SCARBOROUGH – On Black Friday, Nov. 28, around 50 people protested outside the Walmart store in Scarborough. They were advocating for better wages and the opportunity for full-time hours for workers at the national chain.

John Newton, one of the organizers of last week’s event, said a group of employees called OUR Walmart, which stands for Organization United for Respect, have asked the company for $15 and hour and full-time work if they want it. Essentially “they want to be treated with dignity on the job,” Newton said.

He said the Nov. 28 event was the third consecutive year of Black Friday protests at Walmart stores around the country supporting low-wage workers. This year, Newton said, about 1,600 stores across the United States had some form of protest.

“To make the kind of changes we want – a redistribution of income and wealth – we need a social movement of working class people to actively fight for power,” he added.

Newton said in addition to the protests around the country, Walmart workers also held sit down strikes in places like Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington D.C.

“This gives us hope that the working class will find ways – like direct action and sit down strikes – to gain power to be able to fight back against the (corporations) who are attacking us and trying to keep us from making a living,” he said. “Not since the sit down strikes of 1937 have working class people used this tactic to gain power in the workplace to win demands for a better life.”

Newton has been a union activist for 40 years as a member of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 948 and as a member and leader of the United Paperworkers International Union Local 66.

He joined his first union 50 years ago when he worked in a local paper mill during the summer to earn money for college. Newton retired two years ago after working for more than 30 years as a compliance officer for the U.S. Department of Labor, enforcing workplace health and safety regulations.

Newton said he took on a leadership role in the Black Friday protest outside the Scarborough Walmart because, “I believe we must have hope, and vision and collective power to make the changes necessary for a better life for working class people.”

He said that, “organizing a rally in support of workers demand(ing) to improve their lives and get out of poverty is an action that shows we are stronger together. As working class people, I believe, we must to learn to perfect our organizations and create new ones that give us the collective power to make the kind of change that put people (and the planet) first.”

In general, Newton said the response to the protest last week was positive and said, “One man entering the store, (who) was clearly a manual laborer, was in disbelief upon learning that many Walmart workers earn just above the minimum wage and earn less than $25,000 per year. He said ‘that’s ridiculous, you can’t live on that amount of money.’”

When asked what goals the protest accomplished, Newton said, “We stood with Walmart workers. We were there to support them. We wanted to say to ourselves, the workers and customers, that we, as workers, all have a basic human right to be able to support ourselves and our families.”

The overall point, he said, is that, “Walmart can afford to pay their workers a living wage and they are not doing that.”

Another protestor, Serina DeWolfe, agreed with Newton that the reaction from the public was mostly positive.

“The few customers I spoke with seemed engaged and agreed that Walmart workers should be paid a decent wage so they can remain self-sufficient and not reliant on social welfare programs,” she said.

DeWolfe added, “The Black Friday protests are important for bringing public awareness to the struggles that the middle class in America faces. The middle class is slowly disappearing and Americans in general are facing class warfare. More and more we see most Americans being paid minimum wage and having to rely on food stamps, heating assistance and subsidized rent just to survive.”

She said the goal for the Black Friday protests was “to bring public awareness to the middle class struggles. I think we achieved that. (For instance, Joe) Picone, from the Teamsters Local 340, (noted that) the Walton family is the biggest recipient of corporate welfare while their very own employees struggle just to put food on their table.”

Like Newton, DeWolfe is a member of a union. She’s the district vice president of the Communication Workers of America Local 1400 and also sits on the board of the Maine AFL-CIO.

DeWolfe is currently on strike against FairPoint Communications and said, “We are fighting to maintain our rights under a 40-year collective bargaining agreement. It is (also) important for the employees of Walmart to have that same collective voice without threats of termination or retaliation.”

Protestors make their stand outside the Scarborough Walmart last week.