About 50 protesters were at Walmart’s Home Office in Bentonville. They demanding higher wages from the company ahead of the annual Walmart Shareholders Meeting Friday (June 6).
The protesters represent a group called Our Walmart. They are asking the company to pay them at least $25,000 per year, which works out to $12.25 an hour. Currently, the average hourly wage for a sales woman working at Walmart is $10.58.
Moronica Owens, an associate from Minnesota, carried her 3-year old son Parish Moore in the demonstration. She said she’s afraid she will get fired for protesting.
“If it’s not one thing, it’s another and it’s hard,” Owens said. “It’s hard to sit back, watch, be afraid to speak out, and be scared of what they might do to you.”
“It’s hard to be treated like slaves and have to accept it because you don’t want to lose your job,” she said.
At the same time the protest was going on, a group of charter buses brought associates to the home office for Shareholders Week.
Lauri Wyman, claims supervisor in Iowa, said she has a positive experience and said there’s an open door policy at her store.
“I don’t see the retaliation,” Wyman said. “We really are a family.”
“I’m wearing my Super Riley shirt,” she said. “My store manager’s 4-year old has cancer… we are a team.”
Some members of Our Walmart plan to be at the Shareholders meeting Friday (June 6).
