Wal-Mart appoints new CEO

Wal-Mart Stores’ chief executive officer and president Mike Duke will step down and be replaced by Doug McMillon, the current head of Wal-Mart’s international business, on Feb. 1, 2014, the company announced on Monday.

Analysts said the retail giant has had its eyes on McMillon, 47, to succeed Duke, 63, for a while.

“Doug McMillon has been grooming for this position for a long time,” Robin Sherk, lead analyst for Kantar Retail’s research on Wal-Mart, told Al Jazeera.

The announcement came just days before the kickoff of the holiday shopping season and as Wal-Mart sales have failed to meet expectations.

Wal-Mart said comparable sales at its U.S. stores, its biggest unit, fell 0.3 percent in the third quarter, which ended on Oct. 31, compared with the third quarter of 2012.

But Sherk said it’s unlikely the changeup is related to quarterly numbers.

Wal-Mart worker and OUR Walmart member Tiffany Beroid welcomed the company’s announcement by reiterating workers’ demands for higher pay and more stability.

“We sincerely hope that Mr. McMillon will answer the country’s calls for Wal-Mart to publicly commit to paying $25,000 a year, providing full-time work and ending its illegal retaliation against its own employees,” Beroid said in a statement.

In recent months, Wal-Mart has been battling a string of labor disputes and controversy over paying workers low wages.

Earlier this month, more than 50 people were arrested outside a new Wal-Mart store in Los Angeles while protesting the company’s wages.

Last week the National Labor Relations Board said it found that Wal-Mart unlawfully threatened employees with retaliation — including termination and surveillance — for participating in demonstrations at stores in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Washington.

In California, Florida, Missouri and Texas, employees faced pressure, discipline or termination “in anticipation of or in response to employees’ other protected concerted activities,” an NLRB statement said.

Ehab Zahriyeh contributed to this report. Al Jazeera and wire services