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We are Making Change at Walmart


Our vision for American workers – in grocery, retail, and in our communities – is respect and dignity at jobs that pay fairly and guarantee workers a voice.

Working together with Walmart Associates, local UFCW members, and leaders in communities across the country, the Making Change at Walmart campaign is challenging Walmart to share our vision for a new way forward—a way that lifts all of us up.

Join us in calling on Walmart to demand a stop to attacks on garment worker leaders in Bangladesh.

Two weeks ago we wrote <http://blog.wakeupwalmart.com/ufcw/2010/08/bengali-poverty.html> about the conditions under which garment workers in Bangladesh struggled, often making as little as 11.5 cents per hour. Last week these workers began to protest when the wage increases they were seeking fell short of their demands.

The government of Bangladesh, under pressure from manufacturers, has begun systematically attacking worker rights groups, especially targeting the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity (BCWS)

BCWS's assets have been frozen by the government, and one of their leaders was detained and beaten by authorities.

BCWS leaders in Bangladesh are reporting persecution from manufacturers and the government. One manufacturer in particular, Nassa Global Wear, has filed suit against BCWS. The owners of Nassa, who are former high-ranking military officers, may have used their political power to pressure the government to arrest BCWS leaders. Walmart is Nassa's largest customer, purchasing an estimated 80% of the production of the company. As the largest retailer in the world, Walmart has enormous bargaining power and influence over the way their suppliers do business.

Walmart has written a letter to Nassa asking them to stop their worker crackdown, but they could use their influence much more powerfully than by just writing a letter. One phone call from Walmart--either to Nassa officials or to Bangladeshi government officials--could make these human rights abuses stop.

Please join us in calling on Walmart to use the full weight of their influence to push Nassa Global Wear to stop its assaults on workers' rights.

Send your support HERE

For Walmart, Black Friday has become synonymous with the tragic death of Jdimytai Damour: the Walmart worker trampled by an ill-managed "doorbuster" crowd at a Long Island Walmart. After a barrage of criticism following the stampede, Walmart characterized the tragedy as a singular "incident." Now, the truth is coming out.

According to Newsday, Damour's Walmart faced a similar stampede in 2007. A Black Friday crowd pushed the store's front door off its hinges before trampling fallen customers. The same article also covers a damning sworn statement by a local Walmart employee. During the Black Friday 2008 investigation, he noted, "I was there, like in past years, to help people up as they fall coming in the doors."

Looking back, the 2008 Black Friday stampede appears to have been a predictable annual affair. Walmart failed to adequately prepare for it. Mr. Damour died because of it.

You can play a part in keeping this year's Black Friday free of disasters like that which claimed the life of Jdimytai Damour. Join our online campaign to alert holiday shoppers and keep tabs on Walmart's handling of Black Friday crowds.

Spread the word to holiday shoppers: hold Walmart accountable for store safety on Black Friday.

Black Friday is likely to be bigger than ever in 2009. Polls suggest the possibility of a near 25% increase in participation this year over last. This, in concert with Walmart's aggressive promotion of holiday sales, will almost assuredly generate massive crowds this Friday.

If Walmart couldn't anticipate the Long Island tragedy, we can't rely on it to handle record crowds this year. We know Walmart has splurged on advertising, but we need your help to ensure it doesn't skimp on security.

Join our campaign for a safer Black Friday: ask holiday shoppers to tell their story about crowds spotted at Walmart stores, send us photos, and spread the word.

Help us hold Walmart to a higher standard of safety during this year's Black Friday blitz

Ogera Charles, Jdimytai Damour's father, has a simple request this year: that "the company and shoppers will do whatever is needed to prevent a repeat of last year’s disaster." Our hopes are the same. In that spirit, please join us in promoting safety and accountability during Walmart's Black Friday events.

Thank you for all that you do, and please enjoy a safe holiday weekend.

Last year, we won an important victory when Wal-Mart withdrew its application for an ILC (Industrial Loan Corporation) bank, which is a way for a non-banking company such as a retailer to operate a bank. Then, the mere idea of a Wal-Mart Bank provoked an unprecedented backlash. When the dust settled, the chances of a Wal-Mart Bank seemed like a remote possibility. Unfortunately, it isn't. The FDIC moratorium on corporate industrial bank charters has expired. Today, there is nothing keeping Wal-Mart from pursuing a special ILC bank that would operate with little government oversight and dangerously blur the line between commerce and banking. Commercially owned banks will have an incentive to steer credit away from competitors and towards favored clients. Additionally, if a commercial company that owns a bank fails, it may put the bank and FDIC insurance funds at risk.

Until the loophole allowing for ILCs is closed for good, corporations like Wal-Mart will continue to pose a threat to America's banking industry. Senator Chris Dodd has proposed a piece of legislation that will patch the defect in our banking policy, but the bill is bogged down in a partisan debate. Unless we all act now, the bill may not even make it to the floor for a vote.

We need your help in getting this vital legislation through the Senate. Write your Senators today and tel them to take a stand for sound banking policy. Together, we can keep Wal-Mart out of the American banking industry.

Stop the Wal-Mart Bank: Write a letter to your Senators today

Wal-Mart already has a history of unfair financial dealings. Last November, Wal-Mart de Mexico opened the first of a string of in-store Wal-Mart banks. Today, those branches prey on poor and under-served customers, offering predatory loans with outrageous 75% interest rates.

In America, Wal-Mart pushes credit cards that downplay absurd 25% APRs and pre-paid Visas chock-full of hidden fees. In 2006, while Wal-Mart pursued an American ILC, it went so far as to lie under oath while giving testimony to FDIC regulators.

Clearly, the facts speak for themselves. We can't allow an irresponsible corporation like Wal-Mart to threaten our nation's banking industry. Please, take action today—tell your Senators to take a stand for consumers and for responsible banking.

Write your Senators in support of Senator Dodd's bill

Impact of Big-Box Stores on Existing Jobs

Big-box stores are not a form of economic development. A newly constructed super- store cannot increase the amount of money that local residents have to spend. As a result, sales gains at these stores are invariably mirrored by an equivalent drop in revenue at existing businesses.

Fewer Retail jobs

As these businesses are forced to down- size or close, the resulting job losses typically equal or exceed the number of new jobs created by the big-box store. This was recently shown in a large-scale study con- ducted by researchers at the Public Policy Institute of California. The study examined 3,094 counties across the U.S., tracking the arrival of Wal-Mart stores betwee 1977 and 2002.

The study found that the opening of a Wal-Mart store led to a net loss of 180 retail jobs on average, suggesting that each Wal-Mart employee replaces approximately 1.5 workers at other stores. (David Neumark, Junfu Zhang, and Stephen Ciccarella, "The Effects of Wal-Mart on Local Labor Markets," working paper, Public Policy Institute of California, April 2006)

Although similar studies have not been done of other big-box retailers, they likely also have a negative impact on employment, because the underlying dynamics (i.e., no increase in consumer spending) are the same.

Working Poverty

In their drive to cut costs, big-box chains are pushing down wages for retail workers. A national study found that, in counties that are part of Metropolitan Statistical Areas (which account for nearly 85% of the U.S. population), every additional Wal-Mart store that opens reduces total earnings for retail workers by 1.3%. (Arindrajit Dube, Barry Eidlin, and Bill Lester, "Impact of Wal-Mart Growth on Earnings through-out the Retail Sector in Urban and Rural Counties," Institute of Industrial Relations Working Paper Series, 2005)

180 Jobs Lost:

Net Impact When Wal-Mart Opens

Many big-box employees, even those who work full-time, do not earn enough to meet basic living expenses. Many also lack health insurance as they are not eligible for or cannot afford the company plan. At Wal-Mart, for example, full-time employees must wait six months and part-timers one year to qualify, leaving almost 40 per- cent of the company's workforce ineligible. Of those who are eligible, about one-third do not enroll, in many cases because of the high out-of-pocket cost.

Instead, large numbers of big-box employees rely on Medicaid, food stamps, and other public assistance programs to get by. Several states have reported that their Medicaid rolls are now swollen with superstore workers. In 2005, for example, Massachusetts disclosed that some 9,500 Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Target employees and dependents were receiving publicly-funded health care at an annual cost to taxpayers of over $12 million.

Perhaps most disturbing, researchers at Penn State University, after controlling for other factors that influence poverty, found that counties that gained Wal-Mart stores during the I 990s fared worse in terms of family poverty rates than those that did not. (Stephan Goetz and Hema Swamina- than, "Wal-Mart and County-Wide Poverty," Penn State University, Oct. 2004.)

Despite substantial evidence that big- box stores reduce employment and lower wages, many local officials still believe these stores are job creators. The myth persists in part because job gains are very visible-the 300 people donning smocks at Wal-Mart while the layoffs are usually scattered across numerous businesses.

Locally Owned vs. Chain: The Local Premium

Trading independent retailers for big-box chains weakens the local economy. This is because local stores recycle a much larger share of their sales revenue back into the local economy, while chains siphon most of the dollars spent at their stores out of the community, funneling them back to corporate headquarters or to distant suppliers.

The added economic benefit of local stores has been dubbed the "local premium...’ Several studies have quantified it.

One was conducted in Chicago's Andersonville neighborhood by the firm Civic Economics. The study analyzed ten locally owned restaurants, retail stores, and service providers and compared them with ten national chains competing in the same categories. The study found that spending $100 at one of the neighborhood's independent businesses created $68 in additional local economic activity, while spending $100 at a chain produced only $43 worth of local impact. The difference was due to four factors:

Big-box stores function like colonizers: they siphon dollars out of the local economy. Meanwhile, every time you make a purchase at a locally owned store, it sends a ripple of economic benefits through the community.

Local Payroll - The locally owned businesses spent a larger share of their revenue on local labor (29 vs. 23 percent), be- cause they carried out all management functions on-site, rather than at corporate headquarters.

Procurement - The local retailers spent more than twice as much buying goods and services from other local businesses. They banked locally; hired local accountants, attorneys, designers, and other professionals; advertised in local media; and sourced inventory from local firms.

Profits - Because their owners live in the area, a larger portion of the local retailers' profits stayed within the local economy.

Charitable giving - The local retailers donated more on average to local charities and community organizations than the chains did.

Added dollars circulating in the local economy translate into a larger number and wider variety of available jobs.

The implications of the local premium for how cities approach economic development are significant. Not only do big-box stores eliminate more retail jobs than they create (see our fact-sheet, Impact of Big- Box Stores on Existing jobs), but they reduce local economic activity and job creation in other sectors. Conversely, expanding local businesses generates substantially greater economic benefits.