Upcoming Walmart Demonstration

The following letter was received by email.

To the Currents and its readers:

Riverwest is arguably one of the most progressive communities in Milwaukee. As such many, if not most of us, support local businesses, believe in workers’ rights to organize, struggle in our own ways against racial and sexual discrimination, and support efforts to encourage environmentally friendly development. If these values are to be more than platitudes and empty words, then it is incumbent on us to put them into practice and confront institutions in our community that do not meet these goals and standards.

On November 21 at 4:30 p.m. at the Walmart on Capitol Drive and Holton, a broad coalition of groups will be demonstrating. We ask for your support.

Is Walmart an institution that deserves our time and energy? Consider:

-For every 2 jobs Walmart creates in a community it destroys 3.

-Walmart employees make on the average 2 to 3 dollars less per hour than comparable workers in union jobs.

-Walmart forces its employees to work “off the clock” after they have punched out.

-Walmart regularly does business with foreign countries and suppliers that commit human rights abuses.

-No company is sued more than Walmart. On average it is named as a defendant in nearly 5,000 actions a year filed by citizens, communities, consumers, and its own employees.

-Walmart is currently fighting the nation’s largest class-action gender discrimination suit. Allegations include unequal pay, lack of women in management, and in a related suit, of refusing to provide contraceptive coverage to women employees.

At this point , “The Peoples Campaign for Justice at Walmart” is not calling for a boycott. We are asking you to join us in letting Walmart know we are aware of their anti-worker, anti-women and minority, anti-union, anti-environment policies and practices and we expect them to change.

What can you do? Please join us for the rally on Nov 21. If you shop at Walmart, wear union and right to organize buttons and shirts and jackets; let Walmart employees know you support their rights to organize free from intimidation; check labels on items of clothing and countries of origin labels on other manufactured goods, ask management if they were made in sweat shop conditions. Let the local management know that if they intend to be a member of our community, we expect them to adhere to standards that encourage and support the dignity and rights of their workers.

This is the beginning of a long struggle to rein in the country’s largest employer and retailer. While unions and progressive forces may lead in that struggle, it cannot succeed until residents put their local outlet on notice that we expect them to be a good neighbor, respect employees’ right to organize, and provide goods not made under sweat shop conditions.

What does this mean in practice? It does not mean, at this point in the struggle, a demand for a boycott of Walmart. It does mean a time for the people to stand up and take a stance against the corporate greed of Walmart.
For more information, please feel free to contact me at 414-771-7541.

Sincerely,

Gina Bianchi
Milwaukee Jobs with Justice

Riverwest Currents - Volume 1 - Issue 10 - November 2002