Wal-Mart Stores Inc. workers demanding better pay and benefitsvow to mount 1,000 protests online and outside stores up to andincluding Black Friday. The strategy risks showing the company'sstrength not vulnerability.

To work, the approach will require protest leaders to turn outsignificant numbers of strikers and persuade deal-chasing shoppersto go elsewhere. Similar protests in recent weeks have had littleperceptible impact on the world's largest retailer.

The Black Friday protests are unlikely to be any different, saidZev J. Eigen, an associate professor at Northwestern UniversitySchool of Law who specializes in labor relations.

“Shoppers in the parking lot will say 'Oh, that's terrible — OK,where do I get my discounted electronics,'” said Eigen, who isbased in Chicago. “That's one of the big challenges for the labormovement. We'll sign online petitions, but we won't vote with ourwallets.”

For years, the United Food & Commercial Workers union hastried and failed to organize Wal-Mart workers. In recent months,the union has adopted a new tactic: backing two groups, OUR Walmartand Making Change at Walmart, and waging a media campaign andmounting protests comprised of activists and Wal- Mart workers atstores and warehouses around the U.S.

The protest organizers have declined to say how many Wal-Martassociates they expect to be involved in the latest round ofactions. About 30 workers from six Seattle-area stores went onstrike Nov. 15, and others plan to do so, the groups' members havesaid. Wal-Mart has more than 4,500 stores and clubs and 1.4 millionemployees in the U.S.

While Eigen compared the movement to “a few drops of foodcoloring in a giant vat of water,” he added a caveat: “It issignificant because Wal-Mart has such a strong reputation ofshutting down even the tiniest, tiniest labor actions.”

On an earnings call Nov. 15, Wal-Mart Chief Financial OfficerCharles Holley said he was “not aware of any major disruptions thatare going to happen Black Friday.”

Still, later that day Wal-Mart fired a warning shot, filing acomplaint against the union with the U.S. National Labor RelationsBoard. Wal-Mart accused the group of violating federal labor lawsby inappropriately picketing, demonstrating, trespassing on companyproperty and intimidating customers and employees — or makingthreats to do those things.

The union has tried to force Wal-Mart to the bargaining tableeven though it does not officially represent employees, accordingto the complaint. Wal-Mart asked the board for an investigation andimmediate injunction.

“We are taking this action now because we cannot allow the UFCWto continue to intentionally seek to create an environment thatcould directly and adversely impact our customers and associates,”David Tovar, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said in an e- mailed statement.“If they do, they will be held accountable.”

Protester Demands

The protesters are demanding more predictable schedules, lessexpensive health-care plans and minimum hourly pay of $13 with theoption of working full-time. The average hourly full-time wage atWal-Mart is $12.57, Kory Lundberg, a company spokesman, said in ane-mail.

Wal-Mart's refusal to improve working conditions ultimately willbe self-defeating, Lynsey Kryzwick, a spokeswoman for thenon-profit Making Change at Walmart, said in a Nov. 16 telephoneinterview.

“Under-staffing going on in stores leads to low customer serviceleads to lower sales,” she said.

On Nov. 15, Wal-Mart forecast fourth-quarter profit that trailedanalysts' estimates after economic conditions slowed U.S. salesgains. Fourth-quarter profit will be $1.53 to $1.58 a share, theBentonville, Arkansas-based company said in a statement. Theaverage estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was $1.59.

Chief Executive Officer Mike Duke has been reducing prices tolure U.S. shoppers that are still suffering amid sluggish economicgrowth and 7.9 percent unemployment. Discount chains such as DollarGeneral Corp. and Dollar Tree Inc. have attracted some of thosecustomers with smaller-format stores that allow for quicker tripsand by adding food items.

The shares fell the most in more than six months after theearnings report on Nov. 15 and by the next day had lost a combined5 percent to close in New York at $68.03. The shares have risen 14percent this year.

For Wal-Mart to acknowledge the union's demands, many moreemployees will have to be willing to walk off the job, said RossEisenbrey, vice president of the Economic Policy Institute, aWashington-based non-profit group that researches issues forAmerican workers.

“If this is as big as the strikes and protests ever get, it'snot going to amount to much,” he said.

Bloomberg News

Copyright 2018 Bloomberg. All rightsreserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten,or redistributed.