October 2003
Volume 21 No. 2 October 30 & 31 WEAC Convention Madison November 11 KMUC Executive Committee 4:30 PM at KMUC November 11 KMUC Executive Committee 4:30 PM at KMUC November 12 CBC/Presidents’ Meeting 6 PM at KMUC November 14 & 15 WEAC Board Meeting Madison November 16-22 American Education Week First Observed in 1921 “for the purpose of informing the public of the accomplishments and needs of the public schools and to secure the cooperation and support of the public in meeting those needs.” November 17 ESP Training Featuring Jorge Rivera 6 PM at KMUC November 19 National ESP Day November 24 KMUC Board of Directors 6 PM at KMUC November27 & 28 Office Closed Thanksgiving Holiday	Stop Shopping at Wal-Mart ”So what if I shop there?” you ask… by Linda Helf Sure, there are the smiling greeters and there are the associates doing their cheers at the beginning of the workday. The company sponsors the Teacher of the Year for our communities. Who hasn’t seen that big yellow smiling face announcing the dropping of prices? Despite all this hype, all is not fun and games at Wal-Mart. Why should that concern you? Read on. Welcome to Profit-Mart Although it advertises itself as slashing prices to the bone in order to deliver “Always Low Prices,” Wal-Mart banks about $7 billion a year in profits, ranking it among the most profitable entities on the planet. Of the 10 richest people in the world, 5 of them are in the Walton family. Wal-Mart is the largest importer of Chinese made products in the world, buying $10 billion worth of merchandise from several Chinese factories, which operate in the “sweatshop” mode. Other “big” retailers are daunted by Wal-Mart’s brutish power, saying that, in order to compete with Wal-Mart prices, they’re compelled to slash wages and search the globe for sweatshop suppliers where women and children are forced to work for very, very low wages and in unsafe working conditions. “So what?” you say. What happens when jobs move out of the community and take their tax base with them? What happens to the standard of living in a community when higher paying manufacturing jobs are lost and replaced with fewer minimum wage jobs? What happens when people are earning less and jobs are less plentiful and the tax revenues diminish? We are seeing some of that already – less teacher jobs, less supplies, less in the school budgets, and more children from low-income families. Welcome to Low-Income Mart With more than one million employees, this retailer is the country’s largest private employer. The average employee makes only $15,000 a year for full-time work. Most of the employees are part-time, making even less. Health care? Only if you’ve been there for 2 years and then the premiums are too high to afford. “Wal-Mart is opposed to unionization,” reads a company guidebook for supervisors. That is why they are the largest contributor to legislation to stop payroll deduction of union dues. When Wal-Mart moves into a community or creates a superstore, it says it creates jobs too. But for every 2 jobs created at Wal-Mart, 3 are lost at other employers in the community. Continued on next page…
The Wal-Mart profits leave the community and go to corporate headquarters, creating the richest family in the world. “So what?” you say. What happens when Wal-Mart employee benefits become the standard for the workforce in the local community? What happens when other employee groups like education employees, try to keep insurance benefits that are far above other worker groups in town? What happens when employers that turn their profits back into the community to support the programs our students use and to create a positive tax base are forced out of business by the corporation that is already the richest in the world? Welcome to School Privatization-Mart Through the Walton Family Foundation, Wal-Mart heir John Walton is one of the voucher movement’s most prolific donors, providing a steady stream of money from almost every element of the movement, from think tanks to political campaigns. They contributed $2 million to the Michigan voucher initiative, $250,000 to California Proposition 174, a voucher initiative, and to the voucher campaign initiative in Minnesota. Landmark Legal Foundation granted more than $14 million to private “scholarship” funds in the belief that privately funded voucher programs would give political momentum to publicly funded voucher programs. John Walton is the director of the Tesserac T Group which manages charter and public schools for profit. He is also the founder of the School Futures Research Foundation, a non-profit group that manages charter schools in California. The Walton Foundation sees teacher unions as its main obstacle to moving their privatization agenda forward. “So, what can I do?” you say. How about shopping somewhere else—somewhere that doesn’t see us as enemies and our students and their families as expendable? The decision not to shop at Wal-Mart will be better for our students, their parents who need jobs, our communities, and us. _____________________________________________________________________________ ESP Training Monday, November 17, 2003 6 PM at the KMUC Office “Living Wage Campaigns” presented by Jorge Rivera NEA Senior Professional Associate Collective Bargaining and Member Advocacy How have some ESP locals increased salaried nearly 50% over 3 years? Learn to build support from your members, community & the media and then translate that momentum into legislative victories. There’s still time to RSVP Call the KMUC Office at 1-800-834-7076 by November 10 No charge for KMUC ESP Members All other participants $10
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