Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-3) is urging consumers to avoid Wal-Mart when buying a Mother's Day gift to protest the company's rotten treatment of women:
DeLauro, D-Conn., wants consumers to join with her in supporting a federal lawsuit that accuses the nation's largest retailer of discriminating against women.
"When it comes to the treatment of its women employees, Wal-Mart's low prices come at a cost," she said at a news conference on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.
The lawsuit alleges that Wal-Mart's female employees earn less and are promoted less than their male counterparts. (AP)
Of course, Wal-Mart treats all of its employees badly, but there is strong evidence that women are treated even worse than the average Wal-Worker.
I can't imagine DeLauro will be reciving a campaign contribution from Wal-Mart any time soon.
Source
"DeLauro calls for boycott of Wal-Mart." Associated Press 27 April, 2005.
9 comments:
Like she ever shopped there.
DeanFan84,
Y'know, that's not the first time I've heard the DeLauro for Senate thing. She'd make a good one.
Speaking of senators, I've been more impressed with Chris Dodd over the past few months than I ever have been in the past.
On DailyKos last week, someone reported that a staffer for DeLauro made a joke about running for Senate, but that rumor was quickly put to rest. DeLauro is a friend of Lieberman, so don't expect her to challenge him. Someone else needs to stand up.
Reread the diary at Kos,
There is nothing in it about a joke.The JJB dinner is where this conversation took place and it wasn't a joke.The people who were in on the conversation were all in top positions in the Dem party.
Do either of you Anons have the link?
I agree about avoiding Wal-Mart... I avoid it like the plague. Something about setting foot in one just crushes the soul.
Target, though... I live in that place. Costco, too. They're both so... convenient.
Costco is very good to its employees, especially when compared with similar places like Sam's Club (owned by Wal-Mart). They've kept salaries (comparatively) high and provided good benefits, against the advice of Wall Street, and still have made a good amount of money.
Costco disprove the Wall Street CW that a company needs to keep salaries and benefits low in order to be competitive.
Target is a nice alternative to Wal*Mart, but they give massive amounts of money to the Republican Party. I find myself shopping there a lot just to avoid Wal*Mart, but I have trouble with it because I know where my money is ultimately going. I've been trying to subscribe to the idea that we should give our business to companies that will contribute part of that money to causes we believe in... but I dunno.
Everything I've heard about Costco is that they are a VERY Blue company. Maybe I should get a membership there and try to shop there?
As for references to blue and red companies, check out:
http://www.choosetheblue.com/
or
http://www.buyblue.org/
I could be wrong, but my understanding is that Choose The Blue does their ratings exclusively by contributions to political parties, while Buy Blue factors in wages and such. Either way, they're cool references. While Wal*Mart is bad, it's not the only company we should be avoiding.
While I appreciate and have been tempted to support efforts to steer purchases to companies that fund Dems more than Repubs, I can't feel good about "helping" huge corporations that are trying to buy out the Democratic party. Corporate contributions and influence are the source of our political problems, not the solution Frankly, I'd rather shop somewhere that has no involvement whatsoever in the political process or is at least locally owned.
Evaluating companies on their treatment of workers, however, is another story and is worthwhile.
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