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CounterPunch
November
25, 2002
Making Them
Sweat
The Wal-Mart Action
By DAVE PATTEN
Thursday, November 21,
from 4-7 PM.
It's definitely not undercover work, walking into
a Wal-Mart wearing a t-shirt advocating unionization. But I and
several dozen others did just that in Brockton, Massachusetts
today. We went armed with shopping lists, the goods headed for
local charities, and watched the chattels of the largest retailer
in the US scurry about, whispering in fear, then rallying their
forces over the store intercom, then finally using the local
police to tamp down a potential outbreak of worker rights in
their fiefdom.
In the next lot over from the store stood
an abandoned donut shop that served as headquarters. The workers
staffing the action, unlike Wal-Mart, were from my home town
of Brockton, and worked at a regional supermarket chain. Their
local of the United Food and Commercial Workers, like many of
their counterparts across the country, had chosen a nearby Wal-Mart
for this day of action. Some were veterans of the Bentonville,
Arkansas protest at the corporate headquarters of their adversary.
I had missed the first wave of t-shirted pro-union shoppers,
so as we waited for more people to arrive, I got to know my brothers
and sisters from the labor movement.
They were all very well-informed about
the nature of Wal-Mart and we traded facts from news stories
and books, but the local roots of this effort were also encouraging.
One of the key organizers on-site had worked for the supermarket
for many years, one which older Brocktonians remembered under
another name. He had worked at the one that we used to shop at
on the east side of town. I guess it's a small world when predatory
corporations piss off enough people. They also spoke of the first
group to enter the store just after 4PM. Some of those who arrived
early saw the store management herd the employees outside the
store for some sort of conference, complete with police standing
by. On entering the store, one man was asked to leave for taking
pictures but the group, which numbered well over 50, made their
presence felt.
At 6PM we had a small group for a sortie
into the store. Spirits were high and it was a surreal experience,
walking across the parking lot past the security cameras, the
rent-a-cop, the Wal-Mart security, and a Salvation Army bell-ringer,
bringing awareness into the bright white box of predatory capitalism.
I was first through the door and looked about for the security
cameras. I wasn't disappointed; there were easily a few dozen
of them in their shaded globes reaching down from above. While
none of us were there to steal, I imagined a postmodern court
where we might be prosecuted for "attempted theft of employees'
minds, a real possession of the corporation, constituting felony
in the first degree." Aside from that flight of fancy, it
was unsettling to know that you were being watched at every step.
I dismissed that discomfort by remembering that there are few
public spaces left in the US where one is not under some form
of surveillance. So, I thought, let them watch us have a good
time shopping for charity and having a enlightened laugh at the
corporation's expense.
While in the store I had remarkable trouble
finding baby wipes, my chosen item, and had to search out an
employee. This was no easy task as the management had the workers
visibly skittish or cowed (until some of them speak out, we can
only speculate at what lies they were forced to listen to prior
to the action). After passing an employee with a walkie-talkie
murmuring into it "They're back, pass the word, they're
back," I did succeed in finding a young man straightening
an end cap and asked him where I would find baby wipes. In a
monotone and without looking at me, he pointed out "In the
back corner of the store, that way." So I ambled down to
the back and chose items for my first Wal-Mart purchase in years.
Returning from the nether regions of
the store, I met one of my comrades-in-shopping in the pillow
aisle and we strolled around for a several minutes, discussing
the state of the Wal-Mart workforce and why it was so important
that management keep them in the dark. She told me that there
had been calls placed to the UFCW local by management, telling
them that the employees didn't need a union. They replied that
it was the employees decision, not management's. A few times
we had to step aside for employees moving goods here or there.
They were courteous, as were we. We made our way to the checkout
lanes, along the way meeting the friend who sent me an e-mail
about the action. I chose a line with only one woman in front
of me, with a shopping cart filled to the brim.
Waiting in line for five full minutes,
I imagined how many places the videotape of we supporters would
be copied and stored, then did the math on how the money used
for security and anti-union tactics would easily cover a decent
standard of living for their employees. It's the same situation
down through the ages, individualist brainwash resulting in a
divided and abused workforce. I looked at the humorless girl
behind the register and remembered myself before I broke free
of the dominant anti-union histories. At least these Wal-Mart
workers were getting exposure to a different idea, and I know
many will take the experience with them. If they started making
the calls to the phone number on the shirt, or visited the website,
life would become very complicated for the corporate captains
of Wal-Mart. They are as vulnerable to workplace democracy as
any of the commercial titans which have been brought to heel
in the US. It was exciting to envision these workers (many of
them young, female, and of color) having a voice in their own
working conditions.
But the action wasn't over yet.
I met one of my carload at a bench past
the registers, and we sat to wait for the other three of us.
We chatted about the event and how ridiculous the management
looked, and wondered aloud what would become of the employees.
I remarked that we in the US are having to re-learn all the lessons
that our great-grandparents learned during the Great Depression,
and that this was a fine place to get started. Two more of us
arrived and we were waiting for the last person when a police
officer approached us and told us we had to leave. The store
manager had given him orders to evict us.
We all protested, led by one of our number
who put up an inspired, unstinting defense- we had a right to
wait for someone, we weren't disrupting anything, there are other
people waiting, she was tired and wanted to sit for a moment,
etc. She was incredibly good at this. Finally the cop said "Either
you leave or we take a ride." We took his badge number and
drifted outside, where he soon followed for more discussion.
He continued getting the worst of the exchange until he just
walked back inside. Wow, that woman was really a scrapper. A
few thousand like her and Wal-Mart would be begging for collective
bargaining.
As we gathered our last person and walked
to the car, he told us what took him so long. Apparently they
had to do an extensive price check on his item, then he had to
exchange it for another. It was hilarious. But not as funny as
the plague of perspiration and anxiety that surely descended
on the Bentonville headquarters of Wal-Mart.
Dave Patten
lives in Tauton, MA. He can be reached at: zenprole@netzero.net
Post Script: I did not receive a happy face sticker on entering
the store and plan to lodge a complaint with the home office.
Websites:
http://walmartdayofaction.com (map of actions by state)
http://www.walmartyrs.com (good info & links on Wal-Mart)
http://www.ufcw791.org (the local for the Brockton action)
Books:
"In
Sam We Trust" by Wall Street Journal reporter Bob
Ortega. A detailed, well-documented history which includes the
competition between KMart and Wal-Mart.
"How
Wal-Mart is Destroying America (and the World)"
by Bill Quinn. Brief and rousing. Includes info on investigations
and lawsuits against Wal-Mart, accounts by former employees,
and suggestions for fighting back.
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