MEMPHIS, TN (abc24.com) - An early Black Friday has Walmart workers seeing red. Fed up with what they say is low pay and expensive health insurance, workers are threatening to protest on the busiest shopping day of the year.
"On Friday? Oh my goodness," said Sharon Wells, as she finished shopping at a Southeast Memphis Walmart on Monday night.
"Striking on a Black Friday? Maybe they should wait until after Black Friday," she said.
Walmart has asked federal labor officials to step in and stop the strike.
"When you have unskilled workers in 2012, it is always a tough battle for strikers, particularly so in this economy with unemployment as high as it is," said Shelby County Commissioner Steve Mulroy.
"As many people that are looking for work as there are, it is an uphill battle," he added.
"Generally it is just a less favorable climate for that kind of thing, that doesn't mean strikes can never work, it is that it is just tougher now then it was a few decades ago," said Mulroy.
The National Labor Relations Board usually takes months to weigh in, but said Monday it would rule quickly on this dispute.
For its part, Walmart is pledging it will be business as usual no matter what happens.
