Wade Rathke: Chief Organizer Blog » wal-mart

Last Minute Details and Sol Price

jstuart — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 14:49:42 +0000

New Orleans The last day in the office before a combination of the end of the year, vacation, and work that is so different from the normal day-to-day that it seems “vacation-like,” (don’t ask!), is maddening. There’s just not enough time.

I had just gotten another reminder of how short time is only hours ago. This time it was in the form of a message from Frank Arundel, who along with Hans Schoepflin of the Panta Rhea Foundation, had worked for Sol Price earlier in their careers, and arranged for me to meet him a little more than 4 years ago to see if he would support our organizing of Wal-Mart workers in Central Florida from Tampa/St. Pete to Orlando. I gather he must have been 89 or so when we met. He was feeble and beaten up then, but sharp as a tack.

I’ve written about this before I think. He was excited about actual organization of Wal-Mart workers. He wanted us to look into old legal protections against restraint of trade by essentially dumping goods on the market for less than they cost. He thought this was against the law, though we could never prove it.

He admired unions without being exactly pro-union. The headline Frank had sent from the San Diego Union-Tribune was: “Sol Price Valued His Workers over his Shareholders.” I’m sure that’s true, but his vision was nostalgic unfortunately rather than transcending. Price did a lot, especially around San Diego. He liked to keep a close eye. He should have been able to see farther and might have even done more. Who knows?

Disappointingly, as he walked me out, I could feel him dismissing me, even though kindly, when he said, “I wish you had met me when I was younger.” I said the predictable: you are still young enough now. But, the point that Price was making was simply that we run out of time, not just today, but always.

In honor of Sol Price and many more, that’s worth remembering.

Sustaining Majority Unions

jstuart — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:22:32 +0000

Philadelphia It was a lot of fun to be the guest speaker at the annual Labor Lawyers reception to support Philadelphia Jobs with Justice. It was a good, there were people, old friends and comrades came out of nowhere, and once we got to the problems of “majority unionism” as discussed in Citizen Wealth, and the questions were excellent and interesting.

I was not surprised because part of the reason I had agreed to support the great work in Philly lay at the footsteps of a good example of the potential of majority unionism. For several years JwJ here under its director Fabricio Rodriguez had been involved in the long, arduous process of supporting the building of an organization among the 175 security workers at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. After several years the organization had navigated the obstacles for security workers in organizing and recently had transitioned to an independent union, filed, and won a representation election handily, and not surprisingly having already proven the organization at the workplace long ago. Now, they challenges of bargaining away, but that’s another story.

Majority unionism is what I have called the process of changing the labor organizing paradigm to allow workers first (not employers!) decide they want an organization, build strength through direct membership and direct action, and using that power along with community and political leverage to win recognition and advances regardless of any other obstacles in law or habit. This kind of strategy led to the huge success in our generation among informal workers (home health and home day care) which have added more than a half-million members in the last 30 years to the ranks of organized labor. This is also the heart of the successful pilot we led in Florida several years ago to prove that Wal-Mart workers could be organized a different way.

The hard question asked by several of the union lawyers and reps in the room, was how do you make the organization sustainable over the time frame necessary to win? This question was particularly important because the examples from home health care and Wal-Mart were based on more modest dues levels (in some cases only $10/month) than what many of them were accustomed to seeing in existing unions. Certainly this had also been our challenge as well, and led to our independent union becoming part of the SEIU, and kept us from continuing the Wal-Mart Workers Association as an independent entity.

The answer I was too well mannered to give was that this question lies at the heart of the dilemma between being a union movement and an institutional structure. The efforts among farmworkers, home care workers, and others – including what we are doing with ragpickers and cartoneros now – are rooted in deep political, individual, and organizational commitments over long time frames of sacrifice and struggle until victory is achieved. These are projects that don’t fit the normal box of excellent wages and benefits for union organizers, but will be driven by rare organizing zealots willing to pay the price for years in the conviction and passion that success will justify the climb long into the future. There’s a crazy, courageous history to this, but my friends were right: it’s not a model.

But it is a way to shift the paradigm and turn the tide, especially if we can convince unions and others to help balance the books while the work is done until what I, perhaps crazily, believe will be the inevitable victory. The workers want organizations. They want power on the job. Eventually, we are going to have to pay the dues, and give them what they demand, even if it is harder than we like and different than what we know.

Unspent Citizen Wealth Support

jstuart — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:32:19 +0000

San Francisco Sitting in the Tides Momentum conference, I couldn’t help taking some notes as Larry Mishel from the Economic Policy Institute showed his slides estimating that unemployment would rise to over 10% in 2010. More frighteningly, he said that when he added in underemployment the rates would be almost 18% then with 27,000,000 jobs – people! – impacted adversely. I tried to reconcile this impending “pain,” as Larry correctly called it with the headline in my lap from USA Today indicating that “States Say They Can’t Afford Costs Tied to $5 Billion Emergency Fund.”

The story furnished by ProPublica writers Michael Grabell and Chris Flavelle nailed the issue that almost half of the states in the US are going to walk away from the desperately needed money in the fund, because they are not willing – or able – to come up with their 20% share of this 4 to 1 federal to state match. This is money that goes directly to citizen wealth and survival and can be used as direct cash transfers, aid on expanding welfare caseloads, rent payments to forestall evictions, and even creating temporary jobs for the unemployed. The reporters highlight the plans and problems in a number of states like California, New York, and Tennessee. They also redlined Louisiana, which is already notorious for not taking stimulus money to help the unemployed, and now indicates that its budget crunch means that despite the fact that 20% of our citizens live in poverty, it doesn’t have the money to help them get out of poverty.

What the heck?!?

In the Alice in Wonderland upside down world in which we live and work, the Administration is going around to the states trying to convince them to find someone else to put up the match. New York State convinced George Soros, who has more money than god, to pony up for them, so now the government seems to think that’s the model. According to the reporters, they think Wal-Mart or Target might be good sources for example for school clothing. I have to go look out the window and see if this is in fact the day that pigs are going to fly!

Why are we not able to say to the states do this because citizen wealth makes your people richer and more secure, rather than advising the states in how to practice some weird form of grantsmanship with counties, cities, parishes, and corporations? If we are going to get that weird, why don’t we rebrand it as ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, calculate how much the state will get back in sales and other taxes for their expenditures since the money will be spent right at home in the blink of an eye, and finally have some economic development that actually works for people rather than for developers and fast talkers?

Thank You Notes for Dropping Beck

jstuart — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:18:41 +0000

New Orleans My mother is from Sunflower County, Mississippi. They raise a lot of cotton and soybeans around there and once upon a time a ton of mischief, but one other thing they seem to specialize in is manners. We were force fed manners from birth and even as you get sloppy about it, the imprint is strong, so I know it’s time for me to send a personal thank you note to the twenty (20) corporate advertisers that have now pulled their money out of the Glenn Beck Fox News disinformation, hate speech, and general rant show.

My thank you notes are going to some outfits that I never thought would be so solidly on my team, like Wal-Mart and ConAgra! Admittedly, they weren’t doing me a personal favor, but nonetheless it is a huge favor. A couple of months ago, I honestly had no idea who Glenn Beck was, but when he started stalking me around the world and virtually putting my picture on a wanted sign and a bulls-eye on my back, well, how can I say this: he got my attention. Most of these outfits could live with all of that craziness, but when he started calling President Obama a racist, that crossed the green, money line for them, so “Man overboard!” for Beck.

But enough of that, let’s give some thanks to my 20 new friends (a least on this issue!):

Wal-Mart
Best Buy
CVS Drugstores
Allergen
Ally Bank (part of GMAC!)
Broadview Security
Re-Bath
Travelocity
ConAgra

10. GEICO

11. Lawyers.com

12. Men’s Wearhouse

13. Proctors & Gamble

14. Progressive Insurance

15. Radio Shack

16. Roche

17. SC Johnson

18. Sanofi-Aventi

19. Sargento

20. State Farm Insurance

And, a huge debt of thanks to Color of Change, StopBeck, and a whole lot of others that have raised their voices and said, hey, enough of this craziness hate speech. Here’s to you!

International Press

jstuart — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:07:02 +0000

New Orleans As the international work percolates along let me share a couple of notices on campaigns that are stirring in Toronto in an exciting campaign that is leverage political strength to win tenants rights and of course our on-going effort to force there to be accountability in India before there is an relaxation on foreign direct investment in retail.

Washington Post – July 12, 2009

India’s First Wal-Mart Draws Excitement, Not Protest

Venture Comes With Limits That Protect Merchants

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/12/AR2009071202176.html

AMRITSAR, India — That’s not to say everyone is welcoming Wal-Mart. India Foreign Direct Investment Watch, a national coalition of labor unions, environmentalists, nonprofit groups and academics, has said that the company will eventually hurt shopkeepers, even if its store is not open to everyone in the general public. “Wal-Mart’s sheer size gives it unrestrained economic power, which allows it to drive down costs in the retail and manufacturing sectors and to enact its own standards with regards to its work force,” the group said in a statement.

Toronto Sun

Landlords put on notice

Anti-poverty group to use municipal election as prod for inspections

By KEVIN CONNOR, SUN MEDIA

Last Updated: 8th July 2009, 3:58am

A Toronto poverty group wants to vote in a better life for those in need.

The Association of Community Organization for Reform Now (ACORN) says it is tired of slum landlords and plans to use the 2010 municipal election to force local politicians to improve their lives.

“We plan to go door-to door to improve voter turnout and gain power for tenants using the upcoming elections,” ACORN spokesman Tatiana Jaunzens said yesterday at a downtown rally.

“(Low income tenants’) right to safe, hygienic living conditions is being ignored by politicians because they have low voter turnout.”

ACORN says only 186 of the 5,000 rental properties in Toronto will be inspected this year.

“At this rate it will take 34 years to have them all inspected,” Jaunzens said, adding the city needs to increase funding for its building inspection program.

The organization will run a campaign to increase the number of votes cast in areas with a high density of poor quality buildings in an effort to elect candidates who support tenant issues, added ACORN member Marva Burnett.

“It is time the politicians started listening to all their constituents instead of just some. There are so many of us living in slum buildings in this city,” Burnett said.

‘GO AFTER THEM’

Toronto Councillor Janet Davis, who represents Beaches-East York, agreed the election provides advocates with a way of increasing the power of tenants.

“Fifty percent of the city are tenants who don’t have a voice. Getting out to vote will make a difference because there are too many bad landlords in this city,” Davis said.

“We need to go after these landlords with everything we have got. We should be charging them instead of using taxpayers money to enforce these landlords.”

Laura Howell lives with her daughter and mother in a run-down building in the Danforth-Victoria Park Aves. area and said she deserves to live in a clean home.

“The place is falling apart, it is cockroach-infested and the repairs don’t get done. We are second-class citizens that management doesn’t want to hear from. The only time we will see them is if the rent is late,” she said.

“My hope is people will get out during the election and cast a vote so we can have a better life.”

KEVIN.CONNOR@SUNMEDIA.CA

Wal-Mart’s First Indian Store

jstuart — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:23:10 +0000

New Orleans The first rollout of a store in India from the fruit of the Bharti-Wal-Mart partnership is eminent. The Journal was trumpeting the in Amritsar in the Punjab scheduled for next Tuesday. Word in India from Dharmendra Kumar, director of India FDI Watch Campaign is that they will have to “postpone…opening which was scheduled…as violence erupted in Amritsar and the rest of Punja over killing of religious leader in Vienna.”

The very gradual backdoor opening on the “cash and carry” wholesale model (what we know in the US as a Sam’s or Costco or Price Club style) hardly merits the who-hah in the business press. The president of Wal-Mart India, Raj Jain, indicated that they might open “as many as 15 stores nationwide in the next three years…” Admittedly that is more than the 8 that they had announced in that period last year, but as North America’s know for Wal-Mart 5 stores a year is hardly a blip on the expansion and openings chart.

As the likely postponement also makes clear, this is still a decidedly uphill journey for smiley faced minions. Even the Journal understands that beneath the press releases there is trouble, and we can guarantee them even more:

“Mr. Singh and the more than 10 million other tiny retailers in India are Wal-Mart’s greatest c

hallenge and greatest opportunity. If it can win them over, they are likely to become its biggest customers. Anger them and they could use their political power to block expansion.”

The fight may take on a new character, but this will continue to be a long struggle.

By the way, what kind of name is “Best Price Modern Wholesale?” Wow! Business by committee should also be an interesting learning curve for Wal-Mart.

Meanwhile, the news is that Walmart has to postpone its opening which was scheduled for Tuesday as violence erupted in Amritsar and rest of Punjab over killing of religious leader in Vienna.

Citizen Wealth: Increasing Access for Participation

jstuart — Sat, 09 May 2009 19:06:33 +0000

New Orleans Once one gets past the ideological opposition some have towards eligible citizens gaining full access to all of the income supports available, we are still faced with the cost of infrastructure and the capacity to enroll the vast numbers who are unserved.

In my book, Citizen Wealth, coming out soon I argue that we need to approach technology differently and increase access to easier filing and certification. I also argue that we need to enlist the vast array of private establishments where eligible citizens congregate in the effort to achieve maximum eligible participation. I even confront the heresy of utilizing Wal-Mart for such purposes, which is surely an indication of our deadly serious I see this mission.

For all of these reasons I was struck by an article in The Guardian offering sure proof that when a government in this case Britain wants to achieve some result and wants to do so efficiently, then it is not so difficult to offer such services through all available outlets, and even allow the piper to be paid for the tune. We need to go somewhere near there in order to make the application process ubiquitous, accessible, and easy, the outreach huge and effective, and reduce the government’s role to final verification and certification.

This story from the UK is about identity cards, and that is probably a controversial issue in the UK, as it would be here, but nonetheless, it is not a big leap to imagine out we could create a network to move eligible lower income families to easier access to benefits. Jacqui Smith enlists high street help for ID cards scheme Alan Travis, home affairs editor The Guardian, Wednesday 6 May 2009 High street chemists, post offices and photo shops are to be used to record the electronic fingerprints and other biometric data needed for the national identity card scheme, the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, is to announce today. The decision to use high street shops sidesteps the need for the Home Office to set up a network of enrolment centres with mobile units to operate in rural areas. The move comes as the latest Home Office report to parliament on the costs of the scheme show they have risen by a further £221m to a total of £5.3bn over the next 10 years. That figure excludes the costs to other government departments and agencies of scanners and other equipment for verifying the identity of those trying to access public services. The home secretary is to confirm in a speech today that Manchester will be the first city where citizens – particularly younger people – will be invited to apply for an ID card from this autumn before the national roll-out in 2012. They will be charged £30 for a standalone card that will be valid for travel through Europe. Britain’s commercial airline pilots are meeting MPs and ministers to object to an initial scheme requiring 20,000 airside workers at Manchester and London City airports to sign up to the ID card scheme as a condition of employment. Smith is to meet businesses today who are keen to sign up with the Identity and Passport Service to undertake the work of recording electronic fingerprints and facial photographs for those who apply for ID cards or a new generation passport. The Home Office expects more than 12m such documents to be issued each year when the scheme is fully operational. “While private companies will clearly benefit from the increased footfall from offering this service, their customers will benefit from being able to quickly provide their biometrics while they are out doing their shopping,” said Smith. The Post Office, the National Pharmacy Association and the Photo Marketing Association are all in talks with the Home Office over the contract. The cost report puts the figure for issuing ID cards to British and Irish citizens in the UK at £4.945bn, and to foreign nationals at £372m.

Continuing Development Wars

wade — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 17:10:05 +0000

Austin       Austin still has the feel of a city on the bright side of the recession. Unemployment has hardly hit 6%.   The airport is new and busy. Developers are still trying to build and finish projects, and community fights against them are real and important.
   I caught up with the fight to shrink a Wal-Mart proposal from 200,000 on down at Norcross in central Austin which has been engaged for some time. Though the high-jinks in court has delayed the project, it did not produce a win, but even without winning the project is now on a slow negotiations where Wal-Mart has already shrunk down to 97,000 square feet. Furthermore, Austin has a big box ordinance restricting at 100,000 feet now, so the issues are pretty set.
   The last time I was in Austin I met proponents of an initiative to block a $60,000,000 subsidy from the city to a development. Our long time and erstwhile attorney, Doug Young, has been involved with all of these efforts. His report this morning was hard to hear. Delays and an expensive campaign had put the measure on the ballot last November where the City of Austin campaigned improbably on the slogan that a “deal was a deal,” no matter how stupid or expensive I suppose, and somehow in the confusion had managed to win the election by 52-48 when the balloting was complete.
   After a almost 2 years of drought conditions and little relief, the earlier Wal-Mart proposal to build on the aquifer was dead-on-arrival, but perhaps has led to the wink and nod on some of these other measures. Environmental impacts around growth, water, and resources, could become bigger tools for fights in the future.
   Austin continues to have committed cadres of activists and community residents willing to fight for their neighborhoods and their sense of the value of the Austin community as something more than a “market” for whatever, so this city could still be a place worth watching on the fights to bring accountability to development and developers in the United States.

Finding New Ways to Organize

wade — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:13:39 +0000

Toronto   Some of the most interesting meetings in my several days in Toronto were with our friends in the Canadian labor movement in Ontario, especially at the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW), SEIU Canada, and the Steelworkers. There’s a hunger to organize in most of these unions even though several of them are getting hammered by the current economic implosion and watching membership plummet. Nonetheless the organizers are open and anxious to talk about new ideas, innovations, and other things that might work in the future.
   Our friend, Colin Heslop, who heads the skilled trades department of the CAW, was interested in developments in New Orleans where he and his people had helped us build houses, but it was also fascinating to catch up with him on the organizing developments in the unusual and groundbreaking deal that former CAW President Buzz Hargrove had made with Magma auto parts. Despite the fact that the staff and national executive board had approved this very “different” kind of arrangement with Magma including the no-strike provisions in order to organize more than 30,000 workers, predictably this “concession” had been an issue in the election for Buzz’s successor. All that was old news now, but the agreement with Magma had only netted about 1200 workers of the expected yield to date for various reasons.
   SEIU Canada continued to be heavily engaged in pulling together the building service sector with growing campaigns in Ottawa and emerging efforts in Vancouver. We had a fascinating discussion about living wage campaigns that are heating up in both areas and how this could feed into service-based organizing, as well as the usual wide ranging discussion about targets and opportunities.
   With our friends at Steel, we visited briefly with Canadian USW president Ken Neumann, and then hunkered down with his EA, Ken Delaney, to continue another chapter in the discussions about new innovations in organizing that we had had with him over the years. We caught up on the work with domestic workers which had interested us last year as well as other drives with taxi drivers and university workers which have solid legs. Ken wasted no time recognizing that the last six months had been a blur where most of the time and energy had focused on stopping the membership losses in the mounting recession and blunting their impacts. This had been like the classic “lost weekend,” where time had stopped since our conversations last summer and only now were our friends focusing on organizing again.
   Saying all of that it was exciting to start making plans and brainstorming with our friends and allies again in Canada. They were also interested and supportive of the informal worker organizing we are doing with ACORN International and the lessons we have learned from organizing along “majority union” lines in Wal-Mart. I’m still predicting big things for labor in Canada in the months and years to come.