protests have been staged outside walmarts across the country by the united food union and labor unions planning to disrupt your black friday shopping. wal-mart is not backing down. they filed a complaint with the national labor relations board that apparently won't be granted after thanksgiving. the dailyer caller has uncovered that moveon.org is getting in the fight. they are sending out e-mails and trying to get people to strike on friday. even if they don't work for the retail giant. joining me kirsten powers, in the middle of a recession with retailers suffering across this country, the last thing we need is a strike at walmart on the biggest shopping day of year by unions? >> yeah. probably not the best thing for the economy but if you look at the workers they have valid complaints against walmart. i'm not a big fan of walmart in the way they have treated their employees. i really don't understand how the national labor relations board have a right to tell people they can't picket. you as a libertarian would be offended by that. >> i don't think governments should have anything t

union. wal-mart has filed an unfair labor practices claim against the united food and commercial workers with the national labor relations board charging that this union is, in effect, mounting a stealth effort through this group to unionize wal-mart's workforce. one fair labor is working wal-mart. texas. unfair labor is seeing your healthcare premiums skyrocket year after year. unfair labor is being denied the hours needed to support your family. >> historically, the plaintiff's bar has viewed wal-mart as being a place where employees are exploited, low paid, long working hours no job security. >> for its part the united food and commercial workers union says wal-mart is just grasping at straws here, greg. >> greg: they make about $10 to $11 an hour which is fairly consistent with retail. we have been waiting for a ruling from the national labor relations board. do we have any idea how that ruling might go? >> well, the math does not bode well for wal-mart. the nlrb is presently comprised of three board members. three democrats and one republic. of the democrats two were placed on the boarded by president obama as recess appointments. the complaint here was filed in little rock. it's the memphis regional office of the nl

united food and commercial workers' union by organizing these protests across more than 30 days is legally required to file a petition with the labor relations board to seek an election to form a union. and that without seeking to do that, in essence, what the uscw's trying to do here, says walmart, is mount a stealth effort to unionize the walmart work force. again, 1.4 million people across the united states. we expected that we would have a ruling on that complaint of unfair labor practices from the national labor relations board sometime yesterday, over thanksgiving, so that it would apply to what we're seeing here. but it never came. typically, those complaints take six weeks to adjudicate. it was filed in little rock. the memphis regional field office was handling it, but so far no ruling. and to the national labor relations board apparently keeping its hands off today's activities. gregg: james rosen, if you're able to get somebody there to put a subject with a predicate, we'll come back to you. thanks very much. >> reporter: all right, thank you. [laughter] patti ann: well, as you can see, unions are backing these protests. are they accomplishing anything? charles gasparino

jones said the united food and commercial workers union helped organize this action in collaboration with still other unions and that is a key issue of contention before the national labor relations board in the complaint that walmart has filed against the union in effect accusing them of trying to mount an of the at unionizing walmart's workforce but the entire protest unfolded peaceably and there was in violence and no description to sales at this walmart, we saw the parking lot fill up throughout the course of the day and, walmart executives tell fox they had the best black friday they have ever had. brenda? >> thank you, james. you saw the unions flexing their muscle and my guest says be careful what you wish for. what do you mean, be careful what you wish for? >>guest: people are hurting. look at the people if line, they are desperate to get deals because they are hurting financially. it is not just people hurting. but businesses, as well. big is down overall. the corporate earnings will be down if the third quarter in a row. people may not care about that but corporate earnings translate to jobs. the job market is very sticky. people are having a very difficult ti

labor relations board, accusing the united food and commercial workers union of unlawfully interfering, even though it doesn't represent walmart employees. >> we think our workers are getting really bad advice from the unions. while they do have rights and we respect those rights, there are some actions that we will take if people don't follow our company policies. >> reporter: now, walmart insists it does have a plan in place for black friday. the company employs 1.4 million associates in the u.s. it's unclear how many of them would participate in any picketing. and how it will influence all those shoppers looking for their holiday bargains. >> kristen dahlgren on the retail story for us be to the. kristen, thanks. >>> now to a huge story today and its impact on the children and their parents across this country and around the world who are fans of elmo on sesame street. the long-time puppeteer and voice of elmo resigned today because of a relationship with a man in his personal life. and a heads up here, if you have kids in the room right now, use discretion. this is a real life story about a beloved character. our report tonight from nbc's chris jansing. >> reporter: for 28 years, kevin brought elmo to

the united food and commercial workers union is calling for employees to walk off the job on black friday. walmart says the labor unionlegally organizing picket lines and other demonstrations. walmart says the company is ready for the black friday rush and that the striking workers represent just a small minority of their work force. >>> happening now, holiday shoppers are already companied outside of a best -- camped outside of a best buy in pinole. they are planning to spend friday in line all for black friday deals. lorraine blanco has been talking to shoppers there about the rain and the forecast. there you are -- are they prepared for that, lorraine? >> reporter: yeah, they are gonna be prepared for that, tori. i've been checking out our facebook page and a lot of the comments are kind of negative about the people here. we're finding out it's less about the deals and more about the camaraderie here. in fact, thanksgiving will include a potluck and get some help to round out an outdoor feast. it seams like over anticipation has been a -- has become a holiday tradition for about the last decade. best buy doesn't op

alleging unfair labor practices on the part of the united food and commercial workers union claiming that the uniong outside 1300 walmart stores on the heavy shopping day of black friday this friday is effectively an attempt to unionize wal-mart workers outside of the rules that govern unionization. >> the union may say they're not engage in an organizing effort but the truth is they would love to organize wal-mart and have been wanting to do that for a long time and walmart is looking at companies like hostess and general motors that have been virtually bankrupted by unsustainable labor costs thanks to unions. >> a spokesman for the union rejected this unfair labor practice charge telling fox news, quote, unfair labor is working full time and living in poverty and seeing your health care premiums skyrocket year after year. unfair labor is being denied the hours needed to support your family and the union at the one not stand down into wal-mart -- walmart changes the way it treats its employees. cheryl: we remind our viewers walmart is not a unionized company. the battle has been going on for years

labor practice charge against the ufcw. make no mistake about it, our walmart is a wholly owned subsidiary of the united food and commercial workers union. the unionsave been trying to organize walmart for years unsuccessfully. no they' now they're trying new tactics that are aimed at trying to get the media to cover it. unfortunately, they're breaking the law. we're going to do something about it. >> what law are they breaking? >> so there's -- the way the national labor relations act works is there's -- part of the law that is around recognitional picketing and trying to be recognized as a you knowon, which is what they're trying to do. they're trying to represent our workers, but they haven't followed any of the rules they need to do in order to be recognized as a you knowon. >> david, are you going to be working on thanksgiving? >> absolutely. bill in the stores on black friday as will many of our executives. we're looking forward to a great black friday. we have great plan in place. we're going to have over 1 million workers working that day. >> what about thursday? >> yeah, thursday as well. absolutely. i'll be working on thursday as well. >>

retailer filed a petition with the national labor relations board against the united food and commercial workers international union. wal-mart accuses the uniontionwide protests in an effort to disrupt business. >>> almost a third of holiday shoppers say they have already crossed off all the names on their gift list. that's according to a survey conducted by the international council of shopping centers and goldman sachs. 33% of shoppers say they had already bought all their holiday purchases. analysts say shoppers may be less concerned about deals than making sure holiday inventories do not run out. >>> well, the holiday windows are now up at macy's in san francisco's union square. once again, they feature puppies and kittens available for adoption. macy's partners with the san francisco spca to promote adoptions. the spca says two animals have already been adopted. the pets will be in the windows through january 1st. >>> well, it is not even thanksgiving yet, but christmas is already here. how you and your family can celebrate one of the first tree lighting ceremonies in the bay area. >>> morning showers will be tapering off to mainly dry c

united food workers union and its subsidiary of wal-mart are calling for employes to skip work or at least walk off the job on black friday. wal-mart filed a complaint with the federal agency accusing the labor unionof illegally you organize a picket lines and other demonstrations. the workers present a small minority of the company's employes and what more will be open for blepharitis sales. >> the british cup is the factory near shanghai will be engine production facility. there would be aimed at the chinese market. ticket of is criticized release the tasty cream filled sponge cake are more likely going to survive even though their maker will be sold in bankruptcy court. the company is the baker of wonder bread as well as twinkies ding-dongs and whole host. bogged down by debt management turmoil and rising labor cost. the company decided to sell its assets ripping go through chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring. the time now is 4:12 on your monday morning. we will be right back with your kron 4 news the first a live look outside. no problems on the bay bridge toll plaza at this early hour. in downtown san francisco 5 degrees temperatures getting to the low to mid '60's with cloudy conditions. we