Critics of Walmart said Thursday that more than a hundred people nationwide would engage in a fast beginning Friday to protest for higher wages for the store's employees.
However, only a few of them would apparently be engaging in an actual hunger strike and it is not clear how many, if any, actual Walmart employees would joining in.
The nonprofit activist group OUR Walmart sent out a press release Thursday that said "Walmart Workers to Announce 15 Day Fast" for a $15-an-hour wage and promised "nationwide actions and fasting planned through Black Friday in 50 states." During a call with reporters, OUR Walmart co-director Andrea Dehlendorf said that "over a hundred" Walmart associates would be fasting as way to symbolize how many Walmart employees are just scraping by. The group will hold a week-long fasting event outside of a Walton family home in New York City. The Waltons founded Walmart and family members are the majority shareholders.
However, Dehlendorf and other activists in the call said that only a portion of the hundred — they did not give an exact number — would be engaging in an actual liquid diet fast and that some participants were fasting for a day. Exactly what would be given up and for how long was apparently being left up to the individual.
"There are different types of fasts. We're just asking people to fast as in giving up one item or one thing for one day or the whole 15 days," said Tyfani Faulkner, a former Walmart customer service manager in Sacramento, Calif. "It's whatever you are comfortable with."
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