Citizens In Action (C.I.A.) is asking you - and at least one friend - to pledge to not shop at Wal-Mart for at least one year of your life. We're confident that this will be easier than you think. For your efforts, you get to combat the immoral business practices of the most powerful company in the world (Wal-Mart is bigger than ExxonMobil, General Motors, & GE; they do more business than Target, Sears, Kmart, JC Penny, Safeway, & Kroger COMBINED).

"There is more to life than cheap underwear" - Take Back Your Community

1. Thank You For Supporting Communism
Wal-Mart has made China, where wages are far lower than anywhere in Asia and where workers are denied the opportunity to form independent unions (the ruling party has outright banned them!), the center of its production. More than 80% of the 6,000 factories in Wal-Mart's worldwide database of suppliers are in China. The Wal spends $15 billion in China, accounting for nearly one-eighth of all Chinese exports to the U.S. Domestic manufacturers, labor groups, and politicians point to China's record trade surplus with the U.S., estimated to have totaled $120 billion last year, and accuse Beijing of manipulating its currency, condoning the exploitation of its workers and competing unfairly, resulting in the loss of u.s. manufacturing jobs. Even if the sweatshop conditions of workers in foreign countries don't interest you, every true-blue American will say they care about job losses in our own beloved country. During this time of intense flag waving and "promoting democracy" across the globe, how can you support freedom while shopping at Wal-Mart?

2. Women Get Screwed Here & Overseas
Wal-Mart has been slapped with the world's largest pay discrimination suit a class action involving 1.6 million women. The complaint, certified by a federal judge, claims that women are 65% of the company's workforce but only 33% of its managers. Also, men hold 90% of Wal-Mart store manager positions. "I don't want to be part of a store that doesn't have a heart for women" says Debra Enah of St. Paul. "Women do most of the shopping here. They could lose a great deal of customers." Big retailers, and Wal-Mart is the biggest, are driving down employment conditions for millions of women workers around the world, according to a new study by international agency Oxfam. For example, in China, young women face 150 hours of overtime each month and 90% have no access to social insurance. Qin helps make plastic toy trains for the Wal, but she says she cannot afford to buy toys for her 9-year-old son. , "In four years, they haven't increased the salary," she said.

3. What do STRIP JOINTS, CASINOS, and WAL-MART have in common?
They are so unwanted in many parts of America that citizens actually band together to fight them from entering their community.

Every third store Wal-Mart tries to build faces community opposition with the company winning roughly 65% of the time. The company has spent over $1 million in various counties to persuade voters to not block its entry and it still lost sometimes. The company spent $650,000 to campaign against Prop 72 in California, which would have required employers to pay for their workers' health insurance. The company is also getting involved in local politics. It spent $36.000 supporting two pro-company candidates for the Antioch City Council, plus a candidate for Antioch mayor, although two of the three lost. Bloomberg Markets reports in its March issue, there is evidence Wal-Mart has spies to hunt for organizers and retaliate against union-friendly workers.

Jay Allen, senior VP of corporate affairs, has assembled an impressive rank of lobbyists (the company soared to #2 among top campaign givers in the 2004 federal elections). They have lobbied to restrict the ability of unions to organize in its stores, and helped lead a business coalition pressing for reduced taxes on offshore operations. Political contributions have been widespread in Congress, with more than 220 members of the House and Senate receiving checks - about 85% of that money went to Republicans.

4. Wal-Mart Is On Welfare (You Pay For Their Deadbeat Practices)
Despite nearly $9 BILLION in profits last year, Wal-Mart's wages are so low that many employees are eligible for food stamps. California Wal-Mart workers made $8.23/hr. compared to supermarket workers' $10.35/hr and seek $86 million a year in state aid due to the inadequate pay and benefits. A typical store costs taxpayers $420,750 per year, according to a study done by Rep. George Miller. In Georgia, 10,000 children of the Wal's employees were enrolled in Georgia's public health insurance program. In comparison, the next highest employer was Publix, with 734 children enrolled.

Taxpayers have footed the bill for over $1 billion in publicly funded subsidies and incentives to build its stores and distribution centers. Wal-Mart's response? "If the $1 billion figure is accurate, it looks like offering tax incentives to Wal-Mart is a jackpot investment for local governments," says spokesman Gus Whitcomb. Not only does the company admit to the tax handouts, it even goes so far as to say that this welfare is somehow good for the local communities! Are you someone who preaches the need for lower taxes? Stop shopping at Wal-Mart!

5. American Jobs Suffer
Contrary to the belief that Wal-Mart helps local communities, it actually causes a net loss of jobs. On average, 3 jobs are lost for every 2 created by the arrival of a Wal-Mart store. In Iowa, between 1982-93, there was a net loss of 535 grocery stores, 298 hardware stores, 293 building supply stores, 161 variety stores, 269 men's or women's apparel stores, 153 shoe stores, and 116 dry goods stores.

Have you ever been to Iowa? That's a lot of stores wiped out for a state with few people. The jobs that were brought in were of far less value, with the average Wal employee working 34 hours per week, making around $12,000 a year, and having no health benefits.

Wal-Mart has notoriously hired illegal immigrants to clean their stores at night. INS agents raided stores across the country on October 23, 2004 in a sweep that found 245 undocumented aliens working in 61 stores. This was to show the widespread practice of the company. Wal-Mart's response? David Murray, a store lawyer, admitted that doors were illegally kept locked on the immigrants overnight. Now Wal-Mart is simply trying to create more lenient legislation so the INS can't raid its store without two weeks' notice! Foreign cleaning crews have been working right here in St. Augustine for years. If Wal-mart was truly a patriotic American company, wouldn't it choose to employ Americans for its cleaning needs? Apparently their patriotism takes a backseat to their bottom line.

The Wal is notorious for asking employees to clock out and then continue work. Present and former Wal employees in 28 states are suing the company for failure to pay overtime. Also, the intense pressure Wal-Mart places on its supplies forces them to be "shadow versions" of the Wal itself. This has led many U.S. companies to become ruthless and move production overseas (like Levi Strauss, an American icon, that no longer makes any clothing in the U.S.).

The Wal saw a profit increase of 20% from the last year. Its sales were up 12% from the previous year. But with only 1.4 million employees tallied, it had just over a 1 % increase in staff! So, guess where that profit goes? It leaves the local area and goes to the Wal-Mart headquarters in Arkansas where it's used to expand the monopoly of its stores and make stockholders wealthy.

6. Wal-Mart Is Destroying America
In conclusion, Wal-Mart is NOT a patriotic business. It will gladly betray suppliers in its own country in order to increase its profits. Wal-Mart is NOT concerned in the least about its customers or its employees. Both are simply the means to its desired end of being the only store in every town in America. Wal-Mart is NOT interested in improving communities. It moves into a town with the sole purpose of shutting down small businesses & leaving residents with nowhere else to shop. If you think that you have to shop at Wal-Mart because you can't afford to shop anywhere else, you should ask yourself who is to blame for your low wages. Once the greedy Wal has its way with the U.S.A., there will be no other places left to work. No matter how many books and CDs it censors in the name of so-called "family values," the only God that Wal-Mart answers to is money. They may sell Bibles in their stores, but they certainly don't read them. Although their stores are seen as serving the working class by offering low prices, only the rich would be able to embrace their business practices. No matter how cheaply they sell their ice cream, Wal-Mart is an ENEMY of anyone in America who isn't a millionaire. Please, be aware of what you're supporting with your hard-earned money. You CAN live without shopping at Wal-Mart. Your town, your grandchildren, and your country will thank you for it.

Sources:
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050209/ap_on_bi_ge/wal_mart>canada_8. Oxfam International Press Release, 8 Feb. 2004. Inter Press Service, Washington, 10 Feb. 2004. Goodman, Peter S. and Pan, Philip P., Washington Post, Shenzhen, China. The WBAL ChanneJ.com, 4 Feb. 2004. Alden, Edward and Buckley, Neil, Financial Times, 24 Feb. 2004. http://www.smh.com.aufarticles/2004/02/03/1075776050973.html, AP, 3 Feb. 2004. Jobs With Justice Press Release, Washington, 22 December 2004. Ehrenreich, Barbara, Charlosttesville, VA, 30 June 2002. Woolner, Ann, Bloomberg, "Let Me Count The Ways People Don't Love Wal-Mart", 13 Feb. 2005. Kasler, Dale, Sacramento Bee, "Wal-Mart Building Political Muscle", 7 Nov. 2004. Globe Editorial, Globe Newspaper Company, 10 July -2004. Norman, AI, "Slam-Dunking Wal-Mart", 1999. Fishman, Charles, Fast Company, Issue 77 Dec. 2003. McKay, Floyd J., Seanle Times, 2004. Burress, Charles, Chronicle Staff Writer, 17 Dec. 2004. Deelstra, Jacqueline, Daily Trojan, 14 Sept 2004. Coates, Andrew, ZNet, "Unions, Wal-Mart, and Health Care", II Nov. 2004. Cooper, Graig, www.goodjobsfirst.org and http://edworkforce.house.gov/democratsfwalmartreport.pdf. Owen, Mary, Workers World, 15 July 2004. http://www.alteretorgtstory/l7895/. Amrhine, Richard, The Free Lance-Star, 15 Feb. 2004. Goldsborough, James 0., San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Jan. 2004.