As my friend Ginger in Kansas will attest, I'm no fan of Wal-Mart. On the one hand, that's easy for me to say because we don't have one around here. In fact, other than a couple of gas stations and the local Safeway, we have no chain businesses here at all. (Which is of course a large part of why I live in this sleepy little river resort area that time forgot, but that's another post for another day.)
I'm always sending Ginger news items and links to blog posts about Wal-Mart's Dark Side, because since the advent of Big Box Retail destroyed her local downtown (as recounted so well in Thomas Franks' What's the Matter with Kansas?), Wal-Mart is one of the few places in her area where she and her family can buy things like socks. In fact, I've driven her so crazy with this deluge of anti-Wal-Mart propaganda that I think she might have put "Wal-Mart" into her spam filter.
So instead of sending this little Mother's Day idea off to Ginger, I'm sharing it with all of you. From Wake-Up Wal-Mart via Blog for America:
Mother's Day is all about honoring our Moms. Unfortunately, Wal-Mart's idea of honor and respect for women includes unequal wages, fewer promotions, and inadequate health care.
Although Wal-Mart employs over 700,000 women—72% of its workforce—women are paid up to $5,000 less than men for the same work and make up only 15% of store managers.
So, as a special treat, we are sending Lee Scott, Wal-Mart's CEO, "the Mother of all Mother's Day Cards." Our goal is to have 20,000 Americans pledge not to buy their Mother's Day gifts from Wal-Mart until the company changes it discriminatory practices towards women.
I have seen Ginger's downtown, along with the rotting remains of Southern towns strip-mined and left dying by big-box retailers.
Boycott on Mother's Day? Darlin', I wouldn't spend a dime at Wal-Mart on any day.
Posted by: Gina | 27 April 2005 at 03:03 PM