The effort to organize Walmart workers and pressure the retail giant for improved wages and working conditions has shifted in recent months, focusing more on a media and advertising campaign than on in-person mass activism. That’s why you may have noticed less talk about strikes and protests on Black Friday, like the one pictured above. But the change in organizing tactics doesn’t mean a change in the mistreatment and exploitation workers face, or their desire for change.
About 100 workers committed to some form of fasting in the weeks before Thanksgiving, and a worker who can’t fast for medical reasons petitioned the company for a year-round employee discount on food as well as the $15 minimum wage workers have been fighting for. Earlier this year, Walmart announced it was raising its minimum pay, but fell well short of $15.
The effort to pressure Walmart to do better—something it can afford to do—is also in the air, with an ad airing during a Democratic presidential debate.