[LRS]

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/215514_walmart11.html

Wal-Mart off the school-supply list
Union won't repay teachers for items bought at discounter

Friday, March 11, 2005

By DEBORAH BACH
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

When it's time to pick up supplies for her third-grade classroom, Jennifer Strand would prefer to steer clear of Wal-Mart.

The teacher is convinced the retail giant isn't paying workers a fair wage, but in the northeastern Washington town of Colville -- population 5,000 -- the only other option is a small stationery section in the local grocery store.

So Strand became a reluctant Wal-Mart shopper -- venturing in from time to time to pick up supplies and emergency items for disadvantaged students, such as coats and shoes. She'd get reimbursed through the Washington Education Association's Children's Fund, a decade-old charity that provides up to $100 per student each year.

Not anymore.

Taking a bold political stand, the state teachers' union last week declared the fund off-limits to Wal-Mart purchases.

In a newsletter distributed to teachers, association President Charles Hasse cited Wal-Mart's "exploitative labor practices (that) have added to public assistance burdens in our state and across the nation."

Hasse said yesterday that the action followed repeated suggestions from teachers to either change the policy or distribute information about the company's labor practices.

Hasse said he's received more than 200 responses from teachers around the state, who were 20-1 in favor of eliminating Wal-Mart reimbursements. "It was interesting to see the intensity of feeling around this," he said.

Objections to the change stemmed primarily from concerns that teachers in rural areas would have no alternative to Wal-Mart.

In the absence of other shopping options, Hasse said, exemptions will be considered on a case-by-case basis. "We're not going to have some student go without a coat if that's the only place it could be purchased."

The Children's Fund provides about $50,000 a year to teachers around the state, according to Hasse.

Wal-Mart spokesman Dan Fogleman yesterday refuted the unfair labor practice accusations. He said 86 percent of Wal-Mart hourly employees have medical insurance, and more than half of them are covered by the company. The company's average wage for hourly "sales associates" is $10.14 in Washington state, Fogleman said, compared with the national average of $9.68.

He said the company spent $40 million last fiscal year on educational initiatives, including scholarships, teacher awards and a national literacy hot line that connects callers with resources in their communities.

"We understand the value of an education, and we strongly support it," he said.

The association's new policy also was slammed by the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, a conservative research organization in Olympia that frequently has clashed with the association.

The foundation, which has received funding from Wal-Mart, issued a press release this week accusing the education association of "allowing a political battle to trump its charitable intentions."

Michael Reitz, a legal analyst at the foundation, said the association's stand is ironic.

"On the one hand, the WEA claims that teachers are not being paid enough, but then they're forcing teachers to go to more expensive retailers, because Wal-Mart can be the best place to go for bargain shopping," he said.

"If the mission of the Children's Fund is to help children, then it shouldn't matter where the teachers are purchasing goods."

Richard Gilham agrees.

A fourth-grade teacher at Olympic Elementary School in Chehalis, Gilham has bought CD players, batteries and other classroom items at Wal-Mart. For selection and price, he said, Wal-Mart is hard to beat.

"If I'm spending WEA's resources, I'm going to try to get the best buy I can for my dollar, and if Wal-Mart is that place, it's probably the best use of those funds," Gilham said.

Roger Kinney, a marketing and business teacher at Burlington-Edison High School in Skagit County, said he's angry with the association for "dishing around in areas that they don't belong."

Kinney believes the association's opposition is a show of solidarity for other unions that have so far eluded certification at any Wal-Mart store.

"I think the unions know that Wal-Mart is a huge market for them, and there's a lot of money to be tapped from that market," he said.

Arkansas-based Wal-Mart, the nation's biggest private-sector employer with 1.2 million workers, has been held up as the poster child of unethical labor practices. The company faces a grand jury investigation following raids in October 2003 that uncovered hundreds of illegal immigrants, employed by outside contractors, cleaning its stores.

Last June, a federal judge certified a class-action lawsuit, the largest workplace-bias lawsuit in U.S. history, alleging discrimination against female employees.

After meat cutters at a Texas store voted to form a union in 2000, the company shut down its meat-cutting operations nationwide, saying the move was unrelated to the vote. Last month, the company said it would close a store in Jonquiere, Quebec, that voted in August to unionize.

In an effort to stanch the public relations disaster, Wal-Mart in January held what company officials dubbed "Facts Day," launching with great fanfare a new Web site with information about the company and an advertising campaign extolling the benefits of working at Wal-Mart.

"We put our critics on notice that we were going to tell the truth, that we were going to set this misinformation campaign backward by bringing forth facts, the unfiltered truth about our company," Fogleman said.

Marlene Olveda remains unconvinced.

A Spanish teacher at Columbia River High School in Vancouver, Olveda lauded the association's move and said she refuses to shop at Wal-Mart, as do many of her colleagues.

"One of my students has an 80-year-old grandmother who works there and has no benefits," she said. "There are so many other places we could be spending our money other than Wal-Mart. Granted, they have lower prices, but it's because they're predatory."

[mountaineer]

"One of my students has an 80-year-old grandmother who works there and has no benefits," she said.

Maybe Granny should look for a better job, then. This is the part that just kills me about the anti-Wal-Mart/raise the minimum wage crowd. If you can't make ends meet on what you're being paid, then freakin' look for a higher-paying job and stop complaining. What's that, they're not qualified for a better job? Who's fault is it that they didn't do better in school or take advantage of various free job-training programs?

[NTegraT]

"80-year-old grandmother who works there and has no benefits,"

Keep it up and not only will Granny not have any benefits, Granny won't have a job either.

[2nd amendment mama]

"One of my students has an 80-year-old grandmother who works there and has no benefits," she said. "There are so many other places we could be spending our money other than Wal-Mart. Granted, they have lower prices, but it's because they're predatory."

So, WalMart is supposed to pay benefits for an 80 year old part time worker??? I had a friend who worked part time in the school system up in CT - she had absolutely NO benefits for PT work. I guess using this stupid woman's standards, the school system was "predatory" too!

People like this are one of the reasons that I homeschooled my son! I didn't want him growing up with their values.

[Popman]

So Strand became a reluctant Wal-Mart shopper -- venturing in from time to time to pick up supplies and emergency items for disadvantaged students, such as coats and shoes. She'd get reimbursed through the Washington Education Association's Children's Fund, a decade-old charity that provides up to $100 per student each year.

Why buy a new coat at Wally World when the local salvation army or goodwill has coats for pennies on the dollar?

[cookcounty]

"The company's average wage for hourly "sales associates" is $10.14 in Washington state, Fogleman said, compared with the national average of $9.68. "

I wonder what the wage is at the local stationary store? I smell a good story for a reporter. Or a blogger.

[Laz711]

They buy coats for kids from school funds??? What is that all about. When I went through school (mind you, I only graduated in 1998), I had to bring my own stuff, wheather it be pens, paper, notebooks, not to mention THE FREAKIN' CLOTHES I wear on a daily basis. Have I missed something, do schools (i.e. taxpayer money) constantly give kids coats and stuff. It seems that this is a normal thing at this teachers school.

[shezza]

...venturing in from time to time to pick up supplies and emergency items for disadvantaged students, such as coats and shoes. She'd get reimbursed through the Washington Education Association's Children's Fund, a decade-old charity that provides up to $100 per student each year.

Um, forgive my interjection of common sense, Mizzzz "High Horse" Strand, but wouldn't funds (reimbursable) for items for disadvantaged students such as coats and shoes stretch a LOT further if many were purchased used? There are some GREAT used jackets out there that kids outgrow so quickly that they look brand new. Why not have a "closet" warehouse someplace where kids/families can donate items to be used to give to these disadvantaged students in other parts of the state and use the money in the fund to buy as much as possible? E.g., look at these nice winter jackets on eBay:

Columbia brand. Warm, nice, look new. Boys size 10-12 (that's what my fourth-grader wears). Get both, plus an Old Navy fleece pullover for $9.99.

Ah, but it's easy for the teachers to be charitable and buy brand-spankin'-new when they're using other people's money. If I ran the Children's Fund, I'd make it my mission to see how far I could stretch that $100-per-child allotment.

[hchutch]

The thing is, Wal-Mart and Microsoft do more to promote the general welfare of this country than the NEA, AFL-CIO, or Americna Federation of Government Employees.

The sad thing is that people see Wal-Mart and Microsoft as the villains and the unions as the heroes.