Wal-Mart retail strike spreads to 12 cities today

Today.

Unrest is continuing to spread at Wal-Mart as employees walked off the job in 12 stores. This follows the first multi-store strike on Thursday, when workers at two stores stopped work for the day.

Last week's action was the first time ever Wal-Mart workers went out on strike.

Huffington Post tells us:

... workers are now walking off the job in Dallas, Seattle, the Bay Area, Miami, the Washington D.C. area, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Chicago and Orlando, in addition to cities in Kentucky, Missouri and Minnesota. 

A total of 88 workers from 28 various stores went on strike today...

The workers are protesting company attempts to "silence and retaliate against workers for speaking out for improvements on the job," according the (UFCW) press release. 

Walmart workers, who are not unionized, have long complained of low pay and a lack of benefits. Walmart is the largest private employer in America with 1.4 million workers. The company calls its workers "associates." 

Some of the striking Walmart associates plan to protest tomorrow in Bentonville, Arkansas, the location of Walmart's world headquarters where it will host its annual investor event.

Josh Eidelson at Salon interviewed a Wal-Mart worker:

“A lot of associates, we have to use somewhat of a buddy system,” Dallas worker Colby Harris said last night. “We loan each other money during non-paycheck weeks just to make it through to the next week when we get paid. Because we don’t have enough money after paying bills to even eat lunch.” Harris, who’s now on strike, said that after three years at Walmart, he makes $8.90 an hour in the produce department, and workers at his store have faced “constant retaliation” for speaking up.

The Wal-Mart flack called the walkout a "publicity stunt." Nice.