For a third year, Walmart employees are planning to protest on Black Friday. Previous years proved to have little impact on the corporate giant; however, this year is primed to be the largest Black Friday Protest for the workers. Last year, approximately 500 employees from nearly 100 stores across the U.S. participated in the walkout. OUR Walmart, an employee advocacy group created by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union, says employees from over 1,600 stores will be participating in the 2014 strike, and the movement is growing.
The issue? Walmart employees are demanding a $15 per hour living wage.
According to the Americans for Tax Fairness Report report titled?Walmart on Tax Day, How Taxpayers Subsidize America’s Biggest Employer and Richest Family:
The study estimated the cost to Wisconsin’s taxpayers of Walmart’s low wages and benefits, which often force workers to rely on various public assistance programs. It found that a single Walmart Supercenter cost taxpayers between $904,542 and $1.75 million per year, or between $3,015 and $5,815 on average for each of 300 workers.
Additionally, not only do these low wages force employees to rely on public assistance programs. Walmart profits from these programs. The report continues:
Walmart told analysts last year that the company has captured 18 percent of the SNAP market. Using that figure, we estimate that the company accounted for $13.5 billion out of $76 billion in food stamp sales in 2013.
I think it’s extremely likely that many of the Walmart employees currently on SNAP are likely included in those profits. Raz Godelnik, a contributor for TriplePundit.com, thinks so, too.
Based on these estimations I believe Walmart employees received last year $800 million in food stamps from the federal government and spent somewhere beyond $145 million of it in Walmart.
That sounds like falling wages equals government assistance profits for the employer.
Last year, UFCW produced this video. I think it’s worth another share.
I hope for the employees of Walmart, as well as the citizens of our country, that this year’s protests will bring about much-needed change. However, with lines already forming for Black Friday sales across the country, the retailer will likely still be in the black.
