Community Leaders Across U.S. Call on Wal-Mart To Create Good
Jobs in Urban America
LAANE and PWF Release Major Report on
Strategies to Hold Wal-Mart Accountable

One week before the nation observed
Martin Luther King Jr. Day, religious, political, civil rights and business leaders from New York, Atlanta, Oakland, Chicago, Washington D.C.,
and other cities held a national telepress conference in which they called on the world’s largest retailer to create good jobs and become a responsible community partner.

In conjunction with the press conference, two statements from more than 100 urban leaders across the country were released—one demanding that Wal-Mart and its CEO Lee Scott change their approach to urban communities, the other calling on elected officials to enact policies that encourage the creation of good jobs in urban America.

A new report was also released on January 8th by the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) and the Partnership for Working Families (PWF). “Wal-Mart and Beyond: The Battle for Good Jobs and Strong Communities in Urban America” documents the extensive negative impacts of Wal-Mart and offers a series of strategies both to hold Wal-Mart and other companies accountable, and to create good jobs in urban neighborhoods.

The telepress conference and release of the statements and reports coincides with a new national ad campaign by Wal-Mart designed to repair its image following high-profile efforts over the past several years to educate Americans about the company’s negative impacts on workers, communities, businesses and taxpayers.

“Wal-Mart has positioned itself squarely in the path of workers and communities seeking to realize Dr. King’s dream of civil and economic equality,” said Tracy Gray-Barkan, Director of Retail Policy at LAANE and author of the new report. “It’s time for Wal-Mart to address the real problems it creates for communities instead of trying to fix its image through multi-million dollar public relations campaigns.”

Despite a growing chorus of criticism, Wal-Mart has moved recently to reduce the number of full-time jobs, establish wage caps on hourly jobs and institute scheduling rules in an effort to weed out employees with family responsibilities.

“It is time for Wal-Mart to stop paying lip service to King’s legacy, and start to truly honor the vision of justice that he advanced,” said Van Jones, Executive Director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland.

Jones and Gray-Barkan were joined on the call by Reverend Eric P. Lee, Executive Director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles, California State Senator Gil Cedillo, Reverend Lennox Yearwood, CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus in Washington D.C., Adrianne Shropshire, Executive Director of Jobs with Justice New York, Deborah Scott, Executive Director of Georgia Standup, small business owner Gil Mathieu from Inglewood, CA, Columbia University Political Science Assistant Professor Dorian Warren, and Dr. Steven Pitts, a UC Berkeley labor specialist.

Wal-Mart continues to meet resistance to its aggressive attempts to expand into urban markets around the country. Wal-Mart employees earn 20 percent less than what the average retail worker earns, and over $10,000 less than what the average two-person family needs to meet its

To see the report and the statements to Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott and elected officials, go to www.laane.org/walmart.