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November 21st-- The UFCW (United Food and Commercial Workers) was the local organizer of a National Day of Action, an event designed to inform the citizens of the U.S.A. that its largest privately owned business, Wal-mart, is a Merchant of Shame. Low wages, expensive health care, no retirement--- All this and more at your cheapskate Wal-mart store! Union members met at Wal-marts in cities across the country to expose the employment policies of this giant national chain store. In recent years, citizens have resisted the arrival of Wal-mart in their towns, knowing that their small local businesses would be driven out by the cheap prices that Wal-mart products from foreign sweatshops allow. Is it possible to improve or remove a Wal-mart? The following photos show how Unions and progressive groups in Sacramento educated the public at the Wal-mart at 4420 Florin Road on the National Day of Action. |
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| Wal-mart in the background dwarfed by the UFCW "Solidarity Works" banner. |
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| Speakers addressed the crowd of demonstrators from a flatbed truck. Several hundred people attended this informative event. |
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| These signs point out what Wal-mart employees DON'T have---- affordable health care benefits, living wages and a voice for employees in the workplace. The sign on the lower right says " A Voice for Associates" which refers toWal-mart's habit of describing employees as "Associates." In the outside world, an "associate" is defined as a business partner or colleague, but it can also be "a member of an institution who is granted only partial status or privileges." At Wal-mart, "partial status or privileges" seems to fit the situation-- partial wages, partial health care, and lacking the privilege of over-time pay. |
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| John Borsos, SEIU Local 250, advising Wal-mart that if "the largest corporation in the United States isn't willing to pay living wages, affordable health care, and a retirement pension, it should get the hell out of Sacramento!" |
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| The crowd unites in calling for reform at Wal-mart. |