DC Residents Rally, Demand Walmart Respect DC

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

Chanting “R-E-S-P-E-C-T, living wages in DC,” approximately 100 city residents gathered outside the District’s John Wilson Building Monday for a boisterous rally urging the DC City Council to require retail giant Walmart to sign an enforceable community benefits agreement (CBA) before it opens four planned stores in Washington, DC. The rally culminated Community Advocacy Day, in which workers, clergy, community activists, small businesspeople, environmentalists and other members of the Living Wages, Healthy Communities Coalition met with City Council members to urge action requiring Walmart to pay its workers a living wage, uphold their rights and give back to local communities. “We want living wages,” said Rev. Howard Findley (above, at left), senior pastor of Florida Avenue Baptist Church in Washington, DC. “We want workers to go to work and be treated with dignity.” Franklin Carter (below, second from right), a UFCW Local 400 member who works as assistant front-end manager at the Park Road Giant, noted that unlike Walmart, union retail jobs offer the opportunity for fulfilling, stable careers. “I’ll celebrate my eighth anniversary at Giant in March,” said Carter. “I have a vested stake in the future of the company, the future of my coworkers, and my own future. Those are the kind of jobs DC needs.” Rebecca Mills of Ward Four Thrives, who lives down the street from one of the proposed Walmarts, said, “We don’t want Georgia Avenue to turn into a sea of abandoned buildings with a Walmart at its center.” Chris Weiss of the DC Environmental Network, Ward 4B05 Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Brenda Speaks, and Yes! Organic Market owner Gary Cha also urged City Council action at the rally. Cha spoke of the concerns of area small businesses that they could be forced to close if Walmart comes into DC, citing studies showing that for every job Walmart creates, it causes the loss of 1.5 to 2 jobs, on average, at other businesses. Rally participants emerged energized for action and pledged to step up the pressure on the City Council. They and others will continue canvassing DC neighborhoods to build even stronger support for requiring Walmart to sign an enforceable community benefits agreement before it is permitted to enter the DC market. - excerpted from a longer report on the UFCW 400 website by Bruce Kozarsky; photos by Dwight Kirk (top) & Eric Schlein (bottom)