LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Growing coalitions of community leaders, workers and faith leaders across the United States are calling on Walmart to change its business practices in communities nationwide as Walmart celebrates its 50th anniversary.
On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, events are planned in 50 cities nationwide, the largest of which will be in Los Angeles, where more than 10,000 residents, community organizations, faith leaders and union members will stand with Walmart Associates and workers at Walmart warehouses who have united in a growing campaign to keep Walmart out of Chinatown and to call on the retailer to change the way it treats workers and communities. The L.A. March against Low Wage Jobs is expected to be the largest ever Walmart demonstration in U.S. history, led by workers, small business owners and several acclaimed musicians, including Grammy-award winner Steve Earle, Rage against the Machine’s Tom Morello and Ben Harper.
As Walmart tells a one-sided anniversary story about the company’s business and its values, a new website, www.Walmartat50.org, featuring personal stories on the impact Walmart is having on the lives of workers, businesses and communities is launching. Associates are also gathering thousands of signatures for an “anniversary e-card,” outlining united demands for Walmart and the Walton Family to change to help rebuild America.
In the aftermath of the Walmart bribery scandal, new energy around the calls for Walmart to change its treatment of workers and communities has been building. In just one year, OUR Walmart, the unique workers’ organization founded by Walmart associates, has grown from a group of 100 Walmart workers who met in Bentonville, AR to draft and deliver their Declaration of Respect to company executives - to an army of thousands of OUR Walmart members in hundreds of stores across 42 states. Together, OUR Walmart members have been leading the way in calling for an end to double standards that are hurting workers, communities and our economy.
At the same time, the number of prominent elected officials, financial advisors and community leaders speaking out about problems at Walmart has also been growing. Major pension funds voted their shares against Walmart CEO and members of the board this June, elected officials and candidates are publicly refusing donations from Walmart and civil rights leaders won their call for Walmart to withdraw from the American Legislative Exchange Council.
Events across the country:
- Los Angeles: 10,000 community, faith and labor leaders call for change at Walmart at the “March against Low Wage Jobs”
- New York City: Hunger strike for exploited workers at Walmart crawfish supplier in Louisiana
- Chicago, Dallas, Boston, Portland, and Washington, DC: Community town halls, rallies and marches
- Cities and towns across the country: Store leafleting and protest actions