
And as Local 12's Joe Webb tells us, the union is making its biggest push right here.
The United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1099 has signed up more than 10-thousand people in its wake up Wal-Mart Campaign ... more than any other local. They're also mailing out nearly 250-thousand pieces of mail, blasting the store in Cincinnati and Dayton.
So far, it doesn't appear to be keeping shoppers away. The tv ads stand out this time of year as the only commercials encouraging you not to shop. They label Wal-Mart as foreign dominated and stingy with employee benefits. "This Christmas, lets make Wal-Mart be a better neighbor to us all."
Coupled with a mass mailing, the United Food and Commercial Workers are slinging a full bag of stones at the retail goliath and insist it has nothing to do with Wal-Mart being non-union.
Bill Dudley, UFCW Local 1099: "I think Wal-Mart needs to feel the pressure from everybody. I think that's what we're seeing with this campaign. Not the pressure to be union, but the pressure to be a responsible employer."
A Wal-Mart spokesman said the company doesn't really comment on the campaign, but thinks it can't support the claims it makes. In a statement today, Wal-Mart said, our focus is on our customers, helping them save money, so they can live better. Our goal is to ensure that they can find the products they need and want at the time they need them and at a price that saves them money. If the campaign is making a difference, it's hard to see five days before Christmas. The Florence super center was packed this afternoon. Shoppers seemed more interested in price and selection, than China or employee benefits.
Amber Delph, Burlington: "You know, I think it's important that people have health care, but they choose to work here, so they choose not to have the health care. It's important to me when I shop to go somewhere where I can get good value and good service and I've never had anything other than that here."
Bill Wilson, Alexandria: "It's price and convenience for me. I like Wal-Mart. It seems like, even though it's a huge store, it kind of seems hometownish. I don't have a problem shopping here."
Wal-Mart says the claim that 70 percent of what it sells comes from China simply doesn't hold water. The company says a third of what it sells at its supercenters is grocery, which is almost exclusively domestic ... so the 70-percent number doesn't add up.
(local12.com)