Dozens protest Walmart worker's firing as company changes story again

[Omaha Steve]

First, retailer says worker fired for redeeming cans, now it is failure to disclose conviction




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About 50 demonstrators protested Friday morning in front of the East Greenbush Walmart store over the firing of Thomas Smith, 52, of Albany, on Nov. 6 for redeeming $2 worth of empty cans and bottles left behind in a shopping cart in a breezeway near the redemption machines. They also delivered a petition with 2,045 signatures demanding that Smith is rehired, paid back wages and issued an apology. (Photo courtesy of Emily McNeill)


http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Dozens-protest-Walmart-worker-s-firing-6660022.php

By Paul Grondahl Updated 10:35 pm, Friday, November 27, 2015

East Greenbush
As 50 demonstrators marched and carried signs in support of fired Walmart worker Thomas Smith in front of the East Greenbush store at the height of the Black Friday shopping rush Friday morning, company officials continued to change their story about what prompted the Nov. 6 firing.

In a response to a Times Union reader who wrote an angry letter to Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, Michelle Malashock of the company's executive communications department wrote that Smith was fired because he "did not disclose certain serious criminal convictions during the application process."

That email exchange was shared with the Times Union by the reader.

Aaron Mullins, a spokesman for Walmart, previously said that Smith was fired for redeeming $2 in empty cans and bottles left in a shopping cart near the redemption machines in a breezeway outside the store. When the Times Union broke the story on Nov. 19, Mullins said initially that it was a personnel matter he could not discuss.

FULL story and photo gallery at link.

$21,680 in donations (https://www.gofundme.com/ewb4c9yk)

A total of 971 people have donated $21,680 to Smith on the crowdfunding site GoFundMe in the past eight days. To donate, go to gofund.me/ewb4c9yk

[saltpoint]

1. For some time now I've tried

to avoid shopping at WalMart.

It's a company that doesn't treat people very well. It's a company that appears to have no clue how their own workers should be treated. It's motivated by profit only. No regard for the lives of the people they hire but vastly underpay.

The guy was collecting cans, for fuck's sake.

[MisterP]

4. it gave us the model that Spirit Airlines uses (but WalMart has repeat customers even when their

prices are higher than competitors)

[lpbk2713]

2. It's good that everyone wants to make their feelings known about Mr Smith.

But in the end it's just another minor bump in the road for the Walton family. They really don't GAF. A close advisor probably briefed them on what is going on and they might have spent two minutes discussing it just in case someone from the media shoves a mic in their face when they aren't expecting it. Other than that they don't really care. They have more money than God.

[hobbit709]

3. When the alibi keeps changing somebody is lying.

I'll bet on Walmart lying.