Grijalva takes on Wal*Mart

[NoodleBoy]

http://www.house.gov/grijalva/press/press_releases/pr_021805.html

Rep. Grijalva Denounces Wal-Mart’s Union-Busting Tactics


WASHINGTON, D.C. - Representative Raúl M. Grijalva joined thirty-five of his House colleagues in calling on Wal-Mart to reconsider its decision to close a store in Canada where workers were granted the right to unionize last August. Workers at the Wal-Mart store in Jonquière, Quebec, were attempting to negotiate the first collective bargaining agreement in North America with the notoriously anti-union corporation.

“This closure sends the dire message to your workers and the public that any attempt to unionize in order to request better healthcare, higher wages, or improved benefits will be met with both the loss of jobs by your employees and the loss of a revenue source for the community,” the representatives wrote in a letter to H. Lee Scott, Jr., President and CEO of Wal-Mart. “This is a regrettable precedent to be set by the world’s largest corporation.”

Rep Grijalva, commenting on the store closing, noted the increasing use of firings and store closings to punish and prevent union organizing. “In about one of every four attempts to organize, the employer resorts to illegal firings. On top of that, due to weak labor laws and lax enforcement by the National Labor Relations Board, employers often feel free to refuse to negotiate in good faith and stall indefinitely. Wal-Mart is a big part of the problem, but it also goes much deeper than that.”

[NoodleBoy]

1. You know, the "Liberal Media" have been suspiciously silent about this.

Fuck, I really hate American media right now. I can't find out ANY of the other Reps who've signed on to this thing.

[blondeatlast]

2. I can finally be proud to be a liberal Arizonan!

I LOVE this, and Grijalva has to know this is politically risky for him on many levels. May he bravely continue the fight.

Of course the media won't ccover this; think of the money Wal-Mart pumps into every corporate media outlet. But I feel a change in the air, I really do. With brave politicos like Grijalva speaking out, we can accomplish the goal of making Wal-Mart good American citizens--or shutting them down. It won't be easy, but it can be done.