沃尔玛黑色周五大罢工的利益博弈

    沃尔玛员工及其支持者们，包括工会的支持者们，一直在抗议沃尔玛的做法，罢工活动已经蔓延到美国4,000家门店。这个位于阿肯色州班顿维尔的零售业巨头一直坚决反对公司140万名员工加入工会。

    沃尔玛没有对此进行任何评论。最初，沃尔玛对“我们的沃尔玛”（OUR Walmart，全称Organization United for Respect at Walmart.）组织的罢工不予理睬。沃尔玛表示，公司留住了大部分员工，将支付12.54美元的时薪，高于零售业的平均水平。

    沃尔玛发言人戴维·托瓦认为，工会一直在精心策划罢工。美国食品及零售业联合工会（United Food and Commercial Workers Union）及其下属机构“改变沃尔玛”（Making Change At Walmart），一直在积极组织针对美国最大零售商的示威活动。

    然而，11月15日，沃尔玛向美国劳资关系委员会投诉（National Labor Relations Board），要求禁止示威活动，理由是美国联邦劳动法规定，在类似公开示威30日后，必须通过正式投票来成立工会。此举让沃尔玛的支持者和反对者们均感震惊。

    与亚伯尔类似的工人们表示，他们关注的是生计问题，而不是是否加入工会。亚伯尔的时薪不足10美元，她希望自己的最低时薪能涨到12美元，有更多全时工作，以及更便宜的医疗保险。

    据纽约一家调查机构Demos公布的信息显示，如果达到她期望的工资水平，700,000名美国员工将摆脱贫困。此外，Demos估计，涨薪还能额外增加100,000个工作岗位，消费者需要承担的成本是每次购物多花0.15美元。

    除了员工的担心外，最近几个月，沃尔玛被指控在国外为开设新店行贿，使公司一贯的严肃形象倍受打击。

    自2009年便在洛杉矶一家沃尔玛超市工作的丹·辛德曼反问说：“你看，他们为了去其他国家开一家店，花了那么多钱，为什么不能在美国员工身上多投入一些呢？”

    28岁的辛德曼是一位电子产品售货员，曾在下班时间参加过“我们的沃尔玛”组织的示威活动。他打算在周五晚上规定的轮班时间去参加罢工，到店铺门前示威，这是他第一次这么做。

    辛德曼称，他的时薪是9.80美元，工作时间也不固定。他说自己之所以参加示威，是因为“他们这样对待我们不公平。”他说，明年他的保险费将上涨超过三分之一，目前是每两周约106美元。而与此同时，沃尔玛还打算降低公司供款额度。

    他说道：“我没法陪四岁的儿子过圣诞节，现在连感恩节也成了泡影。当初我被录用的时候，我还想着在沃尔玛肯定有个好前程。社会需要知道发生了什么情况。沃尔玛也是社会的一部分。”

    但尽管如此，辛德曼还是表示，自己下周的上班时间已经被大幅缩短，他认定这是对自己参加示威活动的报复。我们无法确定真正的原因，但周三，托瓦尔在接受哥伦比亚广播公司（CBS）《晚间新闻》（Evening News）节目采访时称，如果员工（沃尔玛称售货员）不按规定上班，“根据具体情况，他们将承担由此产生的后果。”

    Workers and their backers, who include those who are friendly to unions, have been protesting against Wal-Mart's practices, with walkouts scattered across some of the 4,000 stores across the country. The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailing behemoth has staunchly resisted efforts to unionize its 1.4 million workers.

    Wal-Mart, which did not respond to a request for comment, initially brushed off the demonstrations by OUR Walmart, which stands for Organization United for Respect at Walmart. The company has said that it retains a large percentage of employees and pays $12.54 an hour, a higher wage than the retail industry average.

    A Wal-Mart spokesman, David Tovar, has held that the walkouts have been orchestrated by unions. The United Food and Commercial Workers Union, whose affiliate is called Making Change At Walmart, has been active in organizing picketing against the country's largest retailer.

    But Wal-Mart startled friends and foes by lodging a complaint on Nov. 15 with the National Labor Relations Board, seeking to bar demonstrations on grounds that federal labor law requires a formal vote to unionize after 30 days of such public protests.

    Workers like Yaber say they are focused on bread-and-butter issues, not unionizing. She makes under $10 per hour and said she would like to have the minimum hourly wage raised to $12, and see more full-time work schedules as well as less expensive health care insurance.

    That level of pay would raise 700,000 American workers out of poverty, according to a report issued this week from Demos, a New York-based research group. It also estimated that the increase would create an additional 100,000 jobs, at a cost to customers of $.15 per shopping trip.

    Aside from worker concerns, Wal-Mart's no-nonsense reputation has been buffeted in recent months by allegations of bribery to set up stores in foreign countries.

    "When you see that they go to another country and spend so much money to open one store, why can't they spend more on workers here," asked Dan Hindman, who has worked for a Los Angeles-area Walmart store since 2009.

    A sales associate in electronics, 28-year-old Hindman has participated in OUR Walmart protests in his off time. He plans, for the first time, to walk out during his scheduled shift Friday evening to protest in front of the store.

    Hindman, who says he makes $9.80 an hour and works a varied schedule, says he is speaking out because "How they treat us isn't fair." Next year, he says that his insurance premiums, about $106 every two weeks, will increase by more than one-third. At the same time, Wal-Mart is cutting back its contributions.

    "I can't spend Christmas with my four-year-old son. Now it's Thanksgiving. I thought when I was hired that there was a future with Wal-Mart," he says. "The community needs to know what is going on. Wal-Mart is part of the community."

    Even so, Hindman says his hours for next week already have been cut back significantly, which he believes is retaliation for speaking out. There was no way of ascertaining whether the reason, but Tovar, speaking to CBS Evening News Wednesday, said that if employees -- called associates by Wal-Mart -- don't show up, "depending on the circumstances, there could be consequences."