On February 18, Walmart workers protested outside the penthouse of Alice Walton, an heir to the Walmart fortune. She and her family have amassed obscene wealth ($191 billion) by exploiting millions of workers around the world. The company itself has a revenue of $523.96 billion.
The action was organized by United for Respect, a labor rights group founded in 2011. They have helped Walmart workers organize to demand better pay, more predictable scheduling and consistent hours, among other rights. The crowd chanted “People over profit!” and “Hey hey! Ho ho! Corporate greed has got to go!” The workers demanded a living wage and reliable working hours for all Walmart workers. “It’s time for the Waltons and Walmart CEO [Doug] McMillon to stop hoarding company profits to enrich themselves through share buybacks,” said Melissa Love, a Walmart worker at the protest.
The action comes at a time when the company is planning to restructure its workforce as part of a plan that the bosses are cruelly calling the “Great Workplace” initiative. The plan aims to cut costs by ditching full-time staff and relying on even more part-time workers. This would be an intensification of the company’s existing strategy. Walmart cut its full-time staff by 30% between 2005 and 2018. 50% of Walmart’s U.S. workforce is part-time.
More people work at Walmart (1.5 million people) than for any other private company in the United States. The wages and labor practices established by Walmart set the standard for the retail industry as a whole. Collectively, Walmart workers have the potential to lead the fight for higher wages and better jobs for all retail workers. Organized against the bosses, their power would be unstoppable.