10 Arrested At Chicago Wal-Mart Black Friday Protest, Including Two Employees
By Jon Graef in News on Nov 30, 2013 7:30PM
While some Black Friday participants resorted to physical violence in order to get the consumer goods they supposedly needed, one day after they celebrated a holiday wherein one expresses thanks for things they already have, other Black Friday-goers were staging a fight of a different kind: that is, a fight for what they view as a "living wage."
On Friday, 10 protestors were arrested at a Wal-Mart store in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood. Of the protestors arrested, two were actual Wal-Mart employees.
The Tribune has more:
In Chicago, 10 people protesting at a Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market, 2844 N. Broadway, were cited after they blocked the street about 9:40 a.m. as part of their protest, according to Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Daniel O'Brien.Before the arrests, Protesters at the Lakeview store likened their work for higher wages to the Civil Rights movement.
"I'm standing out here in the 2000s, to make sure we're going to get justice, make sure we don't get bamboozled and make sure we have a living wage before this is all over with," said Myron Byrd, a Wal-Mart employee, before he was taken into custody by police.
Byrd also told CNBC that, "Everyone has a living wage and we need one, too."
Hoping to bring attention to their demands for improved working conditions, protesters want the giant retailer to increase wages by 42 percent from $8.81 an hour.An increase to $12.50 an hour would boost the salary to $25,000 from $17,000 annually.
In a statement, Wal-Mart officials said the company "provides wages on the higher end of the retail average with full-time and part-time associates making, on average,close to $12.00 an hour..."
According to Salon, "Walmart’s typical employee is still paid less than $9 an hour."
Here's video of CNBC covering the Black Friday protests, which were nationwide.