WMass Walmart stores picketed on Black Friday

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (WWLP) - On the biggest shopping day of the year, some people here in western Massachusetts participated in one of the largest protests against Walmart, America’s largest retailer.

At stores in Springfield, Ware, and Northampton, protestors chanted slogans like: “Walmart rich and rude… we don’t like your attitude.” As Black Friday shoppers walked in with their holiday gift shopping lists, they were given flyers from protesters.

The local demonstrations were part of a larger nationwide rally for workers’ rights.

In Northampton, the majority of those rallying were nearby residents and not store employees, though at other locations, employees joined the protests after their shifts.

Many people protesting in Northampton told 22News that they were standing up against Walmart because they say company offers lower-than-average wages, and it's unwilling to let its employees unionize.

“Walmart makes money because their employees do a good job. My parents worked in factories, and my mother was a union worker. She had so much more opportunity as a union worker than people at Walmart are getting,” Tusi Gastonguay of Northampton said.

At other protests, demonstrators expressed displeasure at the choice of Walmart and other stores to be open on Thanksgiving Day; something that was not allowed under Massachusetts laws.

22News was not allowed inside the Northampton store at the time of the protest, and the manager did not comment on the demonstration.