Walmart workers are fighting back against intimidation and disrespect like this:
In an interview, she spoke of her struggle to make ends meet even while working fulltime at Walmart. She earns $11.65 an hour and is her family’s only source of income since her husband was laid off. They and their five children rely on state assistance for housing, food and healthcare.
Walmart spokespeople have said that workers in Washington earn an average wage of $13 an hour. Gilbert said she knew of only a few people who earn that much, and they’ve worked for the company for decades.
Beyond a better wage, Gilbert said she wants to be treated with respect. She decided to speak out about work conditions after her manager came up behind her while she was bent, restocking shelves, and adjusted Gilbert’s pants to cover some exposed skin.
Gilbert said the manager tried to turn it into a laughing matter. Gilbert complained, but she said no action was taken.
“They treat it like it’s a joke, but it’s not a joke to me,” she said.
It’s a simple proposition: people deserve to work with dignity and treated fairly. Walmart is one of the largest and most profitable corporations on the planet, and their workers deserve better.
Netroots Nation is helping OUR Walmart get the word out about workers taking actions across the country between now and Black Friday. The workers are causing a stur, gettingabitofcoverage, and they’ve got lots of tools that allow everyone to take part. Here are a few things you can do:
Install a Facebook app that checks who among your friends have worked at Walmart and asks them for support.
What does it take to organize on and offline to change the conversation, build our base, and push real systemic and policy? Come hear about a couple of moments that have changed their movements from some of the strong, agile organizations and coalitions that helped make it happen.
The SOPA and PIPA bills were defeated by a fascinating combination of forces. There was an inside game in Washington and an outside one online. It included liberals and conservatives, and it brought together the public, non-profits and the business community in common cause. The panel will look at the cross-cutting effects of the effort and determine what lessons to take away for other campaigns at the federal, state or local level.
Every year on the state and local level, the Netroots works to elect candidates to offices large and small, win victories in legislative fights and hold their elected officials accountable. Increasingly, these efforts are being matched by the building of critical internal infrastructure within legislative bodies themselves: progressive caucuses of lawmakers who are working to advance policy agendas, win messaging wars and influence the debate in their states and cities. This session brings together many involved in these efforts—from advocacy groups, city councils and state legislatures—to address critical questions and share their experiences about how state and local progressive caucuses can best work with allies to define progressive values in red and blue states alike and grow the national progressive movement.
The American Legislative Exchange Council has been behind virtually every major right-wing state law in the past two years, including union-busting, teacher-bashing, voter suppression, attacks on immigrants, privatizing basic public services and gutting environmental and health regulations. Learn more about ALEC, who backs them and what you can do to stand in their way.
American college campuses are hotbeds of idealism and activism. The 2008 election, the massive protests in Wisconsin and Ohio and the Occupy movement showed that when this young constituency is politically mobilized, history can be made. While youth vote turnout is often addressed, too little is done to address this constituency’s issues: affordable college education, student debt and limited job prospects. Meanwhile, college students find themselves the target of voter ID laws and other efforts to suppress their voice in the political process. Student organizations and their allies are organizing students to get active around the issues that are important to them. Come hear how to mobilize the student vote for affordable higher education, immigrant rights, voting rights and a host of other issues.
Studies show women voters are the key to election success and that women rule social media platforms. But few candidates or causes use those tools to effectively engage those crucial women voters. What’s working—and what isn’t—when it comes to social media outreach to women? This panel will focus on successful case studies and tips for effective engagement, as well as what backfires when trying to persuade these influencers to support your efforts.
This panel will discuss how hip-hop can be utilized as a tool to amplify the message of the progressive movement, as well as inspire and energize activists across the country. Panelists will address the political ideals of current artists and their fan bases and how the progressive movement can work congruently with both. Learn how hip-hop could be the game-changer in the 2012 election.
This panel will address the needs, successes and obstacles to having greater participation from people of color in the blogosphere. Using the models of the Native American Netroots and Black Kos as a beginning point for the discussion, we’ll cover topics such as color blindness vs. representation and how to get historically underrepresented groups and their views heard. We’ll discuss how to organize outreach between the larger blogosphere and blogs that are specific to communities of color and how to form stronger connections to ongoing organizing efforts and activism in communities of color. We’ll also focus on how organizations can promote diversity within new grassroots organizations.
The Latino vote is expected to exceed 12.2 million in the 2012 elections. This diverse electorate includes those who have been here since the days of Aztlan and others who arrived more recently. Latinos are not a monolithic group. We don’t all know what arepas taste like, and many of us might not know how to salsa. So what ties us together? Ask five Latinos, and you’ll likely get five different answers. Whether it’s language, religion, culture or a sense of rhythm, Latinos make up a key voting bloc. This session will serve as a cross-pollination of regional knowledge that will help organizations springboard their 2012 electoral narratives. We’ll look at the strategies, tools and approaches organizers are using in a variety of regions around the country to create a powerful and progressive Latino voting base.
