Current and former Walmart workers lock hands in front of a building containing the office of Walmart board member Christopher Williams in New York. Philip J. Victor for Al Jazeera

Police said they arrested three protesters who sat on the ground and locked arms in front of the building where Williams' office is located, charging them with trespassing and disorderly conduct.

Demonstrators said they had planned to hand Williams a petition that organizers said had 200,000 signatures of people demanding Walmart commit to providing full-time work with a minimum salary of $25,000, and reinstate workers who were allegedly fired for previously striking.

Among those arrested Thursday was Barbara Gertz, an overnight stocker at the Walmart store in Aurora, Colo.

She told Al Jazeera that many workers were illegally penalized for striking in June outside Walmart's headquarters in Bentonville, Ark.



"Anybody who says they're not scared to lose their job probably is not being honest. I feel that what is going on in my workplace is more important than me getting fired. Making a change at Walmart is more important than me losing my job, because whether I work at Walmart or somewhere else, Walmart is the largest retailer in the world, and so many other businesses are starting to follow their business model," Gertz, who lives in Commerce, Colo., told Al Jazeera.

"If I get another job they're still going to affect me."

She said she and others want to see Walmart alter its ways.

"We want them to change. We want them to start treating their associates fairly and give them the ability to support their families. When you get a full-time job, you get that to be able to have a house or home and support your family," she said. "You can't do that at Walmart."

Other cities where Walmart employees are currently demonstrating Thursday include Baton Rouge, La., Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, Orlando, Fla., Sacramento, Calif., San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.

Thursday's action is expected to be the largest rally since Black Friday in 2012, which spanned at least nine cities, organizers said.