Boca Raton, Fla.
— After a decade of hard work and many months of training, the newest worker in a Walmart store in Florida’s Boca River Valley was finally getting a job this week.
The Boca Union School District hired the former Walmarts assembly line worker, and she said she had been working there for four months before the school board approved her contract with the company.
Boca Union Superintendent John J. Devereaux said the union’s first priority was to get a good quality employee.
The union has been working with Walmart to recruit more Walmart employees, including workers who had to work on the assembly line.
But Walmart has not agreed to pay for the new jobs.
Devereaux called the situation “heartbreaking.”
The school district says it hired the worker because it had no other employees.
The worker was not paid in full until she completed her training.
The district says she will be paid about $40 an hour.
Walmart has denied that, saying it was a labor dispute.
The new Walmart worker, who has not been identified, started work at Walmart last year.
The union says it was able to secure $20,000 in a loan from the state, and the district says the loan is still outstanding.
Walmart workers have been on strike for months, demanding pay increases, better working conditions and better health benefits.
The company says the strikes are being handled internally.