Walmart has never been shy about its desire to keep its employees from organizing.

“We don’t have unions in South Carolina,” Governor Nikki Haley bragged at a recent Walmart Summit, in an effort to sell the world’s largest company on the state.

But low wages for workers result in massive taxpayer subsidies for the company.

“After analyzing data released by Wisconsin’s Medicaid program, the Democratic staff of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce estimates that a single 300-person Walmart Supercenter store in Wisconsin likely costs taxpayers at least $904,542 per year and could cost taxpayers up to $1,744,590 per year – about $5,815 per employee,” a report found earlier this year.

Walmart associates who do attempt to unionize and demand better treatment have reported retaliation from the company. Some say they’ve been unfairly treated for just dabbling in organizing.

When activists tried to deliver petitions asking the company to stop retaliating to a Raleigh, North Carolina superstore on Thursday, the management was dismissive.

But it was impossible to ignore what the activists did next. It seems the conservative overreach in the Tar Heel State  is sparking a progressive resurgence.