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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Wal-Mart- not wanted here. |
Current rating: 0 |
by Pauline Bartolone and Sehvilla Mann
Email: alice_redqueen (nospam) hotmail.com (unverified!)
Phone: (217) 384-0830
Address: Urbana, IL |
22 Mar 2001
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The new Super Wal-mart developing in Savoy is not coming into this community with open arms. Two IMC reporters do some investigating in the aftermath of the February 24th vandalism, in the interest of representing voices of opposition. |
I had not heard of the new Wal-Mart developing in Savoy until I read about the $100,000 in structural damage that was performed by “vandals” last February 24th. I read the News-Gazette article searching for an explanation about what statement the vandals were trying to make. I found no such explanation. Questions popped into my head.
Why in the world do we need another Wal-mart in the Champaign –Urbana region?
How does the public feel about a new Wal-mart developing in Savoy?
What consequences will another Wal-mart have on our community?
I did not find any answers to my questions in the news coverage in the dominant media. In fact, all I received was reassurance that the Wal- mart project would be completed on time, by mid- July. There is little follow –up on the story. Furthermore, there were no allusions made as to why the vandals would be motivated to conduct the damage. There was total absence of in-depth reporting.
It seemed obvious to me and others at the Indymedia Center that the “vandals” were making a statement about their opinion of the Wal-mart. Apparently the structure had been manually arranged so that when the bulldozer rammed into the support beams, the structure would partially collapse.
I decided to visit the Wal-mart site in Savoy, located just before the Willard Airport. Reluctantly, I had to use a car because there is currently no public transportation that far out. I wondered how the elderly, handicapped and non-car users were taken into account when designing and locating the building. Two things struck me immediately when I arrived at the construction site- the 210,000 square foot landscape of machinery and aggressively uprooted earth reminded me of the end of the world. At first disgust with the unnecessary and poorly planned use of land, I was encouraged by my second encounter- labor unions voicing their opinions about Wal-mart by picketing on site!
Again, I had not heard of any public disapproval or involvement on the issue until that point. The three labor unions represented held signs:
“ Tri-State Steel Erectors receive sub-standard wages and benefits. Our dispute concerns only the substandard wages and benefits paid by Tri-State Steel Erectors” –Iron Workers Local #380
“Bland Construction has no contract with Local #143”
“NOTICE: Giberson Electric does not employ members of IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) Local #601”
I was told that most building trade unions were picketing the Wal-mart because of the company’s refusal to employ union labor. At least three unions have been sending out one picketer to the site every workday since December. Feeling exploited by the way that the media has represented them in the past, the workers were reluctant to talk to me. They did respond to me however when I asked them how we could tell the public to support them. “We just want to work,” I was told by an ironworker, “ these are our jobs and they wont let us in our own backyard.” They went on to tell me that the Wal-mart had hired workers from Tennessee and Kentucky, instead of hiring local union labor. They pointed out a truck driving into the site with a Tennessee license plate.
Sehvilla and I went to the Pages For All Ages bookstore, one of the only locally owned businesses in Savoy, to do public interviews about the Wal-mart. Many people had not known about the new Wal-mart at all, and some didn’t hear about it until the vandalism. Out of the 8 people that we talked to, only one said that having a second one in the region is a good idea. More than half expressed disapproval of the development, but when prodded as to what we can do about preventing it, we received unhopeful, disempowered responses. Perhaps the most constructive answer we received on the topic was to not patronize the business when it opened.
I was not satisfied with these answers. I want to know how we can prevent the Wal-mart from being built using non- union labor and employing people at substandard wages. I want to prevent a poorly and irresponsibly designed development that is consuming 210,000 square feet of natural resources needed to keep our air and water healthy. I want to prevent further car dependency to the site. I want to protect farmland from being consumed by a non-locally owned corporation. I want us to strengthen the local economy so that we do not depend on big box developments to increase our tax base.
I plan to keep on investigating for answers to my questions and solutions to my desires for sustainable development and fair work environments. Stay tuned.
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walmart |
by jww
jwebb66 (nospam) yahoo.com (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
29 Mar 2001
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I too read the News Gazette article concerning
the vandalism of the Wal-Mart construction site.
I was not surprised that the reporter and the
editors decided to leave out the possibility that
it was an act of protest against the continuing
dominance of car culture architecture, the paving
of fields, etc. The act could have been done by
the Earth Liberation Front, who are doing similar
acts of protest across the country, most recently
in Long Island, New York. I am convinced that the
damage done to the Wal-Mart was out of protest,
and not from mere random vandalism. My own
response when learning of the damage done to the
site surprised me. I am against the unlawful
destruction of private property, yet I found
myself feeling supportive of the destruction, and
sad when I read that it would still be completed
on time. I was hoping the protesters would return
and do further damage. My feelings about it
caused me concern because I was supporting law
breakers. When I analyzed the situation I
realized that an even bigger law was being broken
by the developers of the Wal-Mart - disrespect
for the environment; no concern that the
structure does not fit into the landscape; the
furthering of car culture - enormous paved parking
lots, increased traffic, the construction of
smaller stores adjacent the big one, leading to
more parking lots, more stop lights, more
pollution, etc.; the destruction of all forms of
life other than human. Perhaps my approval of the
site damage was based upon the disrespectful
ideas being pushed by the owners of Wal-Mart, and
sensing that the protesters were fighting for
justice and respect, at the cost of breaking
the law. In the mid-19th century, many prominent
citizens, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, were
outraged with the then-new "fugitive slave law".
In a speech, Emerson said he did not support that
law, and would even go so far as to break it,
feeling it immoral and unjust.
Perhaps the correct way to deal with the foolish
destruction of our land is not through unlawful
damage of private property, because at that
point it is already too late. The problem begins
with our own city government, who are supporting
such development policies with the words, "growth
is good". Growth is good, when it is well
planned and considers the effects it will have on
the land, the wildlife, the people, and grows
accordingly. When growth is being controlled by
insensitive and shortsighted statesmen, a
solution would be to elect a more enlightened
citizenry.
jww
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Walmart |
by David Johnson
unionyes (nospam) ameritech.net (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
06 Apr 2001
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Walmart is one of the worst corporations in the world. Most of their products are made in sweatshops in Asia and Latin America. In the past they have used non-union labor from outside of the community that a store is built in more often than not. Now that Sam Walton ( the founder of Walmart ) is dead, his son who is now in charge, is building EVERY store non-union. All of the people they hire work part-time ( except management ) so that they do not have to pay benefits. When Walmart goes into a smaller community they destroy their local small business competitors and the number of jobs they add only employ about two-thirds the number of people who previously worked at locally owned businesses.A few years ago the meat cutters at most of the Super Walmart stores voted to unionize. When they did, Walmart closed all of the meat departments in the unionized stores.
The vandalism at the Savoy Super Walmart store ( in my opinion ) was probably done by Walmart themselves in order to put the unions on the defensive and to try to get public opinion on their side. In the News Gazette article about the vandalism, I found it odd that the superintendent for the project stated that they would have the structural steel on the job ( to replace the steel vandalized ) within four to five days. That is an incredible short period of time. It is also obvious that Dominos pizza Inc. and Walmart have some kind of corporate alliance, since Dominos placed wanted posters in their pizzas for Walmart, offering $ 10,000 reward for info about the vandalism. Maybe people should call and turn in Walmart as the probable vandal, or boycott Dominos as well as Walmart. People who would like to strike a blow at Walmart should consider trying to organize a mass comunity coalition campaign involving enviromentalists, students against sweatshops, the unions and locally owned small businesses.
In Solidarity
David Johnson |
