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Waking Up Wal-Mart One Person at a Time

by Aaron Couch, Philly IMC | 08.02.2006

The nation's "fastest growing social movement" visited Philly yesterday as part of the Wake Up Wal-Mart Tour. Dozens packed a Friends meeting house including local pols, union organizers, and activists for what House candidate Patrick Murphy described as "an incredible opportunity to change our country and make our voice heard."

Wal-Mart is huge.

In fact it is bigger than that.

The nations largest retailer, with over $300 billion in annual revenue, is enormous. Colossal. Gargantuan.

So what can be done to make such a large company a good corporate citizen?

"In Philadelphia we learned just over 200 years ago that a small determined group of people can change the world," Wake Up Wal-Mart's campaign director Paul Blank told a group of over 100 gathered at the Friends meeting house at 4th and Arch Street.

"People don't know why they should care so much about this or how much it really affects their lives," he continued.

The crowd assembled before him was not large in size but included local organizers and officials such as http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/member_information/house_... ">Mark Cohen, http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/states/pennsylvania/counti... ">Tony Payton Jr., Anne Dicker, http://youngphillypolitics.com/node/1225 ">Maria Quinones-Sanchez, and http://www.murphy06.com/ ">Patrick Murphy.

"This campaign is about making change here," said Quinones-Sanchez. "We have to get the commitment from corporate America to make things here. We have to start making things here and buying things here."


Philadelphia is the third stop on http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/ ">Wake Up Wal-Mart's tour of the United States. On the tour they hope to add 25,000 new supporters who will join the 250,000 who have already signed up.

Wake Up Wal-Mart has focused on Wal-Mart's low wages, refusal to allow unions, child labor practices, negative impact on communities, and poor health care.

Wal-Mart has 700,000 employees without health insurance which costs taxpayes billions a year in medical assistance. Wake Up Wal-Mart claims that cost to Pennsylvania is $60 million per year. Further information can be found on Wake Up Wal-Mart's website.

The tour visits Baltimore next.

Comentarios

Co-optation

Submitted by petrus (no verificado) on Lun, 08/07/2006 - 8:13am

This is so trasparently a politician's attempt to capitalise on the anti-corporate movement and struggles for workers' rights. Yet another stooge coming nad telling us that if we only elect him everything will be fine. Why is indymedia lending itself to such obvious electioneering on the back of activists efforts?

Oh get off it.

Submitted by Purp (no verificado) on Mié, 08/16/2006 - 7:33pm

least he doing something. I dont care about his motivation I just care that some one is trying to educate people about this issue

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