Say No to Wal-Mart

Inglewood, California, Voters Reject Wal-Mart's Effort for Expansion

Residents of Inglewood, California, stood up for American values - they said "No," to the Walmartization of their community. They said "No," to the Arkansas retail giant's low wage, low benefit jobs. They said "No," to a store the size of 17 football fields that would have decimated local businesses.

Voters rejected a referendum by Wal-Mart by voting 65% against a proposed Supercenter in Inglewood. Wal-Mart forced voters to the polls by refusing to accept rejection of their expansion plans by Inglewood City Council earlier this year. Wal-Mart abused the citizen referendum process by hiring people to collect signatures and force a ballot initiative - an effort that ignored zoning regulations and skirted traffic and environmental reviews. Wal-Mart was trying to buy the local political process but voters made it clear: you can't discount democracy.

The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) members held the line in Southern California for nearly 5 months fighting back demands by the supermarket employers that would have eliminated health benefits for workers. Safeway, Kroger and Albertsons used Wal-Mart's low-road benefit package as an excuse to lower the standards for supermarket workers in California. Customers stood behind the strikers throughout the work-stoppage and now those same people sent Wal-Mart the message that they are willing to fight for good jobs with good benefits.

"Wal-Mart's arrogance blinded them to the fact that voters and consumers will not accept a giant retailer cramming low-wage, low benefit jobs in every community. Voters in Inglewood told Wal-Mart to respect their laws, their environmental standards and elected officials," said UFCW International President Joe Hansen.

"Wal-Mart is undermining living standards across the country and tried to undermine the democratic process itself," Hansen continued.

UFCW members in Inglewood joined with a broad citizen's coalition of local and statewide elected officials, community organizations, and religious leaders to mobilize voters against Wal-Mart's back-door bully tactics.

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