Dear Mr. McMillon:
Congratulations on your appointment as Chief Executive Officer at Walmart. As a long-time Walmart executive, we know that you are deeply familiar with the hard work and many challenges facing associates at Walmart. Thousands of OUR Walmart members in stores across the country stand ready to work with you to change Walmart for the better under your leadership.
Many industry observers and analysts – as well as shareholders – have noted that our company’s low wages, erratic scheduling and understaffing are at the root of the out-of-stock and operational problems that have contributed to disappointing sales figures and low customer satisfaction ratings.
The low pay, coupled with inadequate hours and unpredictable scheduling, means that far too many of us cannot adequately provide for our families or contribute to our communities. For example, OUR Walmart member Barbara Collins, who worked at Walmart for more than eight years, was sometimes scheduled for as few as eight hours a week. She had to visit three different local food banks one month just to feed her family. Last year, she was illegally fired by Walmart after speaking out.
Walmart’s aggressive, and in many cases illegal, treatment of associates who speak out for better working conditions has not only prompted legal and public concerns, the company’s actions have emboldened more associates to get involved in the calls for better jobs
The call for Walmart to pay associates more and end retaliation against those who speak out has never been greater. This Black Friday, for example, tens of thousands of associates and members of our communities held protests at nearly 1,500 Walmart stores. Feeling the urgent need for Walmart to improve jobs, more than 100 of us were arrested in civil disobedience actions calling on Walmart to pay associates more and stop retaliating against those who speak out.
Your appointment as CEO provides an opportunity to begin a new chapter at Walmart. We are hopeful that you will seize this moment and change direction at Walmart in a way that reinvests in associates and our communities.
Members of OUR Walmart are committed to being partners in this endeavor. We hope you agree that the hourly associates of OUR Walmart have an important role to play in improving our company, and we would like to meet with you with you at your earliest convenience so that you may listen to our concerns and hear our ideas for the future of Walmart.
Sincerely,
Barbara Collins
OUR Walmart member, illegally fired by Walmart
Store #2418, Placerville, CA
Charmaine Givens-Thomas
OUR Walmart member
Store #5485, Evergreen Park, IL
Anthony Goytia
OUR Walmart member
Store #2401, Duarte, CA
Cindy Murray
OUR Walmart member
Store #1985, Laurel, MD
Here's a petition appealing for help for victims of a Bangladesh garment factory collapse.
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