Wal-Mart Protest: NO DUers Committed yet

[srpantalonas]

And it's bumming me out. Lots of "I'll boycott" and "way to go" but no "see you there, what should I bring".

Folks, I WILL do it alone, but that will suck. Headline will read

"Man Protests Wal-Mart Alone, Confirms Nobody Cares"

Is there anybody out there who can spare the 90 minutes?

Thanks.

[e-mail]

(EDIT)
Link to Details:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=106&topic_id=4650

[littlejoe]

1. Can't do it. I'm too poor!

[wanderingbear]

17. Im to poor

to by at Wal-mart.. Goodwill stores are more my speed..

[HEyHEY]

2. If I lived near one I might consider it

Thank god I don't...good luck as a guy who grew up raised on the money earned from a small business I appreciate what you are doing.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

3. i almost get arrested everytime i near a WalMart...haven't been in one in

6/7 months....i am banned from the 2 nearest me

[HEyHEY]

5. Shoplifting?

[ElsewheresDaughter]

11. lol i wish . for talking to employees and consumers about the evils

of WalMart....re: food stamps forms filled out and summited to SS along with applications of employees, because WalMart can't pay you enough to feed your family...and WalMarts evilness in taking life insurance policies out on its employees (without their knowledge)and cashing in on their deaths ($400,000 per employee) and that dead employees family NOT getting a red cent of those death benefits...:puke: ....I raised hell everytime i went near one...they called the police on me many times

no i didn't steal all those complaint forms from custumer services. so please stop saying that!

[HEyHEY]

12. ??

serious? They take out policies? BUt how can they without the consent and knowledge of the worker?

[ElsewheresDaughter]

13. hell yeah WalMart profits from the death of employees..here's a link

there are many more
http://www.walmartwatch.com/info/internal.cfm?subsection_id=131&internal_id=350

Profiting from death? Lawsuit filed in Wal-Mart life insurance case (4/15/02)


Houston Chronicle

Jane Sims always knew her husband was a valuable employee to Wal-Mart. She just didn't know how valuable.

Sims discovered recently that Wal-Mart, the company her husband, Douglas, worked for before he died, had taken out a life insurance policy in his name.

When Douglas Sims died in 1998 of a sudden heart attack, Wal-Mart received about $64,000. She got nothing from that policy.

"I never dreamed that they could profit from my husband's death," said Sims, whose husband worked in receiving at Wal-Mart's distribution center in Plainview for 11 years.

Companies routinely take out secret life insurance policies on the lives of their low-level employees and collect thousands of dollars when they die. The families never know the policies are in place and receive none of the money.

The policies are called corporate-owned life insurance policies or COLIs for short. But they're better known in the insurance industry as "dead peasant" and "dead janitor" policies.

<snip>
Wal-Mart took out about 350,000 life insurance policies on the lives of its employees payable to the company, according to the lawsuit filed by Sims and other family members of deceased Wal-Mart employees. Hartford Life Insurance Co. and AIG Life Insurance Co. sold the policies to Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart borrowed money from the insurers to pay the premiums, which the company was able to write off as a business expense on its federal taxes.

more... http://www.walmartwatch.com/index.cfm

[HEyHEY]

15. Wow, that should be illegal....Canadians..Is that legal in Canada?

if any of you know.

[srpantalonas]

8. you rock!

[wryter2000]

4. I live in California

Can't help. Sorry.

[wryter2000]

6. Oh, you want me to go to a local Walmart

I don't see the point of me showing up alone at the local Walmart. That would be a non-event.

[srpantalonas]

10. Make it an event!

invite friends. enemies. unions. with 2 people it's a protest. with 3 it's a movement.

[Muddleoftheroad]

7. I already boycott

Have done so for years.

[srpantalonas]

9. Demonstrate, protest, not simply boycott

[Cleita]

14. Just a point of information.

Walmart moved into our area about three years ago. Our community fought them tooth and nail, throwing up every roadblock they could, but Uncle Wally got in here anyway. Yes, our store is nicer to look at than the usual blue plaster boxes one sees around. They actually made them follow a spanish mission type architecture, but that didn't dissuade them. They wouldn't let them put in a nursery, but now three years later they have a nursery. They wouldn't let RV'ers park overnight in the parking lot, but finally they wore that down.

Everyone in the community agreed to boycott them, but people came in from outlying areas to shop. I hate to say it but Walmart is unstoppable. I think change is going to have to come from within. The workers are going to have to get a union in and that would be a start. Good luck to you all anyway. I hope you can make a difference.

[wanderingbear]

16. I have a standing boycott

on most of the mainstream corperations.. Including Wal-Mart..

[srpantalonas]

18. Great--we need more than your boycott...help others learn to boycott

by organizing locally and protesting your local Walmart!

[wanderingbear]

20. Dont have one..They tryed to move in

but they wanted local consessions.. The city said no..They went elsewhere.

[tkmorris]

21. Sound like

They gave up awfully easy. They are normally pretty tenacious. What town was this?

[ElsewheresDaughter]

22. they'll be back

[wanderingbear]

25. Independence Oregon.

Most of the Residents are Democrats. With ofcouse the standard Oregon group of Hippies.. Nothing gos in in Oregon without some form of protest happening..

[citizen snips]

19. I'm to lazy.

Sorry but I am to lazy to protest.

[laura888]

23. I would do it if in DC area

bravo! This is what's needed!

[CrownPrinceBandar]

24. My mom works at Wal-Mart

She does part-time work there in the jewelry dept. I've tried to tell her how Wally-world, puts the big hurt on local businesses, but she doesn't get it. Different generation, I guess.

What really burns me is that, there are things you can only get at Wal-Mart anymore. I live in a semi-rural area and for some items Wal-Mart is the only option (except maybe K-Mart), since they have cornered the market so effectively.

Lets not lose sight that its an economic issue, as well. For some folks, the cheaper price for Hefty bags that Wal-Mart garners by volume purchasing is the most sensible option. It would be great if we all afford get the enviro-friendly, non-big business items that WM chooses not to sell. WM's marketing practices can only be described as insidious. They fully realize that by having low prices, they can sell their chintzy crap to the lazy, uninformed and worst of all the poor who are effectively ransomed into shopping at Wally-world.

I applaud your committment to protest. And I have done what I can not to support WM. But as I am a limited income and live (as I said above)in an area without many shopping options, sometimes I am compelled to ashamedly shop there.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

26. Can't help...

I'm in San Francisco.

But I WILL shop at Costco to show them support -- the company that pays their employees well and gives them decent benefits. :)

[srpantalonas]

27. any takers?