Walmart Workers Fight Back After Closings: Laid Off Workers React, Accuse Walmart Of ‘Retaliatory’ Closures


Walmart workers are fighting back after the company closed five of its stores last week. The New York Times reported Sunday that a group of laid employees from the Walmart in Pico Rivera, California, were planning to react to the closures by filing an injunction with the National Labor Relations Board. The injunction would require the retailer to put all 2,200 affected employees back to work.

The retail giant claims to have closed stores in California, Texas, Oklahoma, and Florida so it could repair plumbing issues. Employees were urged to apply for a transfer to another Walmart store. All five stores are expected to be closed at a maximum of six months.

According to Fortune, the Walmart workers fighting back filed their charge on Monday with the NLRB and United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. The charge accuses Walmart of closing its stores in retaliation for protests that the Pico Rivera location in particular led, which demanded higher wages for its workers back in 2012.

The union is representing Walmart — “a group that has helped the stores’ workers air their claims, but is not a union itself,” the New York Times wrote.

According to the claim, it’s “the center of concerted action by [workers] to improve wages and working conditions for all Walmart [workers] around the country.”

The justification Walmart has for closing its stores is to make “extensive repairs” to the plumbing.

Additionally, the complaint says, “City officials in Pico Rivera say that nothing has been brought to their attention and no permits at all have been sought for any work.”

It’s believed that Walmart “shuttered” the other four stores with the same excuse as a way to “mask” the “retaliatory nature of the Pico Rivera closing,” the complaint goes on to say. NLRB is being requested to grant an injunction relief and persuade Walmart to rehire the laid off workers at all five stores.

Walmart sees no reason for an injunction. The company explains that each of its five stores now closed have had more than 100 plumbing problems within the last two years. A Walmart spokesman said Friday night that “deciding to close a store is not a decision we make lightly, but after careful consideration, we felt it was necessary to make these repairs so we can better serve our customers and the community in the long run.”

As the Walmart workers fight back for their jobs, several speculations continue. As the Inquisitr reported, there are rumors that the five stores have closed because it’s allegedly involved with Operation Jade Helm 15.

[Photo by Daniel Aguilar/Getty Images]

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