Walmart Worker Walks Out... Store Calls Police

There was an employee walkout at a Walmart Supercenter in St. Cloud, Fla., on Wednesday morning, but even if you were shopping there when it happened you probably would have missed it.

The walkout included just one worker -- Vanessa Ferreira, age 59. Ferreira informed her manager publicly Wednesday morning that she was going on strike. The other employees watched her walk out of the store, then went back to doing their jobs.

Within a half hour, Ferreira would be told by police outside that she was trespassing and ordered to leave. She's worked in the store's cake department for eight years, and she earns $11.90 an hour, she said.

"I love to decorate cakes," Ferreira said Wednesday. "That's my priority -- to do my cakes the best I can."

As much as she loves her job, there's plenty Ferreira doesn't like about her employer. According to Ferreira, Walmart's wages are too low for workers to survive on, and the company keeps too many of its employees on part-time status, leaving them to rely on government assistance to get by.

"They pay low wages, then the taxpayers pick up the tab for food stamps and Medicaid," Ferreira said. "They need to take care of their people. They need to be responsible to their workers."

A few months ago, Ferreira heard about the union-backed group OUR Walmart, which is orchestrating an as-yet-unknown number of strikes at Walmart stores throughout the country this week, throwing the world's largest retailer into damage control just ahead of Black Friday. Ferreira said she liked the idea of a group advocating for workers, so she joined.

Ferreira said she tried to recruit members, but it wasn't easy.

"They're so scared," Ferreira said of her co-workers. "I couldn't get anybody to join. They said, 'You can't fight Walmart.'"

Whatever strikes hit Walmart stores this Friday, it's likely only a small, perhaps miniscule fraction of the retailer's 1.4-million member U.S. workforce will take part.


But Ferreira said she felt compelled to walk out after an incident a few days ago. In a letter she's filing with the National Labor Relations Board, Ferreira accuses management of retaliating against her because of legally protected organizing in the workplace.

Ferreira said that on Saturday she received her first-ever "coaching" -- a formal bit of Walmart disciplining that could help lead to dismissal down the road -- after a customer complained about a problem with a cake order. Despite occasional problems with cakes in the past, Ferreira said it was the only coaching she's been given in eight years.

She said she believes she was disciplined because she was a known member of OUR Walmart who might demonstrate on Black Friday. She said in her letter that she would withdraw her complaint if the coaching were removed from her file.

"I've worked at Walmart and never had a writeup, no warning, no nothing," Ferreira said. "I've been in the baking industry in retail operations for 20 years and never [been] disciplined."

On Wednesday morning, Ferreira said she and other employees were called to a meeting where the manager warned there might be distractions led by OUR Walmart surrounding the holiday. According to her own version, Ferreira told her co-workers it was employees' right to go on strike, and then things got "pretty hot." A few workers said Ferreira didn't speak for them. Ferreira said she was speaking for the ones who were afraid to say anything at all. To cool everybody off, Ferreira said the manager tried to lead everybody in a "Walmart cheer."

"Why don't you just quit?" Ferreira said one co-worker told her.

"I said I've got eight years invested in this place -- I'm going to make it better," Ferreira said.

- Huffingtonpost.com