Organizers say over 500 Walmart workers walked off the job Thanksgiving week, including Black Friday. Some commentators downplayed the importance of the strikes, noting that participants only make up a sliver of Walmart’s million-strong workforce. But Nation reporter Josh Eidelson, who has been covering the Walmart labor movement since its inception, says any mass of people willing to take such a risky action points to significant discontent with Walmart’s low-wage model.

Eidelson joined Roosevelt Institute fellow Dorian Warren on Bloggingheads.tv to talk Walmart and labor. Along with the Black Friday strikes, the two discussed Walmart’s involvement in a deadly factory fire in Bangladesh, the role social media plays in labor organizing, and whether America’s biggest retailer can afford to pay a fair, living wage.

—Steven Hsieh