NYC FOCUS: Walmart is trying to invade us again

Walmart has made several attempts to invade NYC. Each and every time, whether they were aiming to screw Brooklyn, Queens or Staten Island, New Yorkers fought back and kept them out.

Well, they're at it again, even starting a website to try and head off opposition. Bloomerg and the right wing New York Post have been pushing for Walmart to open up in NYC even though Walmart has been shown to deliberately destroy small businesses, use illegal immigrant labor paying them slave wages, and treating their workers badly.

I don't mind big chain stores. I like IKEA and CostCo and Trader Joe's in particular. But Wal-Mart has been shown to be bad for communities they open up in. Walmart will be BAD FOR NYC too. Destruction of small businesses, replacing them with low-paid jobs that Walmart often fills with illegal labor to cut costs...AND sucks at taxpayer money to do it. They KILL jobs in the long run.

Learn about Wal-Mart’s Dismal Record on Worker and Customer Safety (PDF)

Wal-Mart's Wage and Hour Violations (PDF)

Let me also remind my readers about the sexual discrimination lawsuit against Walmart...which they have lost but are appealing on the flimsiest of grounds. From the National Organization of Women:

On Dec. 6, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would hear retail giant Wal-Mart's challenge to a class-action lawsuit against the company involving more than 1.5 million women. Wal-Mart did not ask the high court to review the actual charges that the company routinely discriminated against its women employees. Instead, the challenge seeks to halt the largest-ever discrimination case in the country before it even gets to trial.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld certification of the class-action suit three times, most recently in April 2010. But Wal-Mart argues that each employee should be forced to file their complaints on an individual basis because a suit this size is too unwieldy and potentially costly.

"First we have banks that are 'too big to fail' -- now Wal-Mart's lawyers are claiming that the company is too big to sue!" exclaims NOW President Terry O'Neill. "Well, guess what? When you're the biggest employer in the nation and the richest company in the world, and you get that way by paying unfair wages, you should expect to find yourself on the wrong end of a massive lawsuit one day. It comes with the territory, so Wal-Mart should stop trying to con its way out of court."

NOW has a history of taking on Wal-Mart. In 2002, the organization named Wal-Mart a "Merchant of Shame" for its notorious employment practices and workplace environment. Chapter activists held educational pickets outside Wal-Mart stores nationwide, handing out fliers explaining the facts about Wal-Mart's discriminatory ways.

Those shameful facts include: women earning nearly a quarter less, on average, than men, despite greater average seniority and higher performance ratings; women concentrated in lower-paying hourly jobs and being paid less even when they held the same jobs as men; women receiving raises at a slower rate than men, thus expanding the pay gap; women waiting longer for promotions and serving in management in proportions dramatically lower than the retailer's competitors.

In addition, Wal-Mart was criticized for excluding contraceptive coverage in insurance plans, violating child labor laws and the Americans with Disabilities Act, and discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation. Cases have also been filed regarding firing pro-union workers, eliminating jobs once workers joined unions, and discouraging workers from unionizing.

"For years, the Wal-Mart empire has been built upon miserly wages that consistently were even more pitiful for women," says O'Neill. "The Wal-Mart executives who have profited from these practices should have the guts to face in court the women they cheated. I hope the Supreme Court will set aside its usual pro-business stance to grant these women the day in court they so richly deserve."

The court will hear the Wal-Mart v. Dukes case in the spring, with a decision to be announced by the end of June 2011.

Read more about NOW's work on Wal-Mart

HELP STOP WAL-MART AND BLOOMBERG FROM RUINING NYCCheck out these websites to find out how you can fight back:

Wal-Mart Free NYC
Neighborhood Retail Alliance

Go here to find out more. Bloomberg is a lost cause, but write NYC Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Comptroller John Liu and tell them to stop Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart and Bloomberg are anti-union, anti-small business and anti-community. Let's get our Public Advocate and Comptroller fighting for us!

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