These days, Wal-Mart is as famous for its rock-bottom wages as its
low prices. Its average salesperson earns less than the federal
poverty level and the company has been cited for numerous child
labor, overtime, and discrimination violations.
A
year and a half ago, the world's largest retailer began eyeing
the possibility of placing one of 40 new California "super
centers" in the working-class African-American and Latino
community of Inglewood. The Inglewood City Council passed a "big
box" ordinance intended to prevent Wal-Mart from opening
a super center, but Wal-Mart threatened to sue and the Council
backed off. After that skirmish, Wal-Mart bankrolled a ballot
initiative that would allow it to circumvent the Inglewood planning
process in the future. If passed, the initiative also posed a
dangerous national precedent potentially permitting private corporations
to eliminate public oversight in other communities.
"There
is a formula [for success]… but it also takes
the infrastructure we've built over years… and the constancy
of Liberty Hill's support, year after year…"
That's
when Liberty Hill grant recipient L.A. Alliance for a New Economy
(LAANE) jumped in. To oppose the initiative, LAANE formed the
"Coalition
for a Better Inglewood," a coalition of labor, clergy
and community leaders which included another Liberty Hill grantee,
Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE).
As
the April 2004 election approached, few believed Wal-Mart could
be defeated. Public opinion polls put the coalition 20 points
behind the retail giant. Wal-Mart spent more than $1 million wooing
voters, deluging them with mailers, promising new jobs and placing
ads in local papers touting the many local community organizations
Wal-Mart was supporting. On Election Day, the company chauffeured
vanloads of voters to the polls and served free barbecue and donuts.
But
the LAANE-led coalition was primed. Although they were working
with a total budget of $150,000 - only a fraction of Wal-Mart's
treasury - their campaign had muscle. "The Reverend Jesse
Jackson came out for a news conference and we enlisted trusted
community leaders to get the message out," said Danny Feingold,
LAANE's Communications Director. "Representatives Maxine
Waters and Diane Watson, Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite-Burke, State
Senator Ed Vincent, Assemblymember Jerome Horton, and City Councilmembers
Judy Dunlap, Ralph Franklin, Eloy Morales and Curren Price all
went on record opposing the initiative." The Coalition also
recruited volunteers to phone-bank, organized a town hall meeting,
and received a last-minute infusion of support from the L.A. County
Federation of Labor which coordinated the precinct-walking operation
and sent out a series of mailings.
On
Election Day, the rewards rolled in. Residents voted against Wal-Mart
three to two. The results made headlines coast to coast. Since
then, Feingold said, activists have been calling from around the
country wanting to know the secret to stopping Wal-Mart.
"There
is a formula," he said. "Research, organizing, media
and partnerships with labor and clergy. But it also takes the
infrastructure we've built over years - the coalitions, relationships,
experience and political know-how to make this happen. We've set
three national precedents in the last couple of years - the living
wage, accountable development, and now, the Wal-Mart victory.
The constancy of Liberty Hill's support, year after year, has
helped us do that."
