Business/Economy

Employees plan protests at 1,500 Walmart stores on Black Friday

As part of their effort to win a $10-an-hour minimum wage, Walmart employees plan to disrupt operations at 1,500 of the company's stores on Black Friday, hitting the retail giant in the pocketbook on the biggest shopping day of the year.

Union officials backing the employees say the number of protests, which will include employee walkouts, will be "unprecedented," taking place at stores across the country.

"Walmart raked in $15.7 billion in profits last year alone, but apparently they don't feel any need to share that wealth with their millions of workers," said Karli Wallace, campaign organizer for a group called Democracy for America, which is supporting the employees.

Employees hope the protests will also put pressure on Congress to increase the minimum wage.

The company and its supporters are downplaying the protests and say they're likely to be much smaller events and less widespread than envisioned by the unions.

Walmart said that more than 1 million associates will work in its stores on Black Friday, receiving holiday pay equal to an additional day's work, along with a 25 percent discount off an entire purchase and a free Thanksgiving meal.

Rob Hotakainen

McClatchy Washington Bureau

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