Update: November 24, 2011

In a few short weeks, over 200,000 people joined Target employee Anthony Hardwick in calling on Target to save Thanksgiving for its employees, their families and consumers by opening on Black Friday. Anthony's petition changed the way the country talked about how retailers let sales trump family time on Thanksgiving. The campaign received a massive amount of media attention from local newspapers to the national nightly news.

Anthony's campaign received a boost when another Target employee in Minnesota joined consumers and faith leaders in delivering hundreds of thousands of petition signatures to Target's corporate headquarters. Anthony also inspired over 150 other petitions on Change.org calling on other major retailers to save Thanksgiving and put employees and families first. Many of the campaigns, as well as other new petitions focused on improving workplace conditions, were started by current retail workers inspired by Anthony's brave efforts.

Are you inspired by Anthony's campaign? You can start your own petition on Change.org here.

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A midnight opening robs the hourly and in-store salary workers of time off with their families on Thanksgiving Day.  By opening the doors at midnight, Target is requiring team members to be in the store by 11 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. A full holiday with family is not just for the elite of this nation -- all Americans should be able to break bread with loved ones and get a good night's rest on Thanksgiving!

Join me in calling for Target retail stores to push back their original opening time of 5am on Black Friday.