Wal-Mart Workers To Hijack Black Friday By Striking?

Well, like most of us you’ll likely be making the early morning trek to Wal-Mart to fist-fight other shoppers for whatever the on-demand toys are this season on Black Friday, but before you break out your boxing gloves, you may be greeted to an unfamiliar sight that day: no blue-vested workers!

Starting last week yellow-smiley Wal-Mart employees have started walking off the job as a one-two punch to their employer for planning to spike their health-care deductions from their paychecks in January to the tune of triple what they are now. Wal-Mart has as-yet escaped a strike since they were born 50 years ago but that streak is over.

“We have to borrow money from each other just to make it to work,” said Colby Harris, who earns $8.90 an hour after having worked at a Wal-Mart in Lancaster, Tex., for three years. “I’m on my lunch break right now, and I have two dollars in my pocket. I’m deciding whether to use it to buy lunch or to hold on to it for next week.”

So much for ‘saving money and living better’ which is their slogan… Is this just another publicity stunt to drive up sales pre-season similar to Hostess’s Twinkie fiasco or are these employees picking a really rotten time to air their dispute? Either way, similar to Senior skip days at school, workers have been urged to not take part in the strike and the company promises to crackdown on them if they do.

In an e-mail, Wal-Mart spokesman Kory Lundberg called the strike “just another exaggerated publicity campaign aimed at generating headlines to mislead” the retailer’s customers and employees. “The fact is, these ongoing tactics being orchestrated by the UFCW are unlawful and we will act to protect our associates and customers from this ongoing illegal conduct.”

This should be interesting to see how this plays out and we’ll keep you posted as this story develops. What a bizarre season we’re in the midst of right now huh, just when you think you’ve seen it all. Closed Wal-marts and no twinkies? What are we to do?

Other Stores Opening Times On Black Friday

[Businessweek]