Six Demands for Change

In an open letter in September 2005 to Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott, the UFCW-led Wake Up Wal-Mart campaign offered a "List of Six Demands To Build a New Partnership and Change America for the Better." Here is an excerpt from that letter:

We believe now is the time for Wal-Mart to address the serious issues facing its 1.3 million workers, their families, our communities and our country by agreeing to the following "six demands for change."

1. Living Wage. Pay all Wal-Mart workers a fair living wage so they can support their families.
2. Affordable Health Care. Provide all workers comprehensive, affordable health insurance coverage so they can care for their families and no longer be forced to rely on taxpayer-funded public health care.
3. End Discrimination. Ensure equal opportunity and equal pay for women and people of color in your workforce at all levels through a stringent and independent monitoring process.
4. Zero Tolerance on Child Labor. Adopt a zero tolerance policy and institute an independent monitoring program to stop the exploitation of child labor in the United States and abroad.
5. Buy American. Establish a "Buy America" program that annually increases the percentage of "Made in America" goods purchased by Wal-Mart so as to help protect American jobs.
6. Respect Communities. Work with local communities to effectively address Wal-Mart's negative impact on issues like traffic, sprawl, the environment, and local businesses.

Read the full text

ACTIVISTS NEEDED!

If you’ve always suspected that behind Wal-Mart’s smiley face, company executives are constantly hatching new plans to put profits over people, visit www.wakeupwalmart.com to read the latest smoking gun: Wal-Mart’s secret memo on health care. If you haven’t already, you’ll want to join the Wake Up Wal-Mart campaign—a movement that has been gaining a lot of momentum in the past few months. More than 140,000 Americans in all 50 states have signed up to be part of the UFCW-led Wake Up Wal-Mart campaign—making it one of the fastest growing social movements in America.

Early in November, the New York Times revealed an internal Wal-Mart memo proposing nefarious ways to hold down spending on health care and other benefits. Some of the secret memo’s recommendations:

• Hire more part time workers who don’t qualify for benefits.
• Reduce 401(k) contributions.
• Discourage unhealthy or overweight applicants by arranging all jobs to include some physical activity (e.g., all cashiers do some cart gathering).

The memo proves that Lee Scott, Wal-Mart CEO, and Wal-Mart are still missing the point on health care. Wal-Mart workers—and all Americans—need more health care, not less; they need affordable premiums, not prohibitive costs; and they want to work enough hours to qualify for quality health care, not get shortchanged on hours so they have to depend on public health programs.

When the biggest corporation in the country competes by skimping on health care—everyone’s health care is at risk. That’s just one of the reasons why thousands of activists around the country have joined the Wake Up Wal-Mart campaign. Most recently:

• Volunteers have passed out over 100,000 flyers educating Wal-Mart shoppers about the secret memo that sells out workers for profit.
• The Wake Up Wal-Mart campaign launched “Wal-Mart Workers of America” (WWOA)—the first national association of current and former Wal-Mart workers. Until the company allows workers the freedom to choose a voice on the job, WWOA will help Wal-Mart workers join together to improve their working conditions.
• Nothing is scarier than not having health care. UFCW members and Wake Up Wal-Mart volunteers hosted 113 Halloween candy fundraisers in 102 cities in 31 states, highlighting the scary fact that Wal-Mart fails to provide affordable health care to more than 600,000 workers. More than $10,000 was raised. Through WWOA, 50 uninsured Wal-Mart workers will have the opportunity to qualify for $200 in health care money.
• Wake Up Wal-Mart launched Wal-Mart week—a national week of action— by taking out a full page ad in the New York Times, entitled “Wal-Mart vs. America”
• Hundreds of thousands of Americans took part in local movie screenings of Robert Greenwald’s new movie, “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price.” In Atlanta over 600 people attended the screening, over 550 in Syracuse, 300 in Oklahoma City, more than 300 in Boston, 125 in small-town Torrington, Connecticut, and nearly 100 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Visit www.wakeupwalmart.comand join this growing movement. Sign up to support the Fair Share for Health Care Act—a bill that would force large companies like Wal-Mart to pay their fair share for health care. Or, petition Wal-Martto sign on to our six demands for change—pay workers a living wage, offer affordable health care, end discrimination, put a stop to child labor both in the U.S. and abroad, establish a “Buy America” program, and respect local communities by addressing concernsabout sprawl, traffic, the environment, and local business. Finally, find out whatevents are happening in your community—or plan your own. Together, we can change Wal-Mart for the better.

From Working America (Winter ’05) -- a publication of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.