Walmart Walkout: Workers Plot "Black Friday" Walkout, will Mayhem Occur?

A group of Walmart workers are currently plotting a "Black Friday" (November 23) walkout - many Walmart employees plan on not showing up for work on arguably one of the biggest holiday shopping days for one of the the world's largest retail stores. The planned walkout is in response to an October strike that started at a Walmart in Los Angeles and spread to stores in 12 other cities - over 100 workers joined in on the October actions. The protests have continued to grow, and Walmart employees want more respect and the fair wages/schedules that they deserve. If customers begin lining up outside Walmart outlet stores nationwide late on Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, Nov. 22) and many employees don't show up for work, will total mayhem occur?

Walmart employees at over 200 stores in a number of major cities (Miami, Chicago, Washington D.C., and beyond) are already protesting for better pay, fairer schedules, and more affordable health care. On Friday, Nov. 23, the union-backed groups OUR Walmart and Making Change at Walmart predict at least 1,000 protests -both at stores and online. The two union organizations along with the watchdog group Corporate Action Network are now calling on the nation's largest employer to end supposed "retaliatory tactics" against employees who seek out better working conditions.

According to employees Charlene and William Fletcher, who work at a Walmart in Duarte, Calif., missing the holidays with their children (aged 2 and 5) is heartbreaking. Both are scheduled to work on Thanksgiving day this year - according to Charlene:  "It's heartbreaking to miss the holiday with them, and it's just one more way that Walmart is showing its disregard for our families. But when our co-workers speak out about problems like these, Walmart turns their schedules upside down, cuts their hours and even fires people. We're going on strike for an end to Walmart's attempts to silence its workers."

Wal-Mart spokesman Dan Fogleman told FoxNews.com that the walkout movement is just "another exaggerated publicity campaign aimed at generating headlines to mislead" customers and employees.

"We have a great group of associates at Walmart. We'll have more than one million associates working throughout the holiday weekend and they're excited about our Black Friday plans this year. This is the Super Bowl for retailers and we're ready.

We've been working on our Black Friday plans for almost a year now and we're prepared to have a great event. Our associates care about providing a great customer experience on Black Friday and we're confident that's what customers will have at Walmart this year."

Another Wal-Mart spokeswoman said that the number of workers who plan on protesting is very small and such individuals don't represent the views of the vast majority of its workforce of over 1.3 million. But many experts still feel that such actions could indeed be very impactful - "Even if there aren't that many people, it could have an effect, because their campaign in front of stores could discourage shoppers," said Ken Margolies, senior associate at the Worker Institute at Cornell University.