By Shonna Korsmoe
Murphy News Service
“They say rollback, we say fight back! Rollback! Fight back! Rollback! Fight back!” Chants such as this filled the air at the Brooklyn Park Walmart recently as a group of protesters marched around the parking lot.
The protesters were participating in the Single Moms March, which was part of the Minnesotans for a Fair Economy’s Week of Action that took place Feb. 25 through March 1., Demonstrations were staged throughout the metro area demanding a higher minimum wage, among other things.
About 35 people gathered in subzero temps at Cross of Glory Lutheran Church on Brooklyn Boulevard to march on Walmart. Many of the protesters were either single mothers or children of single mothers.
Members of TakeAction Minnesota, the coalition responsible for the Week of Action, spoke to the group gathered at Cross of Glory to fire up the group.
“Walmart has the money to life workers out of poverty,” said Jacey Berens, a single mother of three. “There is no reason why I should be struggling to the degree that I am struggling.”
Berens is not an employee of Walmart, but she said she has many close friends who are.
Berens energized the crowd with chants of “Enough is enough!” and “That’s not okay!”
The group caravanned to the parking lot of a nearby Applebee’s because of the extreme cold and marched onto Walmart from there. As they approached the door, police officers redirected them and requested that they move to a parking lot across the street from the store. The protesters complied, but continued chanting and waving their signs at cars driving past.
The minimum wage in Minnesota is $6.15 an hour, one of the lowest in the nation. The House and the Senate are discussing a bill to raise the wage to $9.50. Sen. Chris Eaton, DFL-Brooklyn Center, authored the bill last year.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spokesperson Kory Lundberg said the average wage for Minnesota Walmart employees is $12.64 per hour.
“We’re not a minimum wage company,” Lundberg said in a phone interview.
Lundberg emphasized there is room for career growth at Walmart, saying Walmart promoted 170,000 people last year alone.
“Seventy-five percent of people in management positions started out as hourly workers,” he said.
Lundberg said he thought it was “telling that no one who works for Walmart” was involved with the protest. He said Walmart employees are generally satisfied with their wages and position in the company.
Protesters, Lundberg added, generally arbitrarily choose which store to picket, He said Walmart was chosen in this case, but it does not reflect the actual experience of Walmart employees.
Cantaré Davunt has been a Walmart employee for five years on and off. She works now at a Walmart in Duluth.
“My issue with Walmart is that they’re too focused on profits [and] they don’t care about their employees,” Davunt said. She said Walmart employees are generally expected to do the work of multiple employees because they are often understaffed.
“They don’t give us enough hours and they don’t pay us enough.”
Davunt, a graduate of University of Minnesota-Duluth, disagrees that working for Walmart gives employees the opportunity to advance in the company.
“I’ve applied and interviewed for six supervisor positions and I have not yet been promoted,” she said. “I have a lot of associates I work with who also have four-year degrees and can’t get by and don’t really get promoted.”
Berens echoed Davunt’s disgruntled sentiments. “I’m here because I’m pissed off,” she said at the protest. “We need Walmart to partner with us.”
Shonna Korsmoe is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota