A PROTEST against poverty pay at anti-union US retailer Walmart ended with 23 arrests, the Los Angeles county sheriff’s department confirmed today.

Workers organised in Organisation United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart), a group founded by the United Food and Commercial Workers union, launched a sit-down strike on Thursday in the city’s Crenshaw Boulevard supermarket.

Striking workers chanted: “Stand up, live better! Sit down, live better!” before taping over their mouths to symbolise the way the company tries to silence trade unionists.

They later continued the protest at a road junction, blocking traffic. Police made the arrests for their failure to disperse. Those detained were later released.

Walmart posts annual profits of around $16 billion (£10.2bn) but pays the bulk of its workforce less than $25,000 (£16,000) a year.

Striker Kiana Howard told reporters she was taking action “to protest [at] Walmart’s illegal fear tactics and to send a message to management and the Waltons that they can’t dismiss the calls for $15 (£9.60) an hour and full-time work.”

The Walton family owns more than half of Walmart and has a combined wealth of $152bn (£97bn). Its six richest members have a net financial worth equal to the combined assets of the poorest 41 per cent of US families.

Los Angeles County Federation of Labour secretary-treasurer Maria Elena Durazo said: “We cannot allow our country’s largest private employer to pay workers so little they can’t put food on the table.”

Asked to comment on the arrests, Walmart spokesman Brooke Buchanan said: “Today we focused on serving our customers, but every day we’re focused on the opportunity that we offer our associates.”

The firm terms its employees “associates.”