Walmart Free NYC

While Walmart refuses to say if, when or where it might finally open a store within the five boroughs, one of its favored sites is the Related Company’s Gateway Center Mall in the far reaches of Brooklyn. The area is economically depressed, meaning the cheap jobs and cheap merchandise are (theoretically) desirable. The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union sees Walmart jobs as junk, and they have been campaigning against the store since it resurfaced a two years ago.

Today, they made things personal, not just with Steve Ross, Related’s founder and CEO, but also his more than 7,200 tenants in the New York area.

The union and its Walmart Free New York campaign put together a postcard urging residents in Related’s 26 developments across the city to contact the company and say they do not support a Walmart in the city.

Walmart can reverse its decline by treating associates with respect. That means giving more hours to those who want to work full time. Walmart has to realize that a “slash and burn” tactic to economic growth is simply not going to work.

“Walmart pays its average “associate,” of which it has about 1.5 million in the U.S., just under $12 an hour. This equates to an annual salary that is below the poverty line. Like other healthy corporations, Walmart could afford to pay its associates more. It chooses not to because it doesn’t have to,” according to a recent piece in the Business Insider. Low wages are certainly now what New York City needs!

A woman in Rhode Island says her Wal-Mart money card was compromised and now she’s out more than $2,000. She says the company wasn’t moving fast enough to get her money back, and, despite the apparent evidence, Wal-Mart still hasn’t stopped the transactions or refunded her money. Read more.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau hosted a town hall in New York City on Wednesday, and Walmart was a highlight of the discussion as stores in NYC could try to sell predatory and deceptive financial services and products that harm vulnerable consumers. Read more.

rwdsu:

Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU, UFCW) made the following statement at a City Hall press conference today to announce the release of a new report by Food and Water Watch and Walmart Free NYC:

Good morning. I’m Stuart…

rwdsu:

Ripco Real Estate—which is hoping to bring a Walmart to Gateway II in Brooklyn’s East New York—is simultaneously luring other retail giants to the Bronx’s new Throggs Neck Shopping Center by billing that site as Walmart-free. “One can safely predict a successful shopping center,” says the commercial real estate broker’s website. “There are no Walmarts.” An insider opposed to Walmart opening in New York scoffed. “This is pretty ironic and proves what we are saying,” he said. “Walmart puts nearby retail stores out of business.” A spokesman for the retail giant declined to comment. Read the original post from Crain’s Insider.

Wal-Mart saw customer satisfaction fall as people tend to favor quality over price, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index. 70,000 customers can’t be wrong! Read more.

That’s 93 million people who collectively have the same amount of money as the Walton family - heirs of the Walmart fortune. No matter how you do the math, everyone loses.