COAL TOWNSHIP - Two employees at the Wal-Mart Supercenter here said they're not aware of any plans for a strike on Black Friday.
The employees, who did not want their names used, were asked about the possibility of the local store joining the OUR Walmart movement. The union-backed group says it will stage the biggest protest of its kind against the company at hundreds of stores on Black Friday, the nation's busiest shopping day.
One of the local workers said a lot of single parents who need their jobs work at the Coal Township store, a reason they may decide against protesting.
The union-backed OUR Walmart last week flew dozens of workers to Wal-Mart's headquarters and has encouraged churches to hold a "Black Friday Prayer Vigil" to object to the company's treatment of workers on the planned protest day, according to the New York Times. The group expects thousands of workers to participate in store strikes while they speak out for better pay, fair schedules and affordable health care.
Wal-Mart had initially brushed off these actions as inconsequential public relations efforts. But the corporation is taking the protests more seriously, sending a memorandum advising managers how to deal legally with protesters and warning some union-friendly groups that they might face arrest if they trespass during the protests.
Wal-Mart, the nation's largest employer and retailer, has fended off repeated efforts by unions and their supporters to organize its workers. On Thursday, it filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board - its first in a decade - seeking to prevent Wal-Mart from holding what the group says will be the biggest protests of this kind against the company at hundreds of stores.
Labor experts caution that the complaint could be meant as a warning shot to discourage workers from participating since the labor relations board often takes months to make a ruling, but it nonetheless reflects how seriously the company has come to view a group that it had once dismissed as a nuisance.