JwJ Renews Fight to Hold Walmart Accountable to Our Communities

In neighborhoods around the country, the buzz is at full blast as Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer (and one of the largest employers) aims to expand into urban communities.  This is not happening in isolation, but during one of the biggest economic crises in recent history.  Walmart’s new attempts at expansion center around one question: Who determines the future of work in America?  Corporate CEOs like Walmart’s Mike Duke, or working people.

In partnership with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union, Jobs with Justice coalitions in DC, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, and elsewhere have launched a new campaign to challenge Walmart’s expansion and demand high quality jobs, the rights of Walmart Associates to organize a union without intimidation or interference from the company, and the sustainable economic recovery of our communities.

Having saturated all of its other markets, Walmart has no where else to go but to the cities—giving urban communities new leverage over the multi-national corporation based in Arkansas.  Since Walmart is the largest private employer in the U.S., and the largest retailer in the world, Walmart associates winning the right to organize freely and fairly would have an enormous impact on the whole United States, our economy and potentially the globe.

Recognizing this, DC Jobs with Justice wasted no time on February 9th, holding meetings with local city council members that culminated in a press conference.  New York City JwJ mobilized community members to city council hearings about the potential impacts of Walmart on February 3th and 17th.   Boston’s mayor, Thomas M. Menino has already publicly questioned whether Walmart with its current practices should be in Boston and called on the company to make a commitment for quality jobs and responsible practices toward small business.

As the largest retailer in the country, victory at Walmart would shake up the entire retail industry—one of the few sectors growing in the current economy—and raise the floor for all workers.

In all of these cities, workers and community leaders were able to speak out against policies that spend taxpayer dollars destroying the communities of working people, and in favor of policies that encourage economically sustainable development and democratic, dignified work for all.

Stay tuned to www.jwj.org for more updates and alerts on the on-going struggle at Walmart.