PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. — The following was issued today by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776:
Watched over by a huge inflated rat, members of a number of labor unions as well as community activists and representatives of women’s rights and child labor advocates today spoke out at a rally and demonstration at the site of a newly opened Wal-Mart store in suburban Philadelphia.
Members and representatives of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1776 were joined by representatives of the UNITE union, the National Organization of Women (NOW), Children Against Sweat Shops and Jobs with Justice at the event which served as the local launch of a campaign to draw public attention to the business practices of Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the world.
Wendell W. Young, IV, the Executive Vice President of UFCW Local 1776, noted that the “Shopping for Justice” program that his union and the other groups in attendance supported was a way to “inform the public about the way Wal-Mart really does business, not what they try to portray in their slick and misleading advertising.”
The UFCW nationally has been waging a vigorous campaign against Wal-Mart’s expansion, emphasizing the damage done to small local “mom and pop” stores when the giant retailer moves into small communities. The UFCW and UNITE unions have exposed information about Wal-Mart’s sale of goods made in Third World sweat shops, the exploitation of children in those sweat shops and Wal- Mart’s violations of federal wage and hour laws here in the United States.
“We are here today to try and break through the smokescreen that Wal-Mart puts up as it destroys small businesses in the communities it invades,” said Young. “We need to make sure that customers here in East Norriton understand that for every low wage, no benefits job Wal-Mart creates it destroys one and a half jobs in the local community by forcing smaller employers out of business. We intend to inform the public about the way Wal-Mart really operates, not what they try to portray in their slick and misleading advertising.”
Groups like NOW, Children Against Sweat Shops and Jobs with Justice have now joined forces with the unions under the “Shopping for Justice” campaign to bring more pressure to bear on Wal-Mart and to increase the level of public information about the bad business practices of Wal-Mart.
Kati Sip of Jobs with Justice spoke at the rally about recently revealed incidents where Wal-Mart has been charged with systematic violations of federal wage and hour laws. Wal-Mart has been charged with forcing workers to work off the
clock and paying women employees less than male employees.
“Wal-Mart has just been hit with a class action suit out in San Francisco because they were paying unequal wages to men and women employees,” said Sip. “This could end up being one of the largest class action suits ever filed and it is the kind of information that the shopping public needs to know before they think about shopping at Wal-Mart.”
The “Shopping for Justice” coalition plans on more demonstrations in the future at other Wal-Mart locations in the region. Young, of the UFCW, noted that the coalition was taking a long-term approach to combating Wal-Mart’s violations of federal laws and that they will “never go away until justice for workers and customers is served.”