Wal-mart 809 Store Workers Protest at Shop Shutdown in front of the Store on August 9
Wal-Mart's 809 Store in Harbin is going to be closed. Many affected Wal-Mart employees signed a statement on August 12 which includes a proposal of a compensation package with 7 demands (see attachment, only Chinese version is available).
Wal-Mart 809 Store employs about 170 employees. Wal-Mart bought the shop in early 2007. After a few years, the 809 Store has still been recording losses. On August 2, 2012, the management of Wal-Mart 809 Store announced to its employees that the store will close on September 3, 2012. The employees were offered two options:
1) Workers can choose to transfer to other Wal-Mart shops (either to a shop in the same city or to a shop in another city or site)
2) If the workers choose to leave their job, the compensation package for their years of service (N) is N+1.
The employees found the compensation package offered by the management unacceptable, so they made a counter proposal and began to fight for their own rights. They signed a statement which includes 7 demands.
The dispute has aroused the attention of the regional shop manager and the local union. Now the local union officials have intervened and met with the regional manager trying to solve the dispute.
Note: The workers’ joint statement to the management of Wal-Mart 809 Store (Athens City) can be found on our Chinese webpage.