Chicago, ILLINOIS – NOVEMBER 29, 2013: Striking Walmart workers and supporters protest outside a Walmart Neighborhood Market store on Black Friday (Shutterstock).
Walmart has long been the toughest nut for labor organizers to crack, as the company’s brutally effective anti-union campaigns have regularly crushed unions’ efforts to get workers to sign up.
However, a labor group called OUR Walmart has come out with a new mobile application that Walmart workers can use on their phones to help them organize for better wages and benefits — and it seems that Walmart is not happy about it.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Walmart has sent out warnings to all of its employees that they should not download and install the WorkIt app onto their devices because it will allegedly swipe all their important personal information. In reality, the Journal notes, it only asks users to register and share their job titles and Walmart store numbers — and its permissions do not include location data, contacts or photos.
The purpose of the app is to help workers communicate with one another so they can learn about their rights as employees, as well as to develop strategies for improving workplace policies. While there are already a lot of online forums where Walmart employees gather to talk about issues at work, OUR Walmart wants to give employees a centralized hub to help them with all of their complaints and questions.
Christ, that hoax is as old as the infamous Nigerian prince.
This increasing trend of companies assuming the right to control people’s outside-of-work lives, especially online, is getting damned worrying though.
Companies really hate it when you share information with other employees. It makes it much more difficult to lie to and control their employees. I always let other employees know my salary and amount of raises which sometimes encouraged others to do the same. I know it gave ammunition to others to fight for their own salary adjustments.