WFP: Now Send a Message to the Senate
From the Working Families Party: No employee of a multi-billion dollar company like Wal-Mart should be forced to go without medical care or forced to resort to Medicaid. The Fair Share for Health Care Act will ensure that large employers provide decent health benefits and level the playing field for responsible local businesses. We’ve got over 50 Assembly cosponsors – now it’s time for you to ask your Senator to cosponsor the bill. Ask your state Senator to sign on to the Fair Share for Health Care Act.
Wal-Mart Video: The High Cost of Low Price
Join the Socialist Party of New York City on Sunday, November 13 at 3:00 pm for a screening of the new documentary, “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price.” Stick around for a discussion of anti-Wal-Mart activism in NYC. Location: 339 Lafayette Street, 3rd Floor, NYC 10012 Directions: Take the B, D, F or V to Broadway/Lafayette, or the #6 to Bleecker.
She Came From Wal-Mart
I finally got a pet. A cat. I found her lounging under a tree, at a “golden community” located behind the parking lot of the Wal-Mart at the Green Acres mall at Valley Stream. I was doing my usual union organizer thing, but stopped to pet this unusually sweet and friendly stray cat. One of the residents, Pat Day, caught me petting her, and commenced a month-long lobbying effort to get me to adopt the cat. Lots of strays gather at the retirement community, since the residents are perfectly happy to feed and care for them. I’ve been thinking about adopting a pet for some time, so I was tempted by this cute little rusty-colored calico with an awful gravelly meow. But I was worried about my long hours at work, and how little I would be home for it, not to mention cat hair everywhere and cat claws scratching […]
New Wal-Mart No Way TV Commercial
Wal-Mart No Way’s ad is now on the air. The ad, “The Real Costs of Wal-Mart,” is airing on NY1, but you can view it here. And be sure to call Mayor Mike at 311 to say Wal-Mart No Way!
The End of Easy Oil
There’s lots of hand-wringing over the totally-surprising rise in gas prices in the press (I mean, who would have ever predicted that rising demand and limited supply would cause price increases?). USA Today unwittingly finds a silver lining: As she folds clothes at a Laundromat near her home in San Pablo, Calif., Thamara Morales, 30, counts up the ways high gas prices have changed her life…Trips to Wal-Mart are out. The closest one is about 15 miles away. Just to get there and back costs more than she might save by going. Yes, this might hurt Wal-Mart. It will also hurt the sales of behemoth SUVs and minivans, and certainly discourages the construction of more pre-fab “exurban” communities. This particular American Way of Life – a two car garage in an enormous shack in a white bread suburb of nowhere in the desert, an hour-long commute to an office park, […]
Wal-Mart No Way! Volunteers Needed! C’mon, Aspiring Extras!
Staten Island is not enough, Wal-Mart now has its eyes set on Coney Island. There’s a new community group fighting to keep Wal-Mart out of Brooklyn, Wal-Mart No Way. They’re raising money to put anti-Wal-Mart ads on teevee during the mayoral race. In fact, they’re having a fundraiser, um, tomorrow (details below). If you can attend, please do. If you can afford a donation, please be generous.
The Wal-Mart Revolution is Bananas!!!
There’s a pretty good article in today’s Washington Post about legal efforts to block Wal-Mart from invading the region. These include a measure that would restrict the location of stores larger than 120,000 feet (the typical size of a Wal-Mart Supercenter) and one which would require employers to spend eight percent of their payroll on health care if they have more than 10,000 employees in Maryland (only one company employs as many people while paying far less than eight percent on health care; guess which one?). Efforts like these, and our own Wal-Mart Free NYC, are having their effect. Wal-Mart’s stock price has been stagnant for years. Sure, they’re a huge corporation making billions of dollars in business, but Wall Street always wants more. Wal-Mart’s failure to expand into America’s large urban areas is hurting them, slowly but surely. But, oh, how can we consumers resist all that cheap underwear? […]
Baseball and Hardball
I saw my first Mets game of the season, a terrific 9 to 2 bludgeoning of the Reds. “Value” tickets for last night’s game were just $5 for the nosebleed seats in the upper decks. For $5, one can’t really complain. Actually, I rather prefer it way up there. All the games that I saw as a kid were in the upper decks, so that’s how I learned to follow the ball in play. Those box seats behind home plate are just a little overwhelming. The Mets have a pretty good team this year. They actually win as often as they lose. All I ask is for a little excitement and suspense. The next two nights are also “value” days, and tickets will be the same price. Tickets will obviously be much more expensive when the Yankees visit this weekend. “Value” days return on May 31 when the Mets face […]
Terrific Coverage from Staten Island’s Paper of Record
Union members distribute fliers protesting plans for 2 local Wal-Marts By ROB HART STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE Friday, May 13, 2005 A Queens resident who helped derail Wal-Mart’s attempt to build a store in his borough joined union members and volunteers yesterday in protesting the big-boxer’s plans to build on Staten Island. Shaun Richman, along with members of Local 342 of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, handed out small orange fliers to late-afternoon commuters at the St. George Ferry Terminal “[Wal-Mart comes] in and all the small shops close down,” contended Richman. “They’re welfare cheats and they produce jobs that don’t pay enough.” The retail behemoth is eyeing industrial tracts in Mariners Harbor and Richmond Valley. Either would be the first Wal-Mart in New York City. Besides the alleged detriment to small businesses, the fliers accused Wal-Mart of poor labor practices in regard to health care, discrimination against women […]
Love Mom, Not Wal-Mart
The Wake Up Wal-Mart campaign is taking the opportunity this Mother’s Day to highlight Wal-Mart’s discrimination against women in their employ. Of course, I should have posted this story weeks ago, but who ever does anything early for Mother’s Day? Wake Up Wal-Mart Visit the site, sign a pledge that you will not buy any Mother’s Day gifts at Wal-Mart while they discriminate against all the moms who work for them, forward to everyone you know and then buy your mom some flowers. I’m not buying any gifts. I’m cooking my mom a nice dinner. Crab-stuffed mushrooms and calamari in a red wine sauce (I may post that recipe later). Once again, I’m organizing a few people to help the Wal-Mart Free NYC Coalition leaflet at the Staten Island ferry during rush hour on Thursday. Let me know if you can join us. The Wal-Mart Free people will be leafletting […]