truth of wallmart

Labor protests proposed Chinatown Walmart

June 30, 2012

By Dan Bluemel

Protesting the development of a Walmart retail store in Chinatown, demonstrators march on Spring Street demanding the corporation change its labor practices. (Dan Bluemel / LA Activist)

A few thousand union members marched through Chinatown today to protest Walmart’s labor practices and its proposed retail store in the neighborhood.
The march was led by Walmart employees who were joined by truck drivers, janitors, warehouse workers and others. Borrowing language from the occupy movement, demonstrators held signs saying “Wal-Mart: How the 1% hurts the 99%” and marched from the Los Angeles State Historic Park on Spring Street to Broadway and Cesar E. Chavez Avenue.
Demonstrators cited low-wages, poor treatment of employees, a record of harming local businesses and the utilization of sweatshop labor as reasons behind their protest.
Walmart employee Girshriela Green joined the demonstration to “make change” in the retail store outlet where she works as a department manager.
“They need to really look at being part of the solution and not a problem,” she said. “As of now, it is a problem for us to work at Walmart.”

(Dan Bluemel / LA Activist)

The problem being, explains Green, is that Walmart does not pay their employees a living wage. Many of them, she said, are on food stamps and unable to afford the companies health care plan. Walmart does provide its employees with a 10 percent discount, but it does not apply to food items.
“We are told on a daily basis that we are replaceable, that there are a hundred people waiting in line for our job, and if we can’t make it happen somebody else will,” she said.
Green has worked for Walmart for three years, but only makes $9.80 an hour. She is a full-time employee, but laments the fact that even full-timers must keep their schedules open and available for work, otherwise their hours may be reduced.
Instead of looking for another job, Green said she decided to stay working at Walmart and agitate for change.
“It’s easy to just walk away and let it be somebody else’s problem,” she said. “I’m already employed there, so it is my business too.”
Because Walmart pays their employees so little, many need forms of government assistance, such as free school lunches for their children or food stamps. It amounts to “corporate welfare,” according to PBS, because it leaves the tax payer to subsidize the low wages.
The proposed Walmart will be built at the northwest corner of Cesar E. Chavez and Grand avenues. Its construction is supported by the Chamber of Commerce and the Central City Association, a downtown business lobby which represents Walmart and has been the subject of an ongoing protest campaign for advocating, according to critics, anti-homeless policies.

(Dan Bluemel / LA Activist)

Peter Dreier, a professor at Occidental College who writes for the Huffington Post and Nation magazine, was present at the demonstration. He describes Walmart as a “giant predator” and a “parasite on working people.”
“It shows up in a community and immediately drives out small, family-owned businesses,” he said. “It lowers the wage levels of the surrounding community, by setting a precedent for lower wages and for jobs without health care benefits.”
Today’s protest comes on the heels of a $24 billion-dollar bribery scandal involving Walmart de Mexico, a subsidiary of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. According to The New York Times, the retail giant “paid bribes to obtain [building] permits in virtually every corner of the country.”
Walmart shut down its own internal investigation into the matter and never informed authorities of its malfeasance.
“Neither American nor Mexican law enforcement officials were notified,” reported the Times. “None of Wal-Mart de Mexico’s leaders were disciplined. Indeed, its chief executive, Eduardo Castro-Wright, identified … as the driving force behind years of bribery, was promoted to vice chairman of Wal-Mart in 2008.”
According to Dreier, Walmart has been using its vast fortune to lobby government and support right-wing political groups, such as the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, which is an advocate for “Stand Your Ground” laws.
Walmart was a supporter of ALEC until the recent negative attention over “Stand Your Ground” laws and their role in the death of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin.
“Walmart is the biggest seller of ammunition and guns in the country, so they were paying ALEC to lobby to protect gun laws,” said Dreier.

(Dan Bluemel / LA Activist)

Walmart has also been buying influence among nonprofits as well, according Dreier. He said the retail giant also donates money to the NAACP, including several groups in Chinatown and Little Tokyo, “in order to neutralize opposition.”
“I don’t know if whether it worked or not, but that is what they did,” he said.
The march and rally was sponsored by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. The group had expected 10,000 people to show up, but far less attended. Despite the lower-than-expected turnout, the group says it was the largest protest ever held against Walmart.
According to the group, Walmart continues to meet opposition, such as in Boston and New York, who don’t want the retail stores in their communities.
“Walmart’s chief product is poverty,” said Maria Elena Durazo, executive secretary-treasurer of the LA County Federation of Labor, at the rally. “Walmart gets rich by keeping its employees poor; however, Walmart workers are organizing for decent wages and affordable benefits. They have the right to dignity and respect and Walmart can afford to do better. Until Walmart stops selling poverty, we don’t want it in Los Angeles.