Fracción Trotskista Cuarta Internacional

US: "Right to Work" Law Forced Down the Throats of Wisconsin's Workers

Robert Belano — 2015-03-09T00:18:35Z

"Right to Work" Law Forced Down the Throats of Wisconsin's Workers

Governor Scott Walker is poised to sign into law the anti-union "Right to Work" legislation in Wisconsin, making it the 25th state to do so. The union bureaucracy has so far refused to call for general strike in the state to fight back against the law.

The latest attack against labor in Wisconsin

Wisconsin is set become the latest state in the U.S. to adopt the radical anti-union legislation known as Right to Work. The legislation, which will severely undermine the power of unions in the state, was passed by the state Assembly on Friday. Recognizing that the law would be vastly unpopular among workers and many other sectors, the legislation was fast-tracked through the legislature by the Republican majority, removing the possibility of any real debate on the law before the vote. Republican Governor Scott Walker is expected to sign it into law as soon as Monday.

Right to Work represents the latest assault on workers in Wisconsin by Scott Walker. In 2011, he signed into law Act 10, which stripped state employee unions of nearly all their collective bargaining rights, required these unions to hold recertification votes every year, forced state employees to increase their pension and health care contributions, and capped all future salary increases. With the passage of this newest legislation, Walker will have cemented his legacy as one of the most anti-labor governors in decades. This legacy will surely be a factor in Walker's expected candidacy for President in 2016.

Right to Work prevents unions from making membership dues mandatory within the workplaces they have organized. Without mandatory dues in place, employees within unionized shops are able to "freeload", taking advantage of all the benefits of a collectively bargained contract–typically higher wages, better health and retirement benefits, and important safety protections–all without having to pay any dues. With fewer employees paying dues, the unions' only source of revenue, unions have fewer resources to defend existing unionized workplaces, organize new shops and bargain for stronger contracts.

Wisconsin would become the 25th Right to Work state, making the law a reality in one half of all states in the country. However, Wisconsin is not just one more state to go on the offensive against unions–it is a historic stronghold for organized labor.

Wisconsin's Labor Tradition

Wisconsin's history of worker struggles goes back at least to the mid-19th century, when the first unions were formed in the state. In 1886, one day after the infamous Haymarket affair in Chicago, there was the Bay View Massacre in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. More than 10,000 workers marched in support of an eight-hour workday. The Governor called in the state militia to halt the march. The workers refused to retreat and the militia fired on the workers, killing seven. Although the Milwaukee workers, like the Chicago workers of Haymarket, were temporarily defeated, their call for an eight-hour workday was taken up as a rallying cry by workers across the country and over the next decades, more and more workplaces achieved this fundamental right.

Two years after Bay View, in 1886, came major strikes by woodworkers in the city of Oshkosh. Demanding an end to poverty wages, over 1,500 workers struck for fourteen weeks, despite severe repression by the police. Three organizers were arrested and charged with conspiracy against their employers–a common tactic of the bosses at the time. The workers defeated the charges in court, effectively representing the end of this draconian tactic.

At the start of the Twentieth Century, as a result of the state's militant labor movement, Wisconsin became the first state in the country to adopt workers compensation laws in 1911 and unemployment insurance in 1932.

Why now in Wisconsin?

The Right to Work campaign in Wisconsin represents the bosses' offensive against the growing workers struggles taking place across the country–from the massive oil strikes at over a dozen refineries across the country, to the conflicts on the docks of the West Coast, to the growing struggle by fast food workers for unionization and higher wages.

Republicans were also encouraged by the successful passage of Right to Work in Michigan and Indiana in 2012. Prior to that, the law had for the most part, been confined to the Southern and Western states with low concentrations of unionized workers. The successful campaigns in Michigan and Indiana, demonstrated that even the more industrialized states with relatively higher unionized workforces could achieve Right to Work. The Governor of Illinois, a state with over 900,000 unionized workers, recently called for the creation of Right to Work "zones" within that state.

Of course, a major objective of Right to Work is to reduce labor costs for employers at the expense of workers' incomes and safety. On average, workers in Right to Work states earn approximately $5,000 less per year than workers in the rest of the country. Right to Work states also have an average of 54% more deaths on the job.

Walker's strategy of attacking organized labor has been heavily financed by the billionaire right-wing Koch brothers and their lobbying group Americans For Prosperity, which opened a Wisconsin office in the mid-2000s. CNN reported that in 2011-2012, during the recall campaign against the Governor, AFP estimated spending $10 million in Wisconsin to back Walker and his policies. The Kochs' total spending in the state since then, while never publicly disclosed, is likely much higher.

The Failed Strategy of The Union Bureaucracy

After the passage of Act 10 in 2011, more than 100,000 workers and their supporters marched in Madison against the law. Thousands bravely occupied the State Capitol building for three weeks. Yet the one action that could have forced the employers to retreat–a general strike in the state–was never called for by the union bureaucrats, thus emboldening the bosses and paving the way for the newest anti-union laws.

Regrettably, the union bureaucracy has failed to learn the lessons of 2011, and has ignored the calls for a general strike against Right to Work. Instead, unions have focused their energy on extending current collective bargaining agreements with individual employers, continuing to pour money into the coffers of the Democratic opposition, and incredibly, forming coalitions with employer "partners" against the law.

Seeking to pressure Republican legislators to vote against the bill, unions formed a coalition of existing contracts with their employees. This strategy however, only served to de-mobilize workers and direct their faith to supposedly "friendly" bosses, instead of their own power.

For a true fight back against the anti-worker offensive of Scott Walker and the Koch brothers, the unions of Wisconsin must channel the militant history of fighting unions in Wisconsin and call for a general strike across the state. Unionized and non-unionized workers must organize themselves independently of the Democrats and the bosses, and rely only on their own considerable forces. This is the only strategy that will bring an end to anti-worker policies in Wisconsin.

Sources
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2015/03/06/wisconsin-is-set-to-become-the-25th-right-to-work-state/
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/weekinreview/06midwest.html?pagewanted=all
http://chicago.suntimes.com/other-views/7/71/348094/reimagining-illinois-right-work-state
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/3/6/wisconsin-assembly-sends-right-to-work-bill-to-gov-walker.html
http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2012/06/07/americans-prosperity-campaigns-without-leaving-paper-trail-wisco/
http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/03/politics/wisconsin-recall-bus-tour/index.html
http://www.labornotes.org/2015/03/unions-hesitate-right-work-advances

Argentina: On the Death of Alberto Nisman and The Crisis of Kirchnerismo

Robert Belano — 2015-02-25T20:57:27Z

On the Death of Alberto Nisman and The Crisis of Kirchnerismo

The political crisis which has unfolded after the death of special prosecutor Alberto Nisman is, without a doubt, one of the greatest obstacles faced by the Kirchner government in over a decade. The events surrounding the case will certainly have significant implications for Kirchner's faction of the peronist Frente Para La Victoria party, which has governed since 2003, ahead of this October's presidential elections.

Who was Alberto Nisman?

In 2004, Alberto Nisman was tapped by the late Nestor Kirchner, former president and husband of Cristina Fernández de Kircher, to take over the investigation into the 1994 terrorist attack on the AMIA (Argentine Israeli Mutual Aid Society) community center in Buenos Aires. The brutal attack took the lives of 85 people, and injured hundreds more. In the ten years since the bombing, there had been no convictions and all 22 suspects charged were declared innocent for lack of evidence. Both the judge and the prosecutors in the case were later formally accused of covering up evidence in the case.

On January 14 of this year, Nisman appeared on prime time television denouncing the government and President Kirchner for covering up the involvement of the Iranian government in the attack. Four days later, Nisman was found dead in his apartment by gunshot wound to the head.

During his interview, Nisman had alledged that the Kirchner government had agreed to not bring charges against Iran in exchange for continued oil shipments to Argentina. Since 2013, the two countries have moved closer together and strengthened their economic ties. It was also that year that both countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly investigate the AMIA bombing. Yet the "facts" presented by Nisman, which finger Iran as the author of the attacks, are dubious at best.

The Role of the U.S. and Israel

After Nisman was tapped to head the investigation by Nestor Kirchner in 2004, his primary source of information became an agent of the SIDE (Secretary of State Intelligence) Jaime Stiusso. Stiusso, in turn, received his information directly from the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad and the CIA.
According to cables released by Wikileaks and obtained by the journalist Santiago O'Donnell, Nisman was instructed to pursue Iran as the author of the bombing, and ignore leads which pointed to Syria, by the U.S. embassy.

The servility of Nisman toward the U.S. and Israel has a geopolitical explanation. In 2003, Bush targeted Iran a target of his doctrine of preventative war. During those years, the government of Nestor Kirchner, and later Cristina Kirchner, obediently toed the American line on the so-called war on terror and did not object to the findings of the special prosecutor Nisman, even though they were built solely upon the testimonies of intelligence agencies from nations with strong interests in the outcome of the investigation and a later discredited Iranian "dissident". It was also during that period that the Kirchner government, at the request of Washington, approved the anti-democratic Anti-Terrorism Law.

A turning point came when the U.S. began talks with Iran to dismantle Iran's nuclear program. It was then that the Kirchner government sought a rapproachment with Iran, signed the Memorandum of Understanding, and ended its pursuit of Iran as the perpetrator of the AMIA attack. Nisman was suddenly without the support of the Kirchner government in his investigation into Iran. Finally last year, the government removed Stiusso from his post. It was within this context that Nisman brought accusations against the Kirchner government.

Kirchner's Response

In the days after Nisman's death, in order to overcome the crisis of legitimacy it suddenly faced, Kirchner announced that the SI (formerly the SIDE) would be shut down and a new agency called the AFI (Federal Intelligence Agency) would be created. However, the AFI retains many of the same characterists and personel as the old SI, and the SIDE before it. It will keep its budget and its military and police spies with only minimal judicial oversight. César Milani, an Army Chief, who has been accused of disappearing a soldier during the military dictatorship, has been named as the new director.

The continuity from the represive aparatus of the military dictatorship of 1976-1982 to the present intelligence aparatus is indisputable. Some events demonstrate the continued repression and persecution of the left which has taken place under the Kirchner governments: the disappearance of Jorge Julio Lopez, a worker imprisoned during the dictatorship, who went missing just hours before he was set to testify against Miguel Etchecolatz in 2006 (war criminal) during the last dictatorship, or Luciano Arruga, a teenager who was disappeared after being taken into police custody in 2009. We can also note the more than 5,000 activists and workers who have been prosecuted for taking part in struggles and protests, the infiltration of social movements and workers' organizations as part of Project X, not to mention the imposition of the Anti-Terrorism Law.

The Awakening of the Right-Wing Opposition

The death of Nisman has energized the previously fractured and disorganized right-wing opposition in Argentina. Nearly every opposition figure with presidential aspirations, from Mauricio Macri, the right wing mayor of Buenos Aires, to the center-right legislator Elisa Carrió, to various opposition peronists and the "oppositional" union bureaucracy of Hugo Moyano and Luis Barrionuevo (leaders of one of the labor federations) have publically called for an investigation into the government's role in Nisman's death.

On February 18th, several opposition-aligned prosecutors, with the support of Macri, Carrio, and others, led a "march of silence" in downtown Buenos Aires. The opposition has opportunistically sought to characterize itself as a defender of human rights in order to challenge the Kirchnerists for power in the October elections. The reality, however, is that the right has played just as much of a role in the cover up of the AMIA bombing as have the Kirchners and it has just as many links to the repressive intelligence apparatus.

Given the opposition's innumerable connections to the police, the military, and the various spy agencies, we cannot support the opposition-led march of silence.

The Government's True Target

One thing that is clear in this case is that the left and the fighting working class has been the primary target of the intelligence apparatus since its creation, no matter which faction of the ruling class has been in power. This was true during the era of the military dictatorship and it is true today. In recent years, the state sent the gendarmerie to repress the workers of the Lear auto parts plant defending their jobs, it has created the Project X to track the names and movements of activists and fighting workers, and it has prosecuted the striking workers of the Las Heras oil refinery.

To end the impunity, we call for the opening of all files related to ex-SIDE, the creation of a new, independent investigation commission into the AMIA bombing and the death of Alberto Nisman, the election of all judges, and a salary for judges no more than that of the average worker, demands that none of the organizers of the February 18th march have called for.

Republicanos y Demócratas contra el trabajador inmigrante

Juan Cruz Ferre, Robert Belano — 2015-02-18T06:00:00Z

La disputa alrededor de la reforma migratoria y la obstinación de los republicanos contra la tímida concesión otorgada por Obama producen la ilusión de una disputa entre fuerzas antagónicas. Una mirada más de cerca revela que a pesar de diferir en sus tácticas y en su discurso –acomodado de acuerdo a su base electoral- los dos partidos defienden intereses similares. Republicanos y Demócratas contra el trabajador inmigrante

El partido demócrata, condicionado por el apoyo de los latinos y los sindicatos, se ha visto obligado a otorgar, en los últimos años, ciertas concesiones mínimas a los trabajadores inmigrantes. Una de ellas es el plan de reforma migratoria presentado en el congreso en el año 2013 y que frenado desde entonces. Fracasada esta vía y sacudido por la derrota en las elecciones intermedias, Obama decidió en noviembre emitir una orden ejecutiva (decreto) que daría respiro a una fracción importante de los inmigrantes indocumentados.

Los republicanos, que no tienen necesidad de responder a las demandas de estos sectores, han rechazado de plano todo intento de proteger a los inmigrantes indocumentados y vienen presionando por mantener las deportaciones masivas. Esta postura sirve para consolidar el apoyo de su base reaccionaria y racista, y sirve al mismo tiempo para dirigir la atención sobre un chivo expiatorio de la crisis económica para la cual se han demostrado, al igual que los demócratas, incapaces de dar una solución.

Sin embargo, tanto republicanos como demócratas defienden los intereses de las compañías que obtienen inmensas ganancias de la explotación de los trabajadores inmigrantes, como las empresas de servicios, las constructoras y los grandes productores del agro. Incluso bajo el plan de reforma migratoria de Obama, entre 6 y 7 millones de inmigrantes indocumentados seguirán sin acceso a una residencia legal y obligados a trabajar por bajos salarios.

Los trabajadores inmigrantes y el Estado

La dinámica de los trabajadores inmigrantes ha sido estudiada por distintos autores, entre ellos Burrawoy y Arrighi. Ambos han demostrado la importancia de las políticas estatales en generar y perpetuar los sistemas de trabajo inmigrante. Los casos de África del sur y California han servido como paradigmas para explicar este mecanismo. Primero, a través de una política de desposesión, competencia desleal y ataque económico –entre otras medidas- se priva a los individuos de una economía subsidiaria (en nuestro caso, México y Centroamérica) de la capacidad de subsistencia (o autosuficiencia). Como consecuencia, se ven obligados a abandonar su territorio de origen en busca de trabajo. El NAFTA es un buen ejemplo de una política de estrangulamiento de los trabajadores no calificados y trabadores rurales de México y otros países de Latinoamérica.

El segundo golpe por parte del Estado viene después de llegar al país de destino. Para asegurarse que el nuevo ejército de trabajadores de segunda no levantarán la cabeza y trabajarán bajo las condiciones que se le impongan, se le niegan los derechos elementales de protesta, asociación y huelga. ¿Cómo? Manteniéndolos en la ilegalidad.

Tanto el plan de los republicanos como el de los demócratas sirve para disciplinar a todo trabajador inmigrante que decide ponerse de pie y reclamar sus derechos, pelear por un mejor salario o pedir mejores condiciones de trabajo. Presionados por un descontento creciente de su base electoral, el plan de los demócratas apunta a proteger una parte de los trabajadores indocumentados de las redadas y deportaciones. Al otorgar ciertas concesiones, como parte de una táctica más general de cooptación del movimiento de inmigrantes a través de organizaciones religiosas y ONGs, los demócratas han logrado por el momento contener el conflicto dentro del camino institucional y lejos de la movilización.

Pero ni el plan de Obama, ni por supuesto los republicanos, ofrecen un camino a la ciudadanía para los trabajadores inmigrantes. Ya vimos por qué los dos partidos están interesados en mantener el estado actual de las cosas.

La lucha de los trabajadores inmigrantes por los derechos democráticos es de primer orden. La mayoría de los sindicatos ha subestimado o ignorado este sector durante décadas, aunque las cosas parecen estar cambiando. Para lograr el derecho a la ciudadanía de un sector tan amplio de la clase obrera será necesario que todos los trabajadores, tanto los sindicalizados como aquéllos más explotados, le pongan el hombro a esta pelea y se organicen por fuera del partido demócrata y sus organizaciones acólitas. Una conquista de esta magnitud fortalecería enormemente no sólo a los trabajadores inmigrantes, sino al conjunto de la clase obrera estadounidense

The Meaning of Syriza's Victory in Greece

Robert Belano — 2015-02-09T17:40:42Z

The Meaning of Syriza's Victory in Greece

Syriza wins by wide majority

The overwhelming victory of Syriza (Coalition of the Radical Left) in Greece broke a decades-long hold on power by the two historical parties of the Greek ruling class, the social democratic Pasok and the center-right New Democracy. Syriza's leader, Alexis Tsipras took power on promises to reverse the widely-despised austerity program and re-negotiate Greece's international debt repayment with the so-called troika of the EU, IMF, and European Central Bank (ECB).

Immediately after the election, markets plummeted across Europe as the European imperialist bourgeoisie was sent into a panic at the prospect of the new government refusing to pay Greece's creditors.

However, despite its calls to end austerity and promote "social justice", what Syriza represents is an attempt to salvage capitalism in Greece, not overthrow it.

Greece in the Era of Capitalist Crisis

The election of Tsipras points to the widespread rejection by the Greek people of the austerity regime imposed by the troika, which has placed the burden of the capitalist crisis squarely onto the backs of the working class and the poor.

Unemployment in Greece today stands at 26%. Among youth, the figure is an astonishing 50%. One-half of the entire population lives below the poverty line. This situation has been made all the more dire by privatizations of social services, wage cuts, and an increase in the minimum retirement age, all dictated by the major European imperialist powers.

The Greek people have bravely fought the austerity regime, with workers, students, and other oppressed sectors leading massive demonstrations and taking part in more than 30 general strikes in the past six years – repeatedly clashing in the streets with the police, the repressive forces of the state, and the fascist right-wing.

Syriza's program: Anti-austerity, Not Anti-capitalist

Syriza's program is primarily one of Keynesian, not anti-capitalist measures, with demands such as an increase in the minimum wage, the rehiring of laid off state workers, and the restoration of pension plans, coupled with the demand to end austerity.

What Tsipras promised above all in the days leading up to the elections was a guarantee of "political stability and economic security". He assured the governments of Europe that Greece would not back out of the EU nor would it take unilateral steps on the debt.

Tsipras states that the priority of the Syriza government is to "renegotiate the Greek debt along with its partners" thereby seeking to position itself as a respectable party, one which will not challenge the fundamental institutions of capitalism, but will negotiate repayment terms which are more favorable to Greece.

Further, Syriza has pledged to keep the police and the armed forces–the forces which protect the capitalist state–intact. Syriza's new interior minister, Nikos Voutsis, has said that while he opposed the police treatment of demonstrators, he would "respect" their work. This is the same police force which has repeatedly attacked and violated the rights of striking workers and immigrants, and which counts among its ranks several officers with links to the neo-nazi Golden Dawn party.

What Syriza aims to create is a government of national unity, not a government of the workers and the oppressed. Its minister of health has even gone so far as to say that Syriza no longer considers itself to be a left-wing party. Above all, Syriza seeks to contain the massive upheaval and unrest that has arisen since the Greek crisis began in 2008.

Alliance with the Nationalist Right

Falling just shy of the 151 seats needed to form an absolute majority in parliament, Syriza looked to form a coalition in order to be able to form a government. Within 48 hours of Syriza's victory, the party declared that it would form a coalition with the right-wing party ANEL (Independent Greeks) party which opposes the austerity regime of the troika on nationalist principles. Tsipras later announced that the government's new Minister of Defense would be ANEL leader Panos Kammenos, who favors a continued membership in Nato and calls for a strengthened national defense program.

While sharing an opposition to the austerity program, nearly all of ANEL's platform would be abhorrent those who voted Syriza into power. A supporter of the Greek Orthodox Church, ANEL has declared its fierce opposition to gay marriage and LGBT rights. It has also pledged to crack down on illegal immigration and speed the deportation of undocumented immigrants.

Syriza's Social Platform

In its social policies, Syriza has already conceded to its right-wing coalition partner and the Greek Orthodox Church by backing away from advancing even democratic demands on behalf of women and the LGBT community.

It is telling that the cabinet of Alexis Tsipras has 12 members and none of them are women. Indeed, there has been a deafening silence on questions relating to the struggles of women in Greece. The Greek feminist group To Mov (Purple) noted that "Throughout the campaign, various issues were never discussed: equal pay for women, violence against women, and unpaid domestic work".

Tsipras has also shied away from his earlier pledge to offer LGBT couples the right to adopt children, stating in January that this would no longer be a part of Syriza's program.

The Positions of the U.S. Revolutionary Left Toward Syriza

While several groups in the US who identify as part of the revolutionary left have called Syriza's alliance with the nationalist ANEL party troubling, few if any, have pointed out the fundamentally reformist character of Syriza, which makes it incapable of presenting an alternative to the workers and the oppressed in Greece.

The International Socialist Organization, aligned with the International Workers Left–a member of the Left Platform within Syriza, calls upon the left to "challenge [the government] to turn Syriza's radical commitments into action and real change." Many other groups, such as Socialist Alternative, have offered variations on the same formula.

For a Revolutionary Party of the Workers in Greece

Revolutionary socialists defend Greece against the imperialist vultures of the troika who seek to privatize Greek resources and services and unload the worst effects of the crisis onto the workers and the poor. However we point out at every juncture the class-collaborationist character of the Syriza government, which offers no lasting solutions to the working class.

We call for the construction of a true revolutionary party of the Greek workers, a party which fights for all oppressed sectors of society, including women, the LGBT community, and immigrants, calls for the nationalization of the banks, major industry and foreign trade, and stand as an opposition to all reformist governments which concede to the right-wing and the international institutions of capital.

This article was based on the following previously-published articles from La Izquierda Diario:
Syriza pacta con los nacionalistas de derecha para formar gobierno en Grecia
http://www.laizquierdadiario.com/Syriza-pacta-con-los-nacionalistas-de-derecha-para-formar-gobierno-en-Grecia
Syriza y el acuerdo con la derecha nacionalista: el pragmatismo del poder
http://www.laizquierdadiario.com/Syriza-y-el-acuerdo-con-la-derecha-nacionalista-el-pragmatismo-del-poder
Syriza, el olvido de las mujeres, la alianza con la derecha homófoba y la Iglesia
http://www.laizquierdadiario.com/Syriza-y-el-feminismo-el-olvido-de-las-mujeres-la-alianza-con-la-derecha-homofoba-y-la-Iglesia
El nuevo ministro de Interior del gobierno de Syriza y la “obediencia debida” de la Policía
http://www.laizquierdadiario.com/El-nuevo-ministro-de-Interior-del-gobierno-de-Syriza-y-la-obediencia-debida-de-la-Policia

1 http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/da236d24-9ff9-11e4-9a74-00144feab7de.html#axzz3R18ulbbi
2 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/28/world/europe/greece-syriza-government-names-anti-austerity-economist-as-finance-minister.html
3 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/independent-greeks-who-are-syrizas-rightwing-coalition-partners-and-what-do-they-want-10003224.html
4 http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/23/greece-election-independent-idUSL6N0V22QM20150123

Black friday: Walmart Workers Stand Up to Poverty Wages

Robert Belano — 2014-11-30T16:54:00Z

Black Friday: Walmart Workers Stand Up to Poverty Wages

This Friday, known as Black Friday in the U.S., workers at over 1,600 Walmart stores across the country organized protests against poverty-level wages and union busting practices at the massive retail store.

Hundreds of workers, organized under the banner of OUR Walmart, an organization of Walmart employees, supporters, and union organizers held demonstrations outside stores, and while inside, workers held silent protests. OUR Walmart also called on consumers to boycott the chain on Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year.

This is the third year that OUR Walmart has held demonstrations against the multinational corporation. Workers are asking for wages of $15 an hour, full-time work schedules, and an end to retaliation against workers who attempt to form a union.

This year, several Walmart stores, especially those in the state of Missouri, were also the site of protests demanding justice for Michael Brown, the 18-year-old African-American boy shot and killed by white police officer Darren Wilson in the town of Ferguson. Activists at a Walmart in the nearby town of Manchester, MO, entered the store with chants of “No justice, no peace, no racist police”.

Fast Food workers in several cities also joined the anti-Walmart protests as part of the Fight for $15! movement, which seeks a $15 an hour starting wage.

An estimated 1.4 million Americans are employed at Walmart, by far the largest employer in the United States. Each week, the company has more than 200,000 customers across the globe.

A central part of Walmart's strategy to maximize profits has been busting union organizing at the store, thereby denying its workers the ability to bargain collectively for better wages and benefits. In 2012, Walmart fired and disciplined over 70 workers who took part in OUR Walmart protests. This past January, a memo from Walmart executives was leaked which instructed local store managers on how to combat union activity by workers. In July of this year, a Walmart store in Quebec, Canada closed after the workers voted to unionize.

Walmart has come under even more scrutiny in the past two years after it held food drives to benefit the families of workers at the store. These “charitable” efforts unintentionally highlighted the fact that the many of the retailer's workers cannot not even afford to buy food at the store without assistance.

In fact, tens of thousands of Walmart workers require government food stamps in order to feed themselves and their families. Approximately $6.2 billion in federal subsidies goes to Walmart workers annually throughout Medicaid, food stamps and public housing.

Last year, Walmart raked in over $16 billion in profits. According to Forbes Magazine, of the 11 richest individuals on the planet, 4 are heirs to the fortune amassed by Sam Walton, the company's founder. The Walton family alone owns more wealth than 42% of the total population in the United States.