Picketers Protest Higher Wage Workers at Walmart

If you ever need a good working definition of irony, look no further. This one almost reads like a parody from The Onion. The Las Vegas Weekly, by way of Walter Olson, by way of Josh Claybourn, reports that the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) has hired part time temp workers making $6 an hour with no benefits to picket outside a Walmart store to protest low wages and poor working conditions. Meanwhile, the Walmart store starts employees at $6.75 an hour and doesn't make them stand for hours at a time in the sun in 104 degree weather. And of course, irony sharpens irony:

But standing with a union-supplied sign on his shoulder that reads, Don't Shop WalMart: Below Area Standards, picketer and former Wal-Mart employee Sal Rivera says about the notorious working conditions of his former big-box employer: "I can't complain. It wasn't bad. They started paying me at $6.75, and after three months I was already getting $7, then I got Employee of the Month, and by the time I left (in less than one year), I was making $8.63 an hour." Rivera worked in maintenance and quit four years ago for personal reasons, he says. He would consider reapplying.

Rivera is one of few picketers here who have ever worked for Wal-Mart--it's strictly coincidental that he was once in their employ. Most of the picketers were just looking for work through the temp agency.

And sharpens it even more:

"We're just trying to help the women that get discriminated against in Wal-Mart," says Greer. "We're out here suffering a lot for these people." He pauses, moves his sign so that it blocks the scorching sun on his leathery face, and considers the working conditions of his colleagues out here working for the union.

"We had one gal out here in her 40s, and she had a heat stroke. I kept making her sit down, I noticed she was stepping (staggering), and I made her sit in the shade," Greer said. She went home sick after her shift and didn't ever return to work.

Another woman, Greer said, had huge blisters on her feet and he took her inside to the Wal-Mart pharmacy. The pharmacist recommended some balm, and Greer bought it for her. Since then, he said, other picketers have purchased the balm for their blisters inside the Wal-Mart they are protesting.

The group has no transportation to go elsewhere--they are dropped off by a union van and picked up later. On weekends, they have to find their own transportation, Greer said.

I'll take hypocrisy for $1000, Alex.