Last Monday, Walmart abruptly shuttered five stores across the country, ostensibly due to long-standing plumbing problems that would take six months to fix. However, the decision was made with virtually no warning; workers were given only a few hours’ notice before the stores closed at 7 p.m. local time. Additionally, there is no evidence that Walmart obtained any permits required for plumbing work.
This morning, employees at one of the affected stores filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board alleging that the closures were really part of a ham-handed effort to muzzle their demands for better pay and working conditions. The United Food and Commercial Workers filed the complaint on behalf of now-displaced employees at the Walmart in Pico Rivera, California–just south of Los Angeles. The UFCW is the sponsor of OUR Walmart, a group lobbying for better conditions at the world’s largest retailer.
Fortune magazine obtained a copy of the complaint. Read it here. The Pico Rivera store has a long history of activism for improved working conditions. In 2012, it witnessed the first strike in Walmart’s then 60-year history. Over the last three years, the store’s employees have frequently demonstrated in for better pay, fairer scheduling, and an end to unfair treatment. The UFCW and the Pico Rivera workers contend that Walmart closed the Pico Rivera store in order to silence a group of employees who have been “among the most active Associates in the country” in speaking out about their working conditions.
The complaint alleges that simply closing the Pico Rivera store would have been too blatant, so Walmart had to shutter stores in Brandon, Florida; Midland, Texas; Livingston, Texas; and Tulsa as a cover. The UFCW points out that it is “unheard of in the retail industry” to close strong-performing stores just to fix the plumbing. It wants the NLRB to order the immediate rehiring of all 2,200 employees displaced by the closures, and either reinstate them at their former stores or transfer them to other Walmarts without loss of pay until their ultimate reinstatement at their former stores.
In a statement, Walmart replied that the five stores have each had “more than 100 plumbing problems reported over the last two years”–far more than Walmart’s other American locations. But that explanation doesn’t pass the smell test. There is no record of any of the five stores having sought permits for this kind of plumbing work. Indeed, when a building inspector in Midland offered to help get the necessary permits, he was turned away. That same store stayed open while 70 plumbing fixtures were replaced just three years ago, and the manager of a tax service kiosk doesn’t recall ever seeing a plumber or an “out of order” sign on a bathroom in her three years working in that store. Moreover, one of Walmart’s in-house plumbing technicians says that it shouldn’t take six months to replace an entire sewer line.
When pressed for answers by officials in Livingston, Walmart officials said they didn’t seek permits because they didn’t know what repairs were needed. So we’re supposed to believe that the world’s largest retailer knew it had plumbing problems at these stores for at least two years, never sought permits to repair them, and just now decided to close five stores without any notice whatsoever? Then again, we’re talking about a company that claims Tracy Morgan shouldn’t get a penny after being nearly killed by one of its truck drivers because Morgan wasn’t wearing a seat belt at the time. Never mind that driver had been awake for at least 25 hours straight.
Walmart says that it has offered all workers two months’ paid leave, during which they can transfer to any Walmart or Sam’s Club with a suitable opening. Any full-time workers who can’t find an opening at another Walmart by June 19 will be eligible for severance pay–but that leaves part-time workers out in the cold. Moreover, if and when the shuttered stores reopen, Walmart says that the workers displaced from those stores would have to “reapply as if new employees.” Is it any wonder the Pico Rivera workers think something reeks about this situation?
It’s hard to believe the NLRB won’t look into this. After all, Walmart’s explanation of the closures is simply not believable. But consider the best-case scenario: Walmart knew about these problems for some time, didn’t bother to address them until now, and didn’t bother to tell its employees in a reasonable amount of time.? If that’s the case, it means that at the very least, Bentonville has a severe case of systemic dysfunction. That alone is reason for heads to roll. Whether anyone needs to be before a judge at this point is still very much up in the air.
Making Change at Walmart, another UFCW project, has started a petition making the same demands as the NLRB complaint–the reinstatement of all displaced employees, their transfer to another Walmart without loss of pay, and the chance to be reinstated to their old stores once they reopen. Sign here.
