Statement by RWDSU President Appelbaum on Wal-Mart in Brooklyn (4/27/10)

Yo WalMart:  Fuhgeddaboudit!  New York City does not want you here, and the RWDSU and other labor unions will aggressively fight any attempt by Wal-Mart executives and the Related Companies to circumvent our democracy and dodge the will of the people.

Wal-Mart’s recently publicized plans to set up shop in a Related Companies’ Brooklyn as-of-right sites that will allow them to bypass the community and its representatives in the City Council is a slap in the face to our democracy.  The public’s voice is critical to this particular debate.

There is no question that Wal-Mart has earned their reputation as the quintessential villain of retail.  Today’s headlines report yet again that Wal-Mart is facing a landmark class-action lawsuit for discriminating against women. The lawsuit filed by over 1 million former Wal-Mart employees, alleges that Wal-Mart pays women less than men for the same jobs and women receive fewer promotions than male counterparts.

Aside from the retailer’s despicable acts of discrimination, there are also long chapters and proven history in every community they operate in that the union-busting, neighborhood crushing Wal-Mart forces out good jobs and reliable retailers while bringing down wages and benefits.  Wal-Mart may create jobs on the front end, but they erode them later.  Just as they have fully eroded our American manufacturing base by becoming the single largest customer in China and other overseas countries.

The real question is:  does a company that pays poverty wages, exploits its employees and fights their attempts to organize a union, provides few benefits, drives small businesses into bankruptcy, discriminates against women, abuses immigrants and child-labor laws, and demands enormous public services and subsidies from local governments good for New York?

Fuhgeddaboudit!  Always low wages is bad for New Yorkers and our struggling retail economy.   New Yorkers and Brooklynites want and deserve something better than that.  

Stuart Appelbaum

President

Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union