TORONTO – Canada’s leading retail union reports that Walmart workers in Canada have plenty of reason to be inspired by the Associate uprising currently taking place in the United States that involves striking workers at a growing number of Walmart locations across the country.
UFCW Canada joined Walmart workers and union activists from around the globe in Los Angeles from October 3 to 5 to stand with striking Walmart workers and to launch a Global Alliance dedicated to driving positive change at the world’s largest retailer and private-sector employer.
Two migrant agriculture workers who survived a horrific crash near Hampstead, Ontario that killed 11 others in February, told their story at Toronto's Ryerson University on October 2. Javier Alba Medina and Juan Ariza Mejia were critically injured when the van they were travelling in with other Peruvian migrant workers was struck by another vehicle on February 6. Since then, the men have been recuperating at a London, Ontario facility, but neither will possibly ever fully regain their physical capacities.
Walmart Workers from stores throughout the Dallas, Texas-area went on strike October 9 in the first-ever Walmart Associate walk-out in Dallas. Walmart workers from stores in Miami, the Washington DC-area, Sacramento, Southern California and the Bay-area are also walking off the job. Along with community supporters, the striking Associates announced that they would be taking their calls for change to Walmart's global corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, where Walmart is holding its annual financial analyst meeting. On October 4, Associates in Los Angeles walked-off the job calling for an end to the retaliation.
UFCW Canada Local 503 members, activists and officers recently joined over 500 participants for 4th Annual Light the Night walk in Quebec City. A bit of rain didn't dampen the spirits of the participants, who helped shine a ray of hope by holding illuminated balloons as they walked to raise money for the research efforts of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada (LLSC).
The strike by Walmart workers in Los Angeles comes on the heels of strikes at two massive warehouses in the Walmart distribution network. Workers at a Walmart warehouse in Illinois continue their strike which started on September 17 over unsafe and abusive working conditions. Earlier this week, the strikers and more than 600 community allies blocked access to the facility, forcing the warehouse to temporarily shutdown.
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United Food and Commercial Workers Union
Canada's private sector union