Activists "Won't Tolerate" Walmart Practices

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)In the wake of the November 24th deadly fire that killed 112 workers in a Bangladeshi supply factory making items for Walmart, this Friday activists will call on Walmart to change its practices. Walmart, which continues to be targeted for its treatment of workers in the United States (“Hundreds Target MD Walmarts on Black Friday,” UC 11/26/2012), appears to have admitted that the Bangladeshi factory was left in dangerous condition because the company did not believe safety precautions were "financially feasible" (“Documents Indicate Walmart Blocked Safety Push in Bangladesh,” The New York Times 12/5/2012). ”This massive loss of life could have been prevented if Walmart didn't insist on paying the absolute bottom dollar for its products” writes SumOfUs, an organization that has gathered over 100,000 signatures on a petition demanding Walmart take ownership of fire safety in its factories. At noon on Friday, DC Jobs with Justice and other activists will join SumOfUs as they deliver the petition to Walmart’s lobbying headquarters in downtown DC “to tell Walmart that we won't tolerate the devastating impact of its race-to-the-bottom economics in our communities or anywhere in the world.” - photo: burials on Nov. 27 for some of the 112 victims of the garment factory fire in Bangladesh; photo by Khurshed Rinku/Associated Press