"Walmart moms" continue to strike and rally against the company's wages and working conditions in the days before its shareholder meeting. Sarah Jaffe explains that having mothers who
work at Walmart leading protests is
about more than just added sympathy:
They're taking a common media trope and a key part of the company's own public image and turning it on its head: Walmart, they say, is not a good place for mothers. [...]
The willingness of these mothers to strike is not only a stronger challenge to the company's power than just holding a protest: it is a powerful claim to their own time. It underscores the problems they have with the company in the first place – that these jobs are bad for women, bad for their families, and bad for everyone.
Workers have gone on strike in 20 cities in recent days; gone to Phoenix, Arizona, to deliver their stories to Walmart chair Rob Walton; and are rallying outside the company's home office in Bentonville, Arkansas. In the
Chicago area Wednesday:
"My working family is forced to supplement its income with another part time job due to Walmart's low pay," demonstrator Linda Haluska said outside the Chatham store. "We deserve the right to voice concern and be free from retaliation."
Walmart is just as opposed to workers' rights to speak out and not face retaliation as it is to paying them a living wage, though.