COLUMBIA, S.C. — Half a dozen workers at a grocery store in Columbia went on strike Thursday. It's the latest in a recent stream of protests at businesses in the Midlands.
“I hope that me coming out here today, someone behind me can get the respect and the dignity that is due to them,” said Mary Bonnette, one of the striking workers.
At Publix on Harbison Blvd, a handful of workers were speaking out about work conditions and asking for better treatment.
Shirley Loadholt is a former employee of the business.
“I’m a dedicated worker,” Loadholt said. “All the employees, workers, customers love me. I take 100% care of them. I’m not a robot, I’m a human being.”
Today’s strike was coordinated by the Union of Southern Service Workers, an organization that’s recently led strikes at a Columbia Waffle House in early July and a Columbia Great Clips in June.
Mike Carrouth is a labor attorney, who says protests like these might not be as effective as people would think.
“Strikes do not work,” Carrouth said. “Because it’s a very severe action and the impact to the company, the impact to the relationship between the company and the employee, the impact that it has on the community can all be very long-lasting and significant.”
Carrouth says there are other ways for workers to handle issues they might have with their employer.
“People need to be respectful and talk with each other and attempt to legitimately talk to each other and try to get things resolved,” Carrouth said.
We reached out to Publix about the strike. The onsite store manager referred WLTX to a corporate spokesperson. We had not heard back from them by our deadline for this story.
Going forward, the strikers want to see staffing changes and better conditions overall. They have not heard anything from Publix yet.