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To Woo NYC, Walmart Suddenly BFF With Unions (On Paper)
By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 1, 2011
Modified Mar 1, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 1, 2011
Modified Mar 1, 2011
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Walmart has a bit of a reputation as an anti-union exploiter of underpaid workers, which is part of the reason why many liberal New Yorkers are opposed to the corporation's campaign to open their first NYC location, in East New York. But if you think Walmart ain't pals with the working associate man, you've got it all wrong, insists a new mailer going out to local residents. The mailer, written from the point of view of an unemployed construction worker, argues that the "special interests" would keep "him" out of a union job.
As City Hall notes, Walmart has previously reached an agreement to build the proposed store using union workers from the Greater New York Building Trades and Construction Council. The company also pledged to use union labor for any future Walmarts in New York. In return, Walmart is now free to use the Building Trades as a fig leaf to obscure the fact that the company has fiercely fought employees' efforts to unionize.
In the mailer, the imaginary construction worker—Walmart admits the man in the photo is a model posing for stock photography—tells readers, "Finally there's some hope. Walmart wants to build stores in New York City and they've reached an agreement with my union that would put us to work. I hope that City Council doesn’t listen to the special interests telling them to block Wal-Mart from coming here, because I need a job."
Speaking of the City Council, they held a second Walmart hearing earlier this month, during which several former and current Walmart employees testified about their bad experiences working for Walmart. "Walmart counts on fear to keep its employees in place," said former employee Sandra Carpenter. "There are a lot of ways Walmart breaks the law. I'm a part of the class-action lawsuit, Dukes vs. Walmart Stores Inc. This is the largest class-action lawsuit in our nation's history with 1.6-million women who've been victims of wage discrimination." But if the special interests have there way, hundreds of local women could be denied their chance to get in on that lawsuit!
Tagged
brooklyn walmart
building trades
east new york
wal-Mart
walmart
walmart nyc
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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