It's getting hard to keep track of all the lawsuits workers have filed against Walmart and its contractors recently. Most recently, temporary workers at Chicago-area Walmart stores have filed suit against the company and two staffing agencies for
wage theft through minimum wage and overtime violations. The workers allege they've been required to show up for work early, stay late, and work through lunch breaks, and are seeking back pay.
In recent weeks, Chicago-area warehouse workers moving goods for Walmart filed suit against the Walmart contractor that directly employs them. That suit, too, alleges wage theft:
One method is for workers to be asked to appear for a shift, only to be sent home when not chosen for work. Despite turning up at 6.45am or earlier, they say they often receive no pay for their time. Elsewhere, workers say they are paid no overtime, or have time worked rounded down to the nearest whole hour. They also say retaliation for speaking out is common, which also results in lost wages.
And don't forget the
gender discrimination suits being filed around the country in the wake of a Supreme Court decision prohibiting a national class-action lawsuit. Walmart already faces gender discrimination cases in Tennessee, Texas and California, with more to follow.
Walmart consistently claims that all actions against it—lawsuits, walkouts, demonstrations—are union efforts not related to the actual desires of Walmart workers, as if the union is somehow able to find this many unhappy workers through some mysterious mind control and not because Walmart just treats its workers that badly. Apparently Walmart's so sure that its workers are oppressed and disempowered that they wouldn't fight back without union backing. But while the United Food and Commercial Workers does support some worker groups doing non-union organizing at Walmart, ultimately these suits represent incredibly vulnerable workers, without the protection of union contracts or grievance procedures, saying "enough" and pushing for Walmart to at least obey the law if not the dictates of basic decency. And the history of successful wage theft and safety violation and other cases against Walmart show how just their cause is.
Mitt Romney and other Republicans have vowed to make it harder for workers to fight back against abusive employers like Walmart. That's why it's so important to get out the vote among Democrats. Sign up for swing-state GOTV with our partners at Workers' Voice.
