On April 11 in Hadley, Massachusetts, near Northampton, dozens of people attended a protest at a Wal-Mart store. They met with the store's manager and told him to re-hire Lisa Lacroix, a worker he recently fired after five years on the job. The protesters believe she was fired for publicly asking Wal-Mart to pay its workers a livable wage.

Wal-Mart is owned by the richest family in the world, the billionaire Waltons. The Walton family pays workers at Wal-Mart factories among the lowest wages in the world. Wal-Mart workers in the U.S. make barely above minimum wage.

“I worked at Wal-Mart for five years with no problems,” Lacroix told the Valley Post. “As soon as I spoke out, they fired me.” In November, she took part in a strike by Wal-Mart workers.

The protest was organized by www.jwj.org.

Kerry Brown works with Lacroix at the Hadley Wal-Mart. He attended the protest. “Wal-Mart retaliated against Lisa for her activism,” he told the Valley Post. “We want them to hire her back.”

Ryan Little works with Lacroix and Brown, and attended the rally. “Wal-Mart can afford to pay us a livable wage,” Little said.

All these photos show Lacroix. The second photo shows a co-worker of Lacroix's speaking to the store manager.

To enlarge a photo, click on it, then scroll down and click "see full size image." photos by Eesha Williams