Progressive Wednesday

Downsizing Wal-Mart: Write

Write:

We believe that one of the most powerful ways to make progress is to be the voice of progress and to state your case publicly. One of the most effective means of doing this is writing letters to the editor of your local newspaper. (For advice on writing letters to the editor, check out our brief tool or our full tool.) We'd like to encourage you to write one of two different letters.

1. If there's a Wal-Mart in your area, we'd like you to consider writing a letter that tackles one of the following topics:

• Wal-Mart fails to be a good steward of the environment. The EPA has consistently fined Wal-Mart, including a 2004 penalty to the tune of $3.1 million for violating the Clean Water Act.
• Wal-Mart costs tax-payers billions of dollars in subsidies from state and local governments. And according to a recent study, “more than 90 percent of the company’s distribution centers have been subsidized.–
• Wal-Mart “bulldozes– local businesses. A recent decade-long Iowa State University study has shown that “some small towns lose up to 47% of their retail trade after ten years of Wal-Mart stores nearby.–
• Wal-Mart hurts hard-working families. Besides violating family leave laws and forcing employees to work off the clock, there’s this: in 2006 Wal-Mart was found liable of (of all things) meal break violations; the court ruling dictated that Wal-Mart had to fork over $172 million.
• Wal-Mart violates child-labor laws. In 2002, thanks to the 1,436 child labor infractions Wal-Mart committed in Maine alone, the Maine Department of Labor levied the largest fine in state history for violating child labor laws. And in 2005, the Department of Labor fined Wal-Mart because the company permitted teens “to operate hazardous equipment– including chainsaws, scrap paper balers, and fork lifts.
• Wal-Mart, of course, knowingly hires illegal immigrants. Check it out for yourself.

We think these frames are strong as well, so feel free to use our language. You might ask readers why Wal-Mart is so morally irresponsible. You can find other talking points and info here and here and here and here and here. The thing is, you're going to want to localize the problem of Wal-Mart in your area so you can better reach the audience. You might express concern that one of the problems you read about in the above links might happen in your area.

As we mention in our letters to the editor how-to tool, we recommend offering a solution. This solution might be urging folks to support local businesses and to stop shopping at Wal-Mart. You can probably come up with solutions of your own.

2. If there's not a Wal-Mart in your area–after you thank your luckiest of stars–we'd like to suggest writing a letter expressing how grateful you are, and how much you're hoping it will stay that way. You might want to pick one of the aforementioned topics to explain why you feel this way.

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If you're swamped and still want to yawp a bit to your community, there's a simpler approach to writing a letter to your local newspaper's editors. Wakeup Wal-Mart has a section of their webpage dedicated to just such writing. You choose the topic you'd like to address, select your state, click on your newspaper or newspapers, then tweak your letter.

We applaud the ease of this, but find that more personalized letters have a better shot of getting published (though you could easily add some personal narrative to the form letter they've created). We also think it's good to get into practice writing letters, as they play an integral role in making progress.