Maria Umali (foreground) with union members protesting at Walmart in Union City, California. PHOTOS BY JUN NUCUM
UNION CITY, California – Claiming that the Walmart superstore chain doesn’t care enough for its workers, labor union members staged a protest at the store’s outlet in this city March 10 in support of a Filipina sales associate’s demand for adequate workman’s compensation.
“Walmart, Walmart, you’re no good, treat your workers like you should!” chanted members of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union, including disgruntled Walmart employees, who complained of mistreatment.
Maria Umali, originally of Paombong, Bulacan, said she was shabbily treated after an incident at a Walmart changing room as she was ending her work shift.
“On May 17, 2015 7 p.m., I slipped on a wet paint area that had no warning sign at a changing room when I was about to finish my shift. And they did not respond or did anything right away. They just pulled me out from the wet paint, placed me in a corner then later to a training room. They did nothing else as the co-manager wanted to wait for next shift’s assistant manager to do something, like take me to the hospital.
Umali said she was made to wait for two hours even though she was in pain and could not move her lower limbs anymore. She said she was placed on a wheelchair and then made to ride the pickup truck of one of the associates that took her to St. Rose Hospital in Hayward.
Members of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union supporting Maria Umali.
“They did not call for help from the hospital. Coworkers were the ones who took me from the pickup to the wheelchair again. After a few hours at St. Rose, they sent me to a farther Highland Hospital in Oakland, which was two cities away, at 3 a.m. which was not right,” Umali recounted.
Umali was sent to a care home for rehabilitation for three weeks after being discharged from Highland Hospital and, all the while, no manager saw her asked about her condition. They just let workers’ compensation benefits take care of her needs.
“I did not get anything more after that. I cannot work even at home anymore, and they declined thrice the request of the doctor for a caregiver to help me go around because my 79-year-old Portuguese fiancée for 15 years and who was helping me had passed away in January this year,” Umali cried in an interview later.
Now at 63, she is rendered disabled by the injury, living on an $800 monthly compensation that is not even enough for her $1,200 monthly rent.
“And this is what I get from a company I worked hard and spent my best working time for the last 16 years since 1999, facing some very rued customers. They are treating me now like an unwanted rag, which I was not when I was healthy. At least they could give me some measure of recognition and respect for someone who worked hard for them,” Umali rued.
Umali stressed that she does not other Walmart workers, particularly the Filipinos that comprise 75 percent of the Union City workforce, to suffer her fate as Walmart’s workers compensation package is not enough.
Although she has four children, two of whom are left in Paombong, her two other children who are in Hayward and Las Vegas have their own families to take care of.
Alameda County District 2 Supervisor Richard Valle, whose jurisdiction includes Union City and Fremont where Umali currently lives, made clear that he was in the rally because of what happened to Maria, a constituent.
“That’s really terrible because when somebody gets injured on the job, within six or seven minutes, the fire department can report and then you can have an ambulance there within eight or nine minutes. So for Walmart to take two hours for somebody with a broken hip sitting on the floor and couldn’t be moved, is just criminal. And that’s why I am here today,” Valle declared.
Valle further observed that Walmart’s safety procedures clearly are not adequate that resulted to serious injuries to one of its employees.
Maria worked for the store for at least 13 year, Valle said, “so she is not a short-term employee and she made an investment of her life into this company helping them make huge profits. So you wonder sometimes why a company that makes billions of dollars can pay so little in wages and benefits.” asked Valle.
Valle vowed to fight for Maria who needs somebody at home to help her get around. “As elected officials, we have the responsibility to speak out to the principals of Walmart. Many times I have met with the managers of this store for different causes and they have stepped up in very small ways. In a very big way, their shortcoming is a lack of training for their employees when it comes to safety.”
Alameda County District 2 Supervisor Richard Valle (left) with Maria Umali.
Valle, however, said that Walmart turns over managers very quickly. “They move from store to store to store and it is hard to find somebody here who is accountable. And that is one of the business practices I think they actually do purposely to avoid any kind of responsibility.”
He believes that pressure must be put on Walmart’s national directors “who are very well paid,” its shareholders and investors to pay attention to the people who are actually doing the work for them. “I am now talking about redistribution of wealth, sharing in the wealth, and taking those billions and investing them back into the workers who created wealth for the company,” Valle declared.
Meanwhile, Umali continues to wait for the result of her demand for better compensation. She is now being taken care of by another disgruntled Filipina former coworker at Walmart who volunteers her help for free.
Walmart Union City managers claimed they did not know that a rally was held within their vicinity and could not comment.
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