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Site Fight Of The Week: Brooklyn, CT

Some site fights bubble and brew for years before erupting. Others seem to just appear overnight, and explode spontaneously. The controversy in Brooklyn is definitely one of the latter.

Brooklyn is a small town of 7,900 in Northeast Connecticut - the “quiet corner” of the state. Residents were stunned on October 22nd when they were informed on WINY radio that a Wal-Mart supercenter was coming to town, and further shocked when First Selectman Robert Engle told residents that the 158,000 square foot project on Route 6 was a ‘done deal.’ Unfortunately, Wal-Mart and Mr. Engle forgot to ask town residents what they thought.

Residents all over Brooklyn were shocked, and have been speaking out about the project and flooding city meetings over the issue.

Local resident Jeff Arends told the Norwich Bulletin:

“I was devastated when I heard that Wal-Mart wanted to come to Brooklyn. I think Wal-Mart is going to destroy our small businesses. It’s just going to drive a stake into them.”

A reader from Brooklyn wrote in to us:

It is has recently been divulged that town officials have quietly been making plans to accommodate the construction of a 24 hour Wal-Mart Super Center on Route 6 in our little agricultural town. Residents were shocked to hear this news as there has been very little public information about such a radical change to our neighborhood. We feel that this project – a 150,000 to 200,000 square foot building is out of portion to the size of Brooklyn with its 7,800 residents. We’ve formed a grassroots group called Brooklyn For Sensible Growth.

Check out the group’s website here - it seems very well organized.

Wal-Mart just formally submitted its application to build a store, but the city still must fully approve it - and there’s still time for residents to speak out against it.

TAKE ACTION NOW!

Send an email to First Selectman Robert Engle and Sherry Soucy - Chairwoman of the Inland Wetlands Commission, which holds a meeting over the Wal-Mart project on December 9th.

Posted by Eric Bull on Friday, November 14, 2008

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COMMENTS

“I think Wal-Mart is going to destroy our small businesses.”

One question: If the ‘majority’ of people in Brooklyn, Conn., are AGAINST Wal-Mart coming to town, how can Wal-Mart destroy their small businesses? The only way that could happen, is if the people of Brooklyn, stopped shopping at the small businesses and took their business to Wal-Mart!! And, if they were REALLY AGAINST Wal-Mart and PRO small business, why would they ‘change’ where they shop?

RDS in
Saturday, November 15 at 12:11 AM

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/story.html?id=43147640-9156-46ec-aae2-f13e31c2291f

Unfair labour practices case against Wal-Mart moving forward
Leader-Post
Published: Wednesday, November 12, 2008
REGINA—An unfair labour practices case—involving allegations that Wal-Mart Canada tried to intimidate workers in Saskatchewan by closing a store in Quebec—can proceed, according to a ruling by the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board.

The board, in a decision released Oct. 24, dismissed a “preliminary application’’ by Wal-Mart to quash the application by the United Food and Commercial Workers union, which is seeking permission to represent Wal-Mart workers in Weyburn, North Battleford and Moose Jaw.

The UFCW argued that the threat of closure and the closure of a Wal-Mart store in Jonquirere, Que., after it was unionized was an unfair labour practice designed to intimidate workers, including Wal-Mart workers in Saskatchewan.

Font:****John Beckman, a lawyer who represents Wal-Mart, argued against the union application on several grounds, including one that the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board had no jurisdiction to make rulings on events which occurred in Quebec.

But the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board ruled that it “has the jurisdiction to inquire into, hear and determine the application’’ made by the union.

“The fact that the actions of Wal-Mart upon which the allegations are based were committed outside of Saskatchewan does not mean that they cannot constitute violation of the restriction on intimidation of its employees in (Saskatchewan),’’ the labour relations board ruled.

The ruling by the board is the latest one in a long-standing fight between the UFCW and Wal-Mart about the unionization of Wal-Mart workers in Saskatchewan and about related legal and labour relations issues.

Alex in Ontario, Canada
Saturday, November 15 at 10:56 AM

Come to the meeting at the Quinebaug Valley Senior Center tonight to say NO to Wal-Mart! Meeting is from 6-8. It’s not just about Wal-Mart’s negative impact on small businesses; it’s about matters such as the environment, traffic patterns, crime, and the sub-standard working conditions that Wal-mart employees have faced. We do not want this in our small community.

Elizabeth Verrill in Brooklyn, CT
Wednesday, November 19 at 03:20 PM

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