://laborpains.org/2012/11/26/the-wal-mart-not-strike-by-the-not-labor-union/

The Wal-Mart Not-Strike by the Not-Labor Union

If you went to a Wal-Mart this weekend, chances are that you had more trouble getting to the best deals thanks to obstructions from your fellow shoppers, not because of a much-ballyhooed, but little-attended labor action.

It turns out that the proposed strike, walkout, protest — whatever you want to call it — really didn’t amount to anything. And even if you spotted a few of these lonely folks, there was no guarantee that they were even Wal-Mart employees. And that’s even with the $50 gift card enticement that the organizers offered give out if you wanted to “sponsor a striker.”

The groups behind the effort, Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart) and Making Change at Walmart are both efforts of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union. The UFCW has long pined to get a foot in the door at America’s largest retailer, but to date, its efforts have resulted in complete failure.

And this weekend’s actions appear to be a repeat performance of the union coming up short. Most reports found a handful of employees at a protest, if there were any at all. Regardless of the numbers, even the highest estimates wouldn’t make much of a dent in the 1.4 million people employed by Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart attempted to stop the proposed action last week, but the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) was unable to reach a decision before the non-events, claiming that it was “complex” and could not be decided so quickly. A recent paper published in Engage, the practice journal of The Federalist Society, takes a closer look at groups such as OUR Walmart and explains what types of issues the NLRB will likely have to address in its ruling.

Along with several other labor groups, OUR Walmart is classified as a “worker center,” not a labor union like the Teamsters or the United Auto Workers, for example. As authors Stefan Marculewicz and Jennifer Thomas explain, worker centers are able to avoid complying with the laws that affect labor organizations, including the protections given to workers by federal law.

We certainly do not take any position in this article with respect to the value these worker centers may offer to workers. However, no organization, no matter how laudable its mission, is above reproach. Just as corruption plagued the labor movement in the last century, and gave rise to the legislation that governs labor organizations and provides workers the basic protections enjoyed today, so too could similar malfeasance cloud the efforts of worker centers. Compliance with the NLRA and LMRDA serves not only as a protection for workers, but also, perhaps, as a validator of the worker centers that claim to represent them.

A goal of many worker centers is to ensure that employers of their members comply with the basic laws that offer protections to the workers. It is quite reasonable to expect worker centers to comply with them as well.

So what of OUR Walmart? The group is considered a subsidiary of the UFCW and its goals for how it plans to affect change at Wal-Mart include alterations to wages and hours of employment as well as other employment-related policies. The group has also directly demanded these changes on Wal-Mart’s management. For these reasons, Marculewicz and Thomas find that OUR Walmart should be considered a “labor organization” under federal law and must therefore follow the rules that they are currently avoiding.

Labor, in making a lot of noise about Wal-Mart and not backing it up with any real action, may damage itself by bringing more attention to its apparent end-run around federal labor law.



Yeah,the Mother Of All Labor-Actions!

Mr Conrad why do you support working families going backwards in income and the elite going forward?

Why do you think US taxpayers should support wallmart workers with low income assistance from school lunches to healthcare?

and all thanks to those bloodsucking Unions!
All for them,none for anyone else!

Clearly your misinformed.

Its a shame you never read a topic you feel the need to post in.


Real families wages have fallen while every expense has risen

The wealthy have increased income 275% since 1979.

How can you keep a straight face when you claim its the unions?

After all we represent a small % of the work force.

so,you take it upon you to tell People where and where not to shop?

Union-Thuggery and Union-Greed is an Open Secret!

The Democratic staff of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce estimated the breakdown of costs for one 200-employee Wal-Mart store:
* $36,000 a year for free or reduced school lunches, assuming that 50 families of employees qualify.
* $42,000 a year for Section 8 rental assistance, assuming that 3% of the store employees qualify.
* $125,000 a year for federal tax credits and deductions for low-income families, assuming that 50 employees are heads of households with a child, and 50 employees are married with two children.
* $108,000 a year for the additional federal contribution to state children's health insurance programs, assuming
that 30 employees with an average of two children qualify.
* $100,000 a year for additional Title I expenses, assuming 50 families with two children qualify.
* $9,750 a year for the additional costs of low-income energy assistance.
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Corporate_Welfare/WalMart_Welfare.html

Well now bestinshow, if our elected officials like Obama (cough cough) were doing their jobs right we would not be having the issues we face or a need for Unions any more. OH NO! Walmart is evil. Well, who has the jobs? WALMART. Who makes people sign THEIR contract to get THEIR jobs? WALMART? Walmart does not completely hold out on their employees. They do get some dental and some medical once they Matriculate in. THAT COSTS BOTH EMPLOYEE AND EMPLOYER! GEEEEEEEEEE, food for thought.


Next, Who has the most competitive pricing and clearly better stocked and usually maintain open and clean store to shop in? Hmmmmmm, (hint, Walmart). But how did Walmart start? Small. Where did they start? Where EVERYONE ELSE WAS NOT DOING BUSINESS. Why are they successful? The pulled pride out of their azz and went to China and said we WILL by X and you will give it to us for Y and in the end they managed to make Z where the others were floundering. Why? They do smart business. They know who to keep out of their money. Unions are one of those deadbeat mice ALWAYS wanting more cookies and more milk each year.

So we go from Republicans to Walmart for the woes of this nation and its "worker." I am one of those "workers" you seem so hell bent for leather to look down your nose at because I don't tow the union line. Again if our elected leaders were doing a conscientious job would we need Unions? The answer is NO! But the fact is that a lot of these politicians we keep reelecting are being paid for by your hallowed Unions.

Ford was not bailed out yet they are still kicking the crap out of GM and actually making a stronger showing against Toyota. Why? They put a leash on the UAW and made it clear they have a plan to survive if they pull any more of their crap. It will begin with MASS layoff and a internal reorganization which legally breaks their contract with the UAW. A lot of Operations will remain overseas while Ford re-consolidates itself. Then they will drop a new contract in front of people like yourself and cheerfully say, "Don't like it, don't sign up and get out of the way of the guy behind you who DOES want this job!" There are legal ways of dealing with problem Unions. The easiest is just squeeze all the money from a company and bail out and watch that ship sink with all the rats drowning with the passengers! The hardest is to pull a internal re-consolidation and it is a lengthy and costly legal process but it is the one loop hole businesses have used to break union power over them before.

But again just because the workers WANT to vote for collective bargaining doesn't mean the company is under any legal obligation to allow it! And the so called legality of preventing collective bargaining has been a long standing legal battle that has time and time again worked against the Unions and in some cases bit the Unions in the azz. One such case of this is the "right to work" laws.

Now check this out. While I was working at McDonnel Douglas I could have refused to sign with the UAW but I still would have had to pay dues to them. With Hindsight being 20/20 I should have refused, and then sued the Union and McDonnel Douglas. Maybe I could have crippled that company sooner than later and gotten the UAW to settle for a heap of coin to not get their backsides roasted in court.

Unions have stretched their necessity way thin these days!

You want to piss blood about greed, Banking in general and the "Credit Industry!" Let's talk about THEM for a while!

It's not all about you it is what is good for society in general.

sayeth the Collectivists!

All I can say is I'm going to shop at Walmart regardless I would buy the same product I buy at any other store. Only difference I can walk out of Walmart buying the same brands for less...

When you are on a budget and have to pinch pennies you shop at the lowest price store... I don't buy Walmart brands I go for namebrand items...

So yeah I will continue to shop there if others do not like it they don't have to shop there...

Same with gas I will go to the station that has the lowest prices.. And yes most bigger stations also pay min. wage and their workers work less then 30 hours a week.

They know this when they go to work for them.. Heck if they want more hours don't work there... That would cause them to raise their wages..They would have to raise wages if they could not get anyone to work for them.

If no one shops there then they will cut back hours even more...hummm so guess that theory of not going there would end up doing more harm then good... One has to look at the big picture...

Gotta' agree with pinche pennies.

I had a friend, she transferred to Odessa, who used to work Wally world on the border. She left because the mexicans discriminated against her by never promoting her or giving her equal raises. They'd send her to supervise new-open stores but, at her home job, she was, after 12 years, still just a cashier. BTW, she is a true African/American She migrated and became a citizen.

And you act like the Unions are all about "All of us..."

You know you are not only kidding yourself you are likewise lying to yourself.

"The union way or no way." That is how you seem to be approaching this... Then again so did the Communists when they took over Russia.

Unions became a problem when they started contributing to the killing smaller businesses left and right in America. Now they are actually slowly squeezing the life out of big business and the only surviving Union shops in a lot of trades we don't have here any more are Government Sponsored. There are a couple exceptions and those are businesses who spelled it out to the Unions they have a plan to screw them if they squeeze any more on them. You think Ford is playing games with UAW any more? The last strike threatened upon them was met with a frank warning. Ford still holds reorganization as a real threat to them. GM ain't got the balls thanks to all those bail outs they keep getting!

And if the Chevy Volt is a template of how leading edge our American UNIONIZED auto industry is you are really really kidding me! That car is a pile of out dated crap two years ago and is is just coming out on the market now. Even the Prius is a better car STILL! And that is a TOYOTA. Japanese made with Chinese parts.

If Unions cannot change their tune soon they are going to go away. They are part of this whole "Us and them" mentality issue we suffer with!

You must be referring to the biggest union in history, the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics. Wasn't that union's motto "Workers of the world, unite!" ?

So it isn't just me who noticed that too?

well maybe f those other companies didnt send so many jobs to other countries theywould still be up there on the top employer list


i dont think you can buy an american made car any longer

well,Government Motors (TM) is still making American Cars at Taxpayer's Expense!