United For Respect

Media Contact: Taylor Campbell, [email protected]; Michelle Morris, [email protected] 

For Immediate Release: August 7, 2019

Walmart Employees Respond to El Paso Shooting and Planned Walkout

 

United for Respect leaders call on CEO Douglas McMillon to distance himself from Trump’s racism and bigotry

 

NATIONWIDE — Following last weekend’s shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, Walmart employees organizing under United for Respect issued the following response:

 

“After last weekend’s shootings, Walmart associates returned to work afraid, angry, devastated, and confused. We feel a profound lack of confidence in the ability of both elected officials and Walmart’s leadership to protect us from violence in our stores.

 

Today, we are in solidarity with Walmart’s e-commerce employees taking a public stance against the company’s prioritization of gun sales over the safety of our fellow associates, our customers, and our communities. Active-shooter trainings and greater store security might help stop the carnage in the event of a mass shooting, but Walmart must do much more to actually prevent shootings from happening in the first place.

 

Acts of white supremacist terrorism are, in part, a consequence of how Trump has normalized hate speech and violence against our Black, Brown, and immigrant neighbors and communities. We are tired of political and business leaders, including Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, ignoring Trump’s words and tacitly condoning white supremacist violence.

 

If Doug McMillon truly wants to show that he supports associates and our families’ safety, he should publicly reject the President’s and the Republican Party’s racism and xenophobia. We call on McMillon to step down from his advisory role in the Trump Administration and halt Walmart donations to elected officials and political candidates who refuse to call out the racism and bigotry coming from the White House.”