<p>As Black Friday approached it was yet to be known whether the organized protests of Walmart store workers would affect the company on the largest shopping day of the year. Some reports stated that more than 1,000 Walmart workers participated in Black Friday protests by walking out on the company but Walmart didn't seem to feel the heat, stating that this year's Black Friday events were its "best ever" and that the numbers were being exaggerated.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><img src="https://cdn.andnowuknow.com/legacyWriterImages/strike00.jpg" alt="ANUK November 19th, 2012" /><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">David Tovar, VP of Corporate Communications, Walmart, reported in a statement on Black Friday, “The number of protests being reported by the UFCW are grossly exaggerated. We are aware of a few dozen protests at our stores today. The number of associates that have missed their scheduled shift today is more than 60 percent less than Black Friday last year. It was proven last night – and again today – that the OUR Walmart group doesn’t speak for the 1.3 million Walmart associates. We had our best Black Friday ever and OUR Walmart was unable to recruit more than a small number of associates to participate in these made for TV events. Press reports are now exposing what we have said all along – the large majority of protesters aren’t even Walmart workers.”<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Protestors handed out fliers and signs that read, “Walmart = greed” and “Walmart = 1%.” Union and community members were also part of the protests. Walmart employees state the company has tried to silence their efforts to organize and demand for better pay.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> In response to the UFCW’s planned protests, Bill Simon, Walmart U.S. president and chief executive officer, stated, “Only 26 protests occurred at stores last night and many of them did not include any Walmart associates.” Walmart’s Black Friday plan included three events this year at 8 p.m., 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. During the high traffic period from 8 p.m. through midnight, Walmart processed nearly 10 million register transactions and almost 5,000 items per second, according to a press release.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://www.Walmart.com" target="_new"> Walmart </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
