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Union coloring books, crayons handed out at Wal-Mart in DeWitt
From Syracuse Post-Standard (unavailable on syracuse.com website)
Staff and news service reports
November 23, 2002
A coalition of unions and non-profit groups stated rallies at Wal-Mart stores in 100 cities in 40 states to protest labor practices at the nation's largest retailer.
“Behind that smiley face is a single mother who makes $7.50 an hour and can’t afford health insurance for her family because Wal-Mart charges her $400 a month for it.,” said Rian Wathen of United Food & Commercial Workers Local 700 in Indianapolis.
About 75 to 85 union members and students passed out union coloring books, crayons and leaflets as part of a two-hour informational picket Thursday afternoon at the Wal-Mart in DeWitt.
“We got our message out and it was well received,” said Stephen Phelan, servicing coordinator for the United Food and Commercial Workers Local One. The Central New York Labor Federation, local unions and students from the Labor Studies program at Cornell University took part, he said.
“Wal-Mart affects everybody, he said. “They won’t paint union. They won’t build union. They won’t employ union workers in their stores.”
In Columbia, S.C., protesters stood near a highway holding signs bearing phrases like “living wages” and “affordable health care.”
“It’s the great American company, but are they representing American values?” said Donna Dewitt, head of the South Carolina AFL-CIO. “It’s not the company that Sam Walton founded.”
Walton, who founded Wal-Mart in Arkansas, in 1962, died 10 years ago.
Wal-Mart now has more than 1.3 million employees. The company says it offers unrivaled career opportunities and treats workers well.
“We make sure to offer competitive wages and benefits, including health care, in every market we are in,” spokeswoman Mona Williams said.
Wal-Mart spokesman Bill Wertz said the workers are non-union by choice, but organizers say the company keeps out unions by intimidation.
Thirty-one National Labor Relations Board cases involving Wal-Mart are pending beofre administrative law judges, NLRB spokesman David Parker said.
Wal-Mart also is fighting state and federal lawsuits filed by workers who accuse the company of forcing them to work hours off the clock.
Pickets were absent in Wal-Mart’s home state, however. Union spokesman Greg Denier said members avoided Arkansas because of worries about court response. In March, a state judge issued a permanent injunction prohibiting the union from soliciting inside Wal-Mart buildings.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is the world’s largest private company with 3,200 U.S. stores and 1,100 other locations worldwide. The company posted $218 billion in sales last year.
-- Staff writer Charley Hannagan and The Associated Press contributed to this report