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Don't Let Walmart Cut Corners on store security

Sign the Petition: Let Walmart Know you stand for a state-by-state improvement of its store security
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Have you seen Walmart cut corners around safety? Tell your story:
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Help us hold Walmart to a higher standard of store safety

During last year's Black Friday blitz, large crowds and poor security lead to tragedy at a Long Island Walmart. Shoppers mobbed the store's front entrance, killing temporary employee Jdimytai Damour and injuring several customers. Since, Walmart has been blasted for its conduct by the media, the victims, and now the government.

Yesterday, OSHA slapped Walmart with the maximum penalty allowed under the law for "exposing workers to the recognized hazard of being crushed by the crowd." OSHA thinks Walmart "should have recognized... the need to implement effective crowd management to protect its employees." We couldn't agree more.

Unfortunately, all this unwanted attention hasn't brought substantive change at Walmart. Bentonville avoided criminal prosecution in New York by pledging to revamp security only in its New York stores. The rest of its stores will presumably see no security enhancement at all. This means millions of Walmart customers and workers in the other 49 states are still exposed to inadequate security.

Today, we are rallying to ensure that Walmart makes a serious, state-by-state effort to boost store security. Sign our petition today and let Walmart know we are serious about safety.

Sign our petition demanding a security overhaul for ALL Walmart stores.

As the nation's largest employer, Walmart has national responsibilities. While Walmart makes legal maneuvers with store safety in New York, more than 4,000 other American Walmart stores are potentially just as unsafe as they were before last year's Black Friday tragedy.

We can hold Walmart to a higher standard. Have you, your friends, or your family seen Walmart cut corners with store safety? If so, please tell your story on our website. If Walmart refuses to reevaluate its own security procedures, we will do it for them, store by store.

Sign the petition and tell your story today

Walmart has already forgotten the lesson of Black Friday tragedy, but we haven't. Help us make security reform a top priority at Walmart.

N. S. writes

need security wearing
uniforms don!t see security hardly in garden center

S. S. writes

at this wal-mart they dont correctly check for unpaid items.

N. J. writes

I was attacked by a women in the parking lot, security never came out of the store and even after I called the police they never checked on me, not even the stores GM.

F. S. writes

i have worked at walmart for 15 months and i got hurt on the job 6 months ago and workmens comp. has been dragging their feet for the past 7 months on provding proper care, now i have hired a lawyer to get my point across to them my injuires will be permanent,and i have lots of pictures to prove my case along with PT backing me on this.

R. F. writes

Pallets stacked precariously after merchandise being unloaded off of truck. Then while being transported to drop-off location merchandise falls to floor. Thankfully noone has been hurt yet especially from the pallets that are stacked very high.

Ladders that are broken in some way but not taken out of service and/or replaced immediately.

Cleaning chemical dispensers in the janitor's closets don't work properly and workers poking holes in concentrated chemical container so as to be able to pour the liquid out without having to use the dispenser. Can cause chemical burns especially if a person does not know there is a hole in the container and then gets the chemical on their hands.

No security guards whatsoever; only asset protection associates who only stay in the store and care about anything being stolen.

All kinds/manner of trash on floor but seen workers walkover/ignore trash when they could have picked it up; even management themselves.

Continuing to use wooden pallets/crates when plastic is a lot safer (ie wood crates fall apart and leave wood pieces, some too small to notice, on floor creating fall hazard whereas plastic pallets do not).

Workers leave carts in the way after they're done with them; they don't push them together and either take them up front or in a place where they are out of the way.

I know customers like 24hr stores but when it comes to stocking with pallets on the floor it would be safer to close the store during this time.

R. C. writes

Don't shop there!

R. D. writes

boy does wal-mart cut safety wal mart does not care if we the workers get hurt becaues we work for them

M. V. writes

I lived in Lake Charles where this happens. I used to shop there only because they stayed open late when i would get off work. Boxes litter the isles and pallets are set everywhere to where you sometimes have to roll your basket a long w=ay or walk over many things which i did when i fell once. workers saw me and nobody said a word as if i were not there. I was ok and i did tell management about access to their products while stocking. On other visit I bought some Hooters wings hot sauce in a jar to make my own wings. when i took jar home i noticed dent on lid and when i opened it a bad smell came from jar. I returned it and got new one. a week later i was going to buy another jar and noticed that it had same dent and safty seal had been popped. I asked to see management and told her that i clearly told clerks at return counter that the jar seal had been broken and why it had found its way back onto shelf.I got no reply and i informed her that as custumers we should not have been put through that trouble I have not benn happy with walmart tactics . Thanks M.V.

W. R. writes

On 4/2/2008, I was a new customer at Wal-Mart. As I was bending down to pick up a product, an aisle sign made of a metal rod holding plastic, fell from its holder and hit me on the top of my head. I have had a headache and facial aches for the past 17 months. I returned to the store the day after the injury to take photos. I realized that HALF OF THEIR ROD SIGNS WERE REINFORCED WITH PLASTIC TIES AND HALF WERE NOT! One of the employees told me, "this has happened before". I am in process of challenging Wal-Mart for a fair outcome to my claim.

A. G. writes

I used to work for Wal-Mart. I saw it every day.

S. B. writes

not personally

J. S. writes

when threatened by another customer I was denied security by the cashier. i had to call 911 from the checkout. there is no visible security at my walmart and they refuse to change this practice stating instead that the cashiers will be retrained.

S. C. writes

usually the greeters at the front of the stor are elderly and frail it is apparant that they are not a good form of security. no offence to the greeters but after the black friday incident you would think that they would take the front greeting area more seriously

C. V. writes

I can't take chances with a store that cares not for its employees. Wal-Mart employees died in at least one store during hurricane Katrina. I'm convinced they were ordered to stay there to prevent theft and were washed out the back with all the "precious" merchandise.

T. D. writes

YES, my mom was hit in the head with a box that fell on her head, that was not properly stacked. she had sever head aches for almost a year. there was no recourse because walmart has no accident insurance. and ....the employee was asked to falsely say my mom was climbing on the shelf!!!!!!!!!! my mom was 68 at the time.

J. T. writes

We boycott Walmart

S. B. writes

Making me work alone, in night shift, with 5+ palates. But don't worry, I quit that job, but now there is only 2 ladies working in softlines at night, and you know they work alone sometimes. That is a BIG danger in that store. Someone please stop it, before they get injured.

C. B. writes

My biggest grievance with safety has to do with our store having an asset control manager, whose primary job is to maintain safety regulations so the company will not be sued, and yet she does not uphold what should be the most basic of safety regulations. Truck unloaders and stockers are not required to wear safety belts, even though they routinely lift and pull heavy merchandise. The strain results in a group of workers constantly suffering from chronic backaches and soar muscles. The next problem concerns the overstock shelving in the general receiving area. There are several sections that are not anchored securely to the floor because of being hit repeatedly by careless forklift operators. It is only a matter of time before one of these shelves, containing pallets of merchandise and assortedboxes, falls. The shelves are also too low for a man of average height to walk under and it is common for someone to walk into these shelves. The number of chemical and food spills in these same areas constantly create hazardous work environments because the floors are not cleaned properly. A surprise OSHA inspection would certainly expose many violations.

M. M. writes

I wired an addition to the walpole ma walmart in 01. There are no security at this store. the ceiling cameras are decoys.And i witnessed workers having their breaks cut short by mngmnt, when the lines backed up.they also seemed to have many mentally challenged people on their staff. Not enough clearly marked exit signs.They way they cram the isles with merchandise makes it like a mouse maze. Hate to think what would happen in a black out or a fire.

J. S. writes

No.

J. E. writes

I have tripped the security alarms at times but was able to walk through because I am a white guy.

M. N. writes

Yes, they cut corners. My relative works at Wal-Mart. The parking lot and store have had ladies purses stolen. The parking lot has had big-teen boys hanging around and employees bikes were stolen. The chains were cut. My sister-in-law needs to cut here weight for health reasons, lives near the store and decided to ride her expensive ten-speed to get into shape. Boys were playing around with her bike, trying to take it. The store won't allow her to park her bike inside the garden center. When she approached, the boys intimidated her. She was afraid. Now she doesn't ride it.

S. A. writes

I DO NOT SHOP THERE FOR THAT REASON I DO NOT KNOW

C. B. writes

I have not been in a Walmart for years. The last one was in southeastern KY 10 yrs. ago because there were very few stores around that area.

M. Z. writes

Maybe instead of trying to get Walmart to do the right thing we should just refuse to shop there!

K. M. writes

This Wal mart locks the general Merchandise main doors at night. If there was ever a reason to evacuate quickly, most people in a PANIC wouldn't think to run accross the whole store to try the grocery side doors.

J. C. writes

Carts placed in walkways by employees

M. F. writes

I used to work 3rd shift as a cashier at the Walmart in Mason, OH on Mason-Montgomery Road. I frequently had to walk far away to my car alone in the middle of the night when my shift ended. I am a female, 5'5", 150 lbs. Anything could have happened to me, but there were never any measures in place (A.K.A. security) to keep 3rd shift safe. My husband finally convinced me to quit.

R. O. writes

The store is always crowded expecially at Christmas with very little security

J. L. writes

Not recently - but doesnt surprise me.

B. B. writes

blah blah blah

P. S. writes

tell them to bef up there sucity grides

L. J. writes

YES! People are crowded into a small area to return items, and have to weave around carts of returns.

M. P. writes

when i worked there a few years back, i heard horror stories about Black Friday & am now glad i quit before that day came. I was told how they would keep Black Friday merchandise on pallets wrapped in black plastic (i did see such pallets as November moved along) & how employees (some missing teeth) told how before they even had chance to finish cutting the plastic off, they were trampled, punched, clawed, & generally beat up by the waiting public.

& to think this was in a walmart in a small town in southern in Delaware!

D. W. writes

No, I don't go into a place that breaks the law aon a daily basis by intimidating its worksers from exercising their legal rights to form a union, bnut we all see evey "Black Friday" someone gets killed at a Scab-Mart somewhere.

M. D. writes

They tell you not to twist or turn in the CVLs, and yet that's all they do in Recieving. I picked up something too heavy and twisted while working there, and I had to go home that day.

P. S. writes

yes they always have too many ilse blocked, also they have carts that you ride on that they bought that are used and only a few of them. along with all of this stuff they sell is made in china what happened to the good ole usa

A. G. writes

I refuse to shop at Walmart for many, many reasons, including their safety record.

E. B. writes

Yes, I have. In 1998 I was in a Sam's Club in Corpus, Christi, TX. I slipped and fell in a puddle of water on the floor. Wal-Mart managers were on the scene immediately, and relieved that I was unhurt (except for a bump) they immediately thrust a clipboard in front of me wanting me to sign off on a document that I was unhurt. While I was, the speed they had it there was disconcerting, apparently they have a rehearsed response to incidents like that that involves getting the victim to sign their form immediately. Customer safety is secondary.

J. H. writes

I refuse to shop at Walmart/Chinamart. I do not subscribe to the way they treat their employes here and abrod at their slave shops.

H. D. writes

I won't shop in any Walmart.

J. T. writes

From 2002-2005 when I did work for walmart they have done a lot of unlawful things, They are all corrupt Mother Fuckers! from Hilary Clinton working for them to the Assholes in Bentonville. Your Bullshit of locking me up in the smoking section and interogating me like I was a fucking animal did'nt work fuckers. I still hate walmart, and I only buy NYC products made in the USA, otherwise, Your stores Suck! Steve Roland may have terminated me, but he also Terminated all those customers that used to come in and wanted service from me only , especially when they used to ask for me by name. You guys don't know shit about serving the customers, or how to do business with them. The only thing that matters is $$$$$ in your eyes, I know. that's why walmart donated 1.2 billion dollars in presidential elections, which was all tax deductible. You fuckers never cared who died in the process all you care about is your bottom line.

I hope you Mother Fuckers Rot in Hell, and I will still apply pressure as long as you continue to treat your employees like shit.

K. O. writes

Sure have they don't have any APM around when you need them ,and when you don't there's 3-5 sitting around drinking coffee from Starbucks

P. R. writes

Yes, I have seen many things that are accidents ready to hurt someone. You try to find a manager to tell them about the danger or whatever it may be. It takes them anywhere from 25 minutes or longer.I have gotten hurt numorous times,but if you turn in and accident they make you sound like you were not watching what you were doing. So most of the times I just go home and baby it myself. Our store has made all the floor people be cashiers so they don't have to hire any new ones. Then they cut the cashiers that have been with the store for a long time. Their hours are cut to down to sixteen hours a week. Walmart is very sneaky.
There is so much back stabbing and favorites that it is no fair to the associates that really do work and do their jobs. Those who do work, come to work even if you are sick or have had problems. You would think that they would encourage your commitement to your job. No, we are the ones that are forgotten. Unless they need people to clean and fill shelves because a "Big wigS" Are visiting. We are the first to jump in and help without a complaint. Well, I could go on for a long time but it is late and Wal-Mart calls.

C. L. writes

Yes, it tend to make overlooked incidents result in some unrecognized shoplifting and disputes between the customers inside the salesfloor aisles.

J. M. writes

I don't shop at Wal-Mart. On purpose.

S. N. writes

ofcourse,they let all those boot-legging M/F's stand outside sellin everything illegal under thd sun

R. L. writes

My friend , a long time wal-mart employee, who was 6 months pregnant got knocked over by rude customers while working the blitz(xmas)

J. W. writes

yes i report a lot of safty hazerd around my store , thy turn a blind eye to it .

V. S. writes

Problem is the employees probably aren't treated well enough to care about this.

D. A. writes

I never see any security in our local store. I really don't see very many employees. There are people hanging out in the parking lot after dark - I think some type of security should have these people leave the grounds. I am waitint for muggings to start up. Either come to Walmart to shop or go somewhere else.

S. S. writes

Please help

M. D. writes

i have a friend who was cornered several times in a storeroom by her supervisor who said sexual things and touched her in the same ways. wal mart did absolutely nothing except transfer this guy to another store with a promotion. to this day she won't tell me the person's name because she knows i would hunt him down so instead i pray constantly that he will die slowly and painfully as soon as possible.

F. B. writes

Yes....Pallets of merchandise in the aisles that are loosely shrink-wrapped ...stacked to high and leaning precariously and could definitely fall over on a customer or employee walking past them.

P. P. writes

I don't shop at wallmart and never
will with their current policies.

P. F. writes

I've got buddies who have had their vehicles stolen from Walmarts UNSECURED parking lot. You can easily be beaten, raped, or taken hostage from ANY Walmart parking lot because there is usually no security presence. And, inside their stores, you shop at your own peril, unless you're caught shoplifting on tape. Security only exists to protect their profits, not the employees or their alleged valued customers.

E. O. writes

i got hurt at a florida store and walmart will not take any action for it

G. C. writes

no security available at entrance. they only drive around the parking lot.

J. J. writes

I do not shop at WalMart. Store grounds are unkempt and unsafe. many thefts to autos take place near Walmart stores. (See Local Police report)

C. R. writes

No because I don't set foot in any of their stores.

K. A. writes

The one time I went to a WalMart store in 12-15 years and they did not have an electric cart working so I turned around and left. I am handicapped.

C. M. writes

Of course walmart doesn't care about safety for their customers or there wouldn't be so much crime in their parking lots across the nation. I no longer allow my family to shop at china mart. I mean walmart. It is not safe. If there were truth in advertising they would change their name to china mart.

D. M. writes

I was Loss Prevention consultant for many years and have always been shocked at some of the methods the employees use at the Walmart where I shop. Mostly stock very high up on shelves and employees climbing on shelving to reach product.

M. A. writes

Various barricades at the front would prevent a crowd from exiting the store in an earthquake or other emergency.

L. M. writes

The isles are always too crowded on certain times of the month, i won't even bother going near Wal-Mart people are pushing your cart with theirs and their children are left to walk and wander off.

D. B. writes

my neice was trampled during black friday and had a leg broke and although she worked at the hospital and had no insurance, walmart did nothing. she had 2 little kids and they had a very slim xmas but thankfully the hospital had a toy drive and they had their xmas.

F. M. writes

i will never shop at walmart!

J. M. writes

yes, consistently!! i cant wait until another retailer comes along and crushes your and your poorly run stores just like you did in the early 90's. it will happen. everything, EVERYTHING comes full circle.

N. R. writes

Receiving over (illegal) height, stacked pallets of store product, from Albert's werahouse. And the night manager is aware of this & does nothing about it.

D. B. writes

Absolutely! I've seen it personally where Walmart cuts corners around safety. Almost 7 years ago, my son worked for them. His girlfriend also worked at the same store. During their "Black Friday blitz", both of them received injuries from the mob of customers. Were they compensated? Absolutely not! No other employer would be allowed to do such things in America. Maybe they are too much into China.

S. M. writes

i am an employee of walmart when we were open 24 hours we did not have security we were it and people would steal from us all the time and put our employess lives at risk all the time it was prettty scary so now we are closed at 11pm and 12 pm on weekends

D. H. writes

No, because I will not set foot in a Walmart until all workers are organized and treated with dignity and respect. Additionally 50% of all products sold in Walmart shall be manufactured or produced in the United States. I am an IBEW electrician and I encourage everyone I know to not support the cancer of American retail.

J. T. writes

People in our small town know who security is and when they are not there which is most of the time. They know that there is no security at night and thats when the stor gets hit with theft especially when all the employees take lunch between 2 and 3 a.m. in the morning. It is really scary to think that anyone can walk in there in the middle of the night and do whatever. The employees mean nothing to walmart managers.

R. C. writes

I believe they cut corners with my own safety. I worked in hells deli, Grand Island NE-North store. I, in spite of requests for help and being alone for closing never got help. I quit. and Walmart management lives in denial as always. I wonder... Does our President Obama know about how mistreated people are and ill-gotten Walmart Corp. really is? I, have a long hard heartfelt story that is ignored. The chemicals they use for clean-up make people sick. Kay's chemicals are environmentally hazardous. I think what happened in New York was the most horrible neglectful, thing I have ever heard in shopping experiences. They shouldn't have closed their doors to allow an anxious crowd to wait outside. I think the Pride of Walmarts fate should be just as that precious young mans life when it came to end. Enough Walmart leaders. You have become evil! Boycott walmart! No more super-centers supporting child labor in third world countries! Lets spend our hard-earned money feeding those children so they can walk away from their labor to education!

G. G. writes

Yes, there was a drive-by shooting at my local Wal-Mart. Several local Wal-Marts refuse to ad security even though they are in high risk neighborhoods.

T. T. writes

They have the new Marketside, where I worked 7 mos, where there are no coolers or freezers to speak of. So refrigerated merchandice is frequently let thaw or reach the danger zone, where food born bacteria grows.
They just pay their employees so little that nobody cares about the public's safety.

J. K. writes

I have not shopped at Wal-Mart for several years due to unfair labor practices.

M. R. writes

I never ever shop at WalMart. I went to the Montain view, CA store once. It was disgusting ly grimy and filled with trash goods from China. No thank you; I don't want to buy toxic goods.

N. M. writes

All the time

W. B. writes

I used to work for them at the Monterey Rd. Store in San Jose. The receiving area had boxes stack and falling all over the place becuse you had to crawl over the boxes to get at the product. The boxes were crushed, leaning over other stacks and open with product strewn all over, because they didn't hire enough employees to do the stocking in the first place.
Valderein

B. D. writes

yes. i work at a walmart store in delray bch, fl. the security & safety suck's. walmart doe's not care about the associates at all. i have been working there for eight years (somewhat) accoreding to them. you see i had an bad accident in 2004. 250lbs of hurricaine shutters fell on my left foot, & crushed all my toe's. it did not happen on there property, but on a side job i was doing when one of the hurricaines was comming. i was healing for two yrs. i only had short term disability insurance with walmart. they sent me a letter stating i was fired do to not comming into work, even though i filled papers out for leave-of-absance. they said they did not recieve it in time for me to be excused.( mind you, i worked there for 5yrs before this happened). so when i was finally able to go back to work, i lost all my benifits i had those 5 yrs, plus i had to start all over again from scatch. i lost those 5yrs i worked.
thank you-bruce dullea

D. A. writes

I try not to enter a Walmazrt Store

M. M. writes

Yes, the truck unloaders are lifting too much weight.

R. B. writes

A company that wants to
destroy union will do
anything against humanity.
Richard

S. E. writes

Employees are forced to push long lines of carts in the heat of the desert. Even Target has automatic cart rollers to assist its employees. The cart retriever's cut traffic off and act as if they have no concern when leaving carts lined in the center of the traffic lanes.

M. H. writes

I don't shop Walmart

M. I. writes

still refusing to shop at wal-mart and convincing friends and family to do the same

E. S. writes

walmart 5109's security is not good. when I worked there customers would take stolen items past greeters with no one looking for receipts. beer was the number 1 item. people walking/eating items before checking out was always going on. the shrinkage was massive... employee thefts where rampant. registers where always short.

B. T. writes

No I haven't, because I don't shop at Wal-Mart.

J. M. writes

I have seen means of egress blocked, parking lot security problems and overall corwded and clutered conditions

J. N. writes

I just read a story this story on Channel 7 News about lead coming from China. "According to a Denver area lead safety expert, warnings of lead tainted toys from China are just the tip of the iceberg."Whether it's in paint, or vinyl mini blinds or handbags or anything else, as it ages it sloughs off a microscopic coating of dust. Lead dust," said Neil Staples, inspector and risk assessor for Black Bear Inspections." Wal-Mart brings in these products loaded with lead from China. Kids put all these things in their mouth and we have it on our hands. I have asked my state representtive to write a bill in Colorado to ban these products in Colorado, California has. I WILL NEVER STEP FOOT IN A WAL-MART BECAUSE THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT US OR THEIR EMPLOYEES.

K. H. writes

Yep - every single time they sell yet ANOTHER item from China.

R. R. writes

Carts used to restock shelves left unattended with no employee(s) even close to the cart(s). This left the cart(s) completely blocking the isles, a hazzard in case an emergency evacuation was needed.

J. M. writes

I see employees, especially security and loss prevention conduct themselves in unprofessional manner. They cuss and belittle people publicly. I've seen employees throwing food back and forth while stocking shelves. I seen the deli person scratch their rear end then with no gloves slice turkey meat.

M. M. writes

I worked at two local Wal-marts for nearly four years. I worked in the deli and often received burns or cuts from the fryer or slicer but was scared I would lose my job if I reported it. We often did not have the necessary supplies or working equipment to dispose of oil and grease correctly and therefore were forced to dispose of it down the drain. And before you ask yes managers approved of and often encouraged this. I have seen Wal-mart cut countless corners, anything to make another billion.

J. R. writes

I don' t go to wal mart

F. D. writes

I don't shop there.

L. R. writes

No - I never go to Walmart

B. R. writes

Being in security for 12 years, I've seen this store woefully not care about vandalism which goes on in their parking lots, but they care more about their financial 'bottom line.'

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