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Walmart Black Friday ---- Strike!


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i've had enough friends work in retail to know that the stuff that's marked down on black friday is never really the good stuff anyway. most electronic stores fire sale the crappiest models of stuff they desperately need off the floor before xmas and while it seems like you're getting a brutal deal at the time, if you wait about a month when xmas is over, the actual good stuff will be about the same price.

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i've had enough friends work in retail to know that the stuff that's marked down on black friday is never really the good stuff anyway. most electronic stores fire sale the crappiest models of stuff they desperately need off the floor before xmas and while it seems like you're getting a brutal deal at the time, if you wait about a month when xmas is over, the actual good stuff will be about the same price.

There are definitely good products marked down with the crappier ones on BF.

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wait, if you work in retail, you may be expected to work on and prepare for the biggest retail shopping day of the year? well, I'll be damned...

but seriously, what are these people complaining about? are they mad that they work at wal-mart? if so, I don't blame them (for being mad), but that's not a reason to strike, that's a reason to find a new job. are they mad at wal-mart's practices? it's not like wal-mart became "the wal-mart we all love to hate" anytime recently, so, again, why are you working at wal-mart? and if they're complaining about black friday ruining their thanksgiving, big deal. if you love your family so damn much, work (and be thankful you have a job), get paid (overtime, since thanksgiving is a holiday), and plan for your thanksgiving meal to be on saturday. the "fourth thursday of november" isn't significantly more special than the "saturday after the fourth thursday of november", but your turkey will probably be heavily discounted and now you'll get to enjoy watching (college) football on your fancy new TV!

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wait, if you work in retail, you may be expected to work on and prepare for the biggest retail shopping day of the year? well, I'll be damned...

but seriously, what are these people complaining about? are they mad that they work at wal-mart? if so, I don't blame them (for being mad), but that's not a reason to strike, that's a reason to find a new job. are they mad at wal-mart's practices? it's not like wal-mart became "the wal-mart we all love to hate" anytime recently, so, again, why are you working at wal-mart? and if they're complaining about black friday ruining their thanksgiving, big deal. if you love your family so damn much, work (and be thankful you have a job), get paid (overtime, since thanksgiving is a holiday), and plan for your thanksgiving meal to be on saturday. the "fourth thursday of november" isn't significantly more special than the "saturday after the fourth thursday of november", but your turkey will probably be heavily discounted and now you'll get to enjoy watching (college) football on your fancy new TV!

I am making an assumption here, but I am guessing you have never done Black Friday at a place like Wal-Mart (as a consumer, not talking about working it). Pretty sure a couple years ago a worker died at Target because she was trampled. It's terribly unorganized, that unorganization causes frustration in the customers, then that leads to extreme stress on the employees, sometimes fights.There are ways to handle it better (things like handing out tickets to people waiting in line rather than free grabs to the the shelves) and maybe some stores do better jobs but the whole thing is a big mess of stress for people who aren't paid enough to deal with it.

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I've worked mall retail for the past 10 years. It's not fun working Black Friday. I worked at old navy for 4 Black Fridays and each year it' got worse. To the point where they're open on thanksgiving now. I was let go from my last job, and as much as it sucks being unemployed, I'm thankful I won't have to work thanksgiving/black Friday.

Fun tidbit.. If you watch the extreme couponing Black Friday special, you'll see me for about 1 second handing out bracelets to people in line at old navy.

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I am making an assumption here, but I am guessing you have never done Black Friday at a place like Wal-Mart (as a consumer, not talking about working it). Pretty sure a couple years ago a worker died at Target because she was trampled. It's terribly unorganized, that unorganization causes frustration in the customers, then that leads to extreme stress on the employees, sometimes fights.There are ways to handle it better (things like handing out tickets to people waiting in line rather than free grabs to the the shelves) and maybe some stores do better jobs but the whole thing is a big mess of stress for people who aren't paid enough to deal with it.

It was Walmart, not Target:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/29/business/29walmart.html?pagewanted=all

Most black friday places are crazy but still have civility. Walmart is not one of those places. Just search "Black Friday Walmart" on youtube

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There are similar stories regarding Target you can find online. Probably for all department stores.

I think a good analogy for black friday is that it is just like crowd control at a sporting event. The employees do everything they can to keep control, but if people want to storm the field after a win, there is nothing they can do to stay in control. Except in one situation you probably have reasonably paid security guards/cops vs. stock boys and cashiers.

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I worked the last 4 black fridays at Target (so happy to be out of retail now).. and as someone else had said, each year it had gotten worse. I get that people are tired and cold, and that makes them cranky. But the lack of any sort of respect for each other or the processes we had laid out just leads to disaster.

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Pretty sure they are not striking because Black Friday sucks... They are striking due to wall marts unfair employee treatment. They are choosing to start the strike on Black Friday because they know that will be the day wallmart will be hit the hardest.

Not sure how they are going to accomplish this strike however because they are non union. A lot of workers are going to go hungry if wallmart doesn't budge on w.e the demands are. Shame. I work at Shoprite where we do have a union to protect our rights and I genuinely feel bad for someone who works in an environment that is not fair and has no job security.

I've always been against wallmart and make an effort to not shop there. Besides the occasional item.

I've very interested to see if this actually causes any change.

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wait, if you work in retail, you may be expected to work on and prepare for the biggest retail shopping day of the year? well, I'll be damned...

but seriously, what are these people complaining about? are they mad that they work at wal-mart? if so, I don't blame them (for being mad), but that's not a reason to strike, that's a reason to find a new job. are they mad at wal-mart's practices? it's not like wal-mart became "the wal-mart we all love to hate" anytime recently, so, again, why are you working at wal-mart? and if they're complaining about black friday ruining their thanksgiving, big deal. if you love your family so damn much, work (and be thankful you have a job), get paid (overtime, since thanksgiving is a holiday), and plan for your thanksgiving meal to be on saturday. the "fourth thursday of november" isn't significantly more special than the "saturday after the fourth thursday of november", but your turkey will probably be heavily discounted and now you'll get to enjoy watching (college) football on your fancy new TV!

Non union workers generally do not receive holiday pay. I can't say for sure about wallmart but I'm almost certain they do not

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I am a political moderate and not anti-union at all, but the idea of a Wal-Mart union is stupid to me. Workers have reasonable protection already under government legislation (unfair firings, sexual harassment, safe working conditions, minimum wages, etc). If you want more than that, you have to bring more to the table than the ability to move stock or punch a cash register. Sorry. The right to a job isn't part of the constitution. It's something you have to work for. Wal-Mart pays a price for lower wages and undesirable jobs by recruiting less than top notch employees. Sounds like those employees might think they are more important than they are (especially with 9% unemployment).

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I am a political moderate and not anti-union at all, but the idea of a Wal-Mart union is stupid to me. Workers have reasonable protection already under government legislation (unfair firings, sexual harassment, safe working conditions, minimum wages, etc). If you want more than that, you have to bring more to the table than the ability to move stock or punch a cash register. Sorry. The right to a job isn't part of the constitution. It's something you have to work for. Wal-Mart pays a price for lower wages and undesirable jobs by recruiting less than top notch employees. Sounds like those employees might think they are more important than they are (especially with 9% unemployment).

I dont think its stupid. you realize how long the process is to file charges through the EEOC? Its a long process, and its a daunting process. and just because they have protection under govt legislation doesnt mean that they shouldnt still try to have better work protection through unionization. And its not like every walmart will unionize, it will have to go region by region, store by store, each having to first vote for interest in union representation, and then the actual vote FOR union representation. there are some stores who want it, and some who dont, some states that make unionization powerful, some states that make it useless.

unionization shouldn't be left for those whose job abilities are more than moving stock and punching a cash register... unionization is FOR those types of jobs, so they're not abused because of their low-level entry, and ease of replacement. ALL employees deserve the same opportunity to unionize if they choose.

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Pretty sure they are not striking because Black Friday sucks... They are striking due to wall marts unfair employee treatment. They are choosing to start the strike on Black Friday because they know that will be the day wallmart will be hit the hardest.

Not sure how they are going to accomplish this strike however because they are non union. A lot of workers are going to go hungry if wallmart doesn't budge on w.e the demands are. Shame. I work at Shoprite where we do have a union to protect our rights and I genuinely feel bad for someone who works in an environment that is not fair and has no job security.

I've always been against wallmart and make an effort to not shop there. Besides the occasional item.

I've very interested to see if this actually causes any change.

agreed. Striking without union protection is pretty rough because all the employer has to do is say that they're being insubordiant, or they're not showing up to work and they can be fired and replaced. Its bold for them because they're easily replaceable, but outside of going on strike, they really cant bring anything to the table to improve their working conditions and hours.

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