This week several Walmart workers in the Twin Cities in Minnesota sent $634.50 from bonuses — the bosses’ “blood money” bribes — they received to the Socialist Workers Party.
“In the wake of the coronavirus epidemic’s spread to the United States,” writes David Rosenfeld, “there has been a massive wave of purchasing items that would be needed during a quarantine or stay-at-home order from the government. Most working people have little confidence in the capitalist government to address the growing medical and social crises. And they know that when the going gets rough, the rulers will be leaving us to fend for ourselves.
“When the store manager where I work announced the MyShare bonus,” Rosenfeld said, “he was almost giddy over the increased sales. It was like back-to-back-to-back Black Fridays! Of course the pressure is on for workers to speed up and work overtime.”
Communists use the term “blood money” to describe production, attendance, safety and other so-called bonuses bosses offer in an effort to bribe workers to keep quiet about speedup, low pay and unsafe working conditions.
“We are proud to turn these bonuses over to a party that leads by example,” said Rosenfeld, “and responds to the social crises created by capitalism not by hunkering down as helpless victims but by deepening its work in our class.”
Walmart worker Lisa Potash sent the party a check for $269.69 from Atlanta. “The company just announced a one-time bonus of $300 for full-time workers and $150 for part time, supposedly as ‘thanks’ for working harder during the coronavirus pandemic,” she wrote.