PROTESTS FOCUS ON WAL-MART

Penn State students were joined by Centre County, PA residents out front of a Wal-Mart store on Saturday to protest unfair labor practices and workers’ rights violations.

Also on hand was a representative from the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.

Protesters holding signs that read: "Wal-Mart: Always a bad neighbor," said the demonstration was a response to what they called the company's unfair business practices, which include a failure to provide health care to 52 percent of its employees.

They also said Wal-Mart is facing a large number of child labor law violations. They cited a report from the Child Labor Coalition pointing out that U.S. Department of Labor fined Wal-Mart several thousand dollars in this year for allowing employees under 18 to handle hazardous materials

The Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) joined the United Students Against Sweatshops and the national Wake-Up Wal-Mart campaign to bring the demonstration to State College. The protest aimed to educate consumers and make them aware of Wal-Mart's unfair labor practices, SLAP co-founder Zach Scheid told the Penn State Digital Collegian.

"This is a very important event because Wal-Mart is the largest employer in the nation and sets the trend for the rest of our corporations," Scheid said. "The effects of Wal-Mart's unfair business practices extend to every corner of the business community." He added that Wal-Mart also faces the largest class action gender discrimination lawsuit in history.

SLAP also held a Teach-In on Wal-Mart on Friday night. The event included speakers such as author and activist Liza Featherstone and Wake-Up Wal-Mart campaign coordinator Kate Keller. It also included discussions with current and former Wal-Mart employees and a satirical skit about Wal-Mart.

"We don't want to shut down Wal-Mart. We want to challenge them to be leaders in labor practices," said the chairman of the State College Wake Up Wal-Mart community campaign, Paul Clark.

The protests were a part of a nationwide initiative called Wake Up Wal-Mart. "We want to educate the community about Wal-Mart -- not this Wal-Mart, but the corporation -- about their unfair labor practices," said Olivia Guevara, co-chairwoman of the Student Labor Action Project.

There are a number of upcoming events SLAP is planning, and members hope that even more students will get involved next time, Guevara said. The next event is the screening of the new film Wal-Mart: The High Costs of Low Prices at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow in 121 Sparks. The film is open to anyone, and viewers are being encouraged to donate $1.

Meanwhile, another protest was taking place at a Wal-Mart in Alexandria, Virginia over the weekend.

That protest featured street theater and a picket designed to educate Wal-Mart shoppers about the harmful impact that the "big box store" has on local businesses, the environment and labor standards both here and abroad.

"We are asking consumers to question the products they are purchasing and demand that they stores they frequent carry organic, local, and Fair Trade or Fair Made alternatives," said Ronnie Cummins, executive director of the Organic Consumers Association, which launched the Breaking the Chains campaign. "Consumer, environment, labor and independent business groups have organized events in over 1000 locations across the country."

The Virginia protest was organized by Breaking the Chains. The group says, “Wal-Mart, which already controls 20 percent of the grocery store sales in the U.S., has recently announced that they intend to become the dominant retail force in organic products. This is troubling to organic consumers and farmers, given the company's notoriety for driving down prices to producers and selling low- grade products at discount prices. Additionally, Wal-Mart is the nation's leader of suburban sprawl, poverty wages and gender discrimination. Local, independent businesses are a community's best bet for long-term prosperity.” Sources: US Newswire, Penn State Digital Collegian, Centre Daily Times (PA)