After 7 months offline, Wal-Mart reopened today a Pico Rivera,, CA store that was ostensibly closed for plumbing repairs—but workers there say it was just a way to flush labor activists out of its workforce.
The United Food and Commercial Workers International filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, charging that the giant retailer shut down the Pico Rivera superstore at 8500 Washington Boulevard to get back at their workers who conducted a strike there in 2012???a protest for higher wages.
The UFCW also charged that Wal-Mart hurt hundreds of workers at four other stores using the same excuse: plumbing repairs. Three of the other shuttered stores opened up today???so the toilets must be working really well at Wal-Mart.
Workers at the Pico Rivera store told the media that many of the ???associates??? at Pico Rivera who put their names on a petition calling for higher wages, were not getting their jobs back, and were not offered transfers to other stores. This confirms that Wal-Mart is ???flushing??? these workers out of their system and using plumbing problems as a cover.
Wal-Mart???s former workers now say they will hold a strike action on Black Friday, Wal-Mart???s most hyped-up shopping day.
The NLRB apparently has not received all the information it requested from Wal-Mart.
Readers are urged to call Wal-Mart customer service (because the Pico Rivera phones do not answer) at 1-800-WALMART, and leave the following message:
???I???m calling because I heard that your toilets and bathroom sinks at your Pico Rivera store are now running again, so I thought you might like to rehire the workers you terminated 7 months ago. This is a long time to go without work, and no doubt some of your former workers have found employment at other retailers who have toilets that work.
Stop the charade, and put those who were your ???associates??? back to work.”
After 7 months offline, Wal-Mart reopened today a Pico Rivera,, CA store that was ostensibly closed for plumbing repairs—but workers there say it was just a way to flush labor activists out of its workforce.