WalmartWatch.com Going Local

After an aggressive two-week national media campaign, WalmartWatch.com is “going local,” profiling the towns and communities where Wal-Mart has had the hardest impact. We’re reaching out to the people who have lost their jobs, businesses and livelihood to ask them to join our fight to reform Wal-Mart.

In the four small towns we spotlight in our “Buy America” ad, over 38,600 manufacturing jobs have been lost since 2001 (according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, http://www.bls.gov). But the lights still shine bright at Wal-Mart!

Download a copy one of the full-page ads here.

On Friday, our full-page ad will run in Ft. Collins, CO (which has lost 3,700 jobs) and Kannapolis, NC (which has lost 19,600).

On Monday, we spotlight Canton, OH (11,500).

And on Tuesday, we focus on Appleton, WI (which has lost 3,800 jobs).

Read about the launch of our “Buy America” campaign in USA Today and the facts behind the ad.

Of course, not all of these jobs were lost because of Wal-Mart. But as the largest and most powerful corporation in the world, Wal-Mart does deserve much of the blame.

According to Larry Mishel, President of the Economic Policy Institute, “When you look at the growth of the trade deficit with China, you could say that a very conservative estimate is that we have lost more than a million jobs to China since the early 1990’s.” (PBS Frontline, 2004).

Here are the facts:

THEN: In 1985, founder Sam Walton said, “Our company is firmly committed to the philosophy (of Buy America) by buying everything possible from suppliers who manufacture their products in the United States…We must insure that American manufacturers continue to be the entrepreneurs that provide the fuel that drives our economy.” (Wal-Mart release, 3/13/85).

NOW: At least seventy percent of Wal-Mart merchandise is manufactured in China. The “Buy American” program has virtually vanished, as “its shelves bear little trace of the “Buy American” philosophy of its founder,” notes the Washington Post, 10/29/03.

Wal-Mart is considered by many scholars and journalists to be China’s eighth largest trading partner, ahead of Germany and Russia.

WalmartWatch.com is reaching out to small towns and big cities across the country to build a unified movement to oppose Wal-Mart’s destructive business practices. We’re more than an online and print media campaign; our organizers are traveling the country, meeting with community groups and local officials who are on the front line of this fight. Are you with us?