We Stand in Solidarity with Walmart Workers on Black Friday

For Immediate Release

Contact: Jeremy Sprinkle, Communications Director, [email protected], 919-833-6678

NORTH CAROLINA STATE AFL-CIO STANDS IN SOLIDARITY WITH WALMART WORKERS ON BLACK FRIDAY

For a list of Walmart Black Friday protests visit: http://blackfridayprotests.org/

Walmart is the symbol of rising economic inequality in America. The large corporation made $17 billion in profits this year, but pays its employees poverty wages: 825,000 of their employees make less than $25,000 a year, trapping them and their families in a state of economic insecurity. A job shouldn’t trap workers in poverty. It should lift them out of it.

If Walmart raised wages, it would increase its employees’ purchasing power, create more jobs, and improve the economy. Instead, Walmart workers are forced to rely on billions in annual government assistance to survive while the wealth of the six Walmart heirs is greater than the combined wealth of 42% of American families. It’s not good for our community or our economy that the Walton family and Walmart’s well-paid corporate executives are padding their pockets while hundreds of thousands of Walmart workers are struggling to support their families.

Working families of North Carolina recognize that low labor standards somewhere affect labor standards everywhere and strongly support Walmart workers’ request to earn a living wage. The North Carolina State AFL-CIO is calling on the corporate giant to pay all its workers at least $25,000 annually to provide their families a chance to escape low wages and a life of poverty. The company can certainly afford it.

"Whether they realize it or not, Walmart workers, by standing together to live better, are showing us the way to reverse the decline of the middle class," said MaryBe McMillan, state AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer. "Good middle class jobs only come from struggle, and the struggle at Walmart is one that must be won."

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The North Carolina State AFL-CIO is the largest association of local unions and union councils in North Carolina, representing over one-hundred thousand union members, fighting for good jobs, safe workplaces, workers’ rights, consumer protections, and quality public services on behalf of ALL working families. PO Box 10805, Raleigh, NC 27605.

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