Wednesday: Activists Plan Anti-Discrimination Demonstration At Renton Walmart

**UPDATE: Click here for coverage of Wednesday morning's demonstration**

About a dozen Renton Walmart employees walked off the job Tuesday and more are expected to participate in a demonstration Wednesday morning. 

Similar events also occurred at other Washington state Walmart stores Tuesday, including Federal Way, Lakewood Mount Vernon and Port Angeles, wrote Janna Pea, a spokesperson for the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW).

Twelve other events occurred at stores across the country, according to an article in The Huffington Post.

Walmart employees accuse the big box store of attempting to "silence and retaliate against workers for speaking out for improvements on the job," according to a press release from the UFCW.

Walmart employees, however, are non-union.

Elena Perez, a coordinator for Making Change Walmart Puget Sound Coalition, said demonstrations held last week in Los Angeles and Dallas are gaining ground. 

“The message that I’ve gotten is, 'it is spreading,'” she said of the coalition’s message to “stand in support of workers across the nation.”

“Walmart workers are challenging Walmart - the world's largest company - to raise standards and create decent jobs in its stores and throughout its supply chain,” according to an event posting on http://corporateactionnetwork.org/. “However, when workers from Walmart's stores, and contracted warehouses speak out for improvements and change in the workplace, they're faced with retaliation, and even fired, for speaking out.”

Perez expects about “15 to 20” people at Wednesday morning’s demonstration in Renton at the Walmart store located at 743 Rainier Avenue South.

Activists will be there to hand out more information. She could not confirm if any current or past employees would be joining in the demonstration.

Meanwhile, Walmart employees from across the nation will be attending the company’s annual shareholder meeting in Bentonville, Arkansas.

“They impact more than the workers,” she said of the big box store. “They impact the communities and small businesses, too.”

This is the first prostest at the Renton Walmart in almost a year. Last November more than 50 "Occupy" protesters stood outside Renton’s Walmart calling for an end to corporate greed and what they called unfaithfulness to Walmart employees.