Contact:

T.V. Reed (509) 332-0563 tv_reed@pullman-ard.org

Christopher Lupke (509) 335-2755 clupke@yahoo.com

www.pullman-ard.org

Press Conference:

PULLMAN, WA – The Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development (PARD), a community group dedicated to promoting more careful planning in the way Pullman grows, today sent a letter to H. Lee Scott, Jr., the CEO of Wal-Mart, asking him to honor a pledge made by legendary founder Sam Walton. In his autobiography, Sam Walton said that Wal-Mart would never force itself on a community that did not want it. The letter was accompanied by a boycott petition signed by residents and local shoppers in Pullman.

In its letter to Scott, PARD said that Wal-Mart’s proposal to build a mall-sized “Supercenter” in Pullman is unwise and unwelcome. The group has collected locally over 7500 signatures of people who feel strongly enough that they have pledged to refuse to shop in or work for the store should it be built in town. This number is not only remarkable for a town the size of Pullman but the number of Pullman residents who signed actually exceeds those who voted in its last city election. Nella Van Dyke, a member of the petition task force, notes, however, that “this is a consumer petition we are sending directly to Wal-Mart. It is designed to let them know, respectfully, that a large number of potential consumers in our area strongly disfavor the building of a Supercenter in Pullman. We will send copies to the Pullman City Council, so they can see for themselves the extent of the opposition.”

The petition drive has been spearheaded by Van Dyke, Cynthia Hosick, and Janet Damm, all Pullman residents. All signatures were gathered locally by unpaid volunteers from the local community. Although 7500 represents a huge watershed, the alliance continues to accept more signatures. Petition gatherers have been working on this for three months and each day find more people who want to sign. “We’re just ordinary people,” Cynthia Hosick states. “We get signatures where we can and we know there are still more people out there who would like to sign.” Janet Damm adds that “Not everyone who is against Wal-Mart has signed the petition. Remember, this is a pledge to boycott Wal-Mart if it is built. Many do not wish to go that far but are nonetheless not in favor of the plan to locate a Wal-Mart in Pullman. And just think how may signatures we could have gathered if we had Wal-Mart’s financial resources.”

PARD’s broad alliance consists of farmers, professionals, business people, teachers, students, retirees, wage workers and homemakers with many different reasons for opposing a Supercenter. Some are business people and supporters of the local business community who believe strongly that the widely documented pattern of Wal-Mart stores doing great damage to small town economies through “one stop shopping” is reason enough to not want the store. Specifically, the recently revitalized downtown, as well as other small and mid-size businesses, would be deeply threatened by and unable to compete with the big box retail behemoth.

Others, particularly seniors and folks with health issues, are alarmed that the proposed store would be located right next to the community hospital, right across from the assisted living community, and bordering the city cemetery (dating from the nineteenth century). In addition, they say traffic around the Supercenter, on a very difficult road to navigate, will delay access to the hospital, and poses a serious health and safety hazard. There are others with deep concerns about noise, air and light pollution and a host of other environmental concerns.

Finally, many are concerned by the alarming rate at which Wal-Mart has outsourced solid manufacturing jobs to other countries. Admittedly, we live in a rapidly-changing world with a global economy, but Wal-Mart is leading the race to the bottom when it comes to seeking out the cheapest labor it can find, leaving mostly unskilled sales positions to its American labor force.

The volume of signatures collected clearly shows that PARD has won the battle of public opinion. The group is now ready to pursue legal challenges and propose “big box” ordinances as a means of assuring the retail giant will be a responsible community member. One measure PARD has proposed is a living wage ordinance for the city to guarantee that all retailers over 75,000 square feet must pay their workers a living wage. Wal-Mart has done so badly by its workers in Washington that the state Department of Industry and Labor has had to take over the company’s insurance plan. Wal-Mart also passes on many of its workforce costs to taxpayers, since up to half of its workers require welfare, food stamps, and other forms of public assistance just to survive. Without decent health insurance, many Wal-Mart employees must resort to the emergency room for their health care needs. And in Moscow ID, for example, Wal-Mart employees account for a significant percentage of aid given by Sojourner’s Alliance.

In response to Wal-Mart’s disturbing pattern of labor law violations, the group is crafting a proposal for another ordinance that would guarantee democratic access to the store’s massive parking area by declaring such large spaces public property. Wal-Mart has been cited for rampant use of undocumented workers, and it currently is embroiled in the largest class action suit in US history for discrimination against women, in addition to having to fight an average of over 4500 lawsuits per year, the largest number of cases facing any private business in the world. It is no wonder that over 7500 people refuse to shop at or work for Wal-Mart if it is built in Pullman. That’s a lot of voices. Is H. Lee Scott listening? Maybe he should listen to the words of Sam Walton himself.