Walmart’s announcement last Friday that it was canceling two stores planned for the District sparked anger and surprise by elected officials but community activists said the move “proves once again that Walmart is a company that cannot be trusted.”
Countless residents knew better than to trust the big-box giant, but were ignored by elected officials eager to believe the company’s false promises, said Nikki Lewis, Executive Director of DC Jobs With Justice. “In meetings with residents and community leaders, the company promised to bring much-needed retail to Ward 7,” said Lewis. "Unfortunately,” she added, “when residents attempted to codify these promises in a written agreement, and later the Large Retailer Accountability Act, Walmart responded by threatening to cancel their plans to open three additional stores – effectively forcing Mayor Gray to veto the LRAA.” Reverend Edwin Jones, a pastor in Ward 7, added that "Walmart is not the kind of development we need in Ward 7. We need retailers that keep their promises and provide good jobs for our community.” On today’s labor calendar, catch Julie Karant of SEIU 32BJ on why airport workers are demanding a union and $15/hour at 1pm this afternoon on Your Rights at Work here on WPFW 89.3 FM. And then at 7pm tonight, NOVA Labor will hold its’ monthly meeting in Annandale, Virginia. For complete details go to dclabor.org and click on Calendar. Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1946, some 750,000 steel workers walked out in 30 states in the largest strike in U.S. history to that time. In 1974, postal workers began a four-day strike at the Jersey City, New Jersey mail center, protesting an involuntary shift change. The wildcat was led by a group of young workers who identified themselves as “The Outlaws.” And in 2000, six hundred police attacked picketing longshoremen in Charleston, South Carolina. Today’s labor quote is by Martin Luther King: “Freedom is never given voluntarily by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”
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