US: Walmart Workers Stage First-Ever Sit-In Strike

(thinkprogress) -  Workers at a Los Angeles (California) Walmart began the first sit-down strike in the company’s history at around 2 p.m. on Thursday. The strike is to protest their low wages and a culture of retaliation at the company. The protestors have been chanting “Stand Up, Live Better! Sit Down, Live Better!” and covering their mouths with tape to symbolize efforts to silence protestors, according to a press release from OurWalmart. Community members are also planning to join the protest later in the evening.

The protestors are asking to be paid a living wage of $15 an hour and to be given consistent, full-time hours. “I’m sitting down on strike today to protest Walmart’s illegal fear tactics and to send a message to management and the Waltons that they can’t continue to silence us and dismiss the growing calls for $15 an hour and full-time work that workers are raising across the country,” Kiana Howard, one of the strikers, said in the press release. Workers have also been raising concerns about understaffing.

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