WWTBAM Bored

Robert Reich wrote:Walmart has suddenly closed for six months its store in Pico Rivera, California, that’s been a center of recent protests and organizing by workers demanding better wages and benefits. Walmart says it’s not retaliating against the workers; it’s just fixing a plumbing problem at the store. Yet, curiously, Walmart hasn’t requested any plumbing permits from the city. Walmart is telling its 533 Pico workers if they want to continue working for Walmart they can apply to another Walmart store but will lose any pay-grade raises they’ve accumulated so far and will have to start from scratch as new employees. Pico Rivera City Manager Rene Bobadilla says he’s surprised at the suddenness of the closing. "It's the first time I've encountered this. It is not a normal thing to happen." Walmart is also temporarily closing four other Walmart stores around the nation for “plumbing problems.”

Retaliation against workers for trying to form a union is illegal under the National Labor Relations Act, but is difficult to prove. And the worst that can happen is the NLRB requires an employer to reinstate affected workers and pay them back wages.