Walmart workers plan to strike on Black Friday

If you are one of those preparing to wake up early on Friday to hit the stores for some Black Friday shopping. Walmart workers across the country are planning a Black Friday strike in effort to bring attention to requests for higher pay.

The group, Organization United for Respect at Walmart, or OUR Walmart for short, describes itself as a grass-roots effort by Walmart workers, to press for better pay, benefits, and respect at work. It's a non-union group; more information can be found on their Facebook page.

OUR Walmart did not provide an estimate on how many workers planned to take part in the strikes this year. It did, however, say that workers in Wisconsin, Louisiana, Florida, California, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., have already delivered notices, and it anticipates workers in Illinois, Minnesota, Texas and Pennsylvania will do so as well.

Among the bigger events are expected in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Chicago, Tampa, Dallas, Denver and Sacramento. Walmart has 4,281 U.S. stores.

Cantare Davunt, a Minnesota-based customer service manager for Walmart and an OUR Walmart member, told reporters on a recent conference call that she had just recently started the process of applying for food stamps because her wages are so low.

"We know the pain of going hungry and we see it in our co-workers' eyes," she said.

Barbara Gertz, a Walmart employee and longtime OUR Walmart member from Colorado, told Al Jazeera she has been the target of subtle acts of retaliation such as being passed over for opportunities.

Strikes of course aren't anything new for Walmart as they deal with such on a basis far more than they would probably like, though a strike during one of the most important times of the year financially for the company might actually get some attention for the laborers who want changes.