Wal-Mart is about to get a daily dose of criticism in 35 U.S. cities over the next 35 days, beginning in the Big Apple today and coming to Baltimore City on Thursday.
It?s part of what?s being billed as a grassroots campaign to educate and organize local residents and politicians to pressure Wal-Mart to improve its employee pay and health care benefits.
A bus painted to replicate parts of the U.S. flag took off from Washington with several officials from the Web site WakeupWalMart.com.
It will appear in Baltimore at 5 p.m. Thursday at Broening Park, 2875 S. Hanover St.
WakeupWalMart.com was created about 18 months ago by the United Food and Commercial Workers union, which has criticized Wal-Mart practices in the past.
Wal-Mart spokesman David Tovar criticized the tour.
“This bus tour is a union-funded publicity stunt that?s more about politics than anything else,” Tovar said. “The fact is they are attacking the wrong company.”
Wal-Mart offers its associates health plans costing the employees about $23 a month with some plans as low as $11 a month, Tovar said, and creates tens of thousands of jobs in communities each year.
But WakeupWalMart.com spokesman Chris Kofinis said the company hasn?t done enough to pay livable wages and offer decent health care benefits to many of its associates.
“We are trying to get this wealthy company to be more responsible with its employees,” Kofinis said.
The bus tour goes from New York to Seattle, sometimes hitting two cities in one day.
Community meetings and a airings of a 30-second commercial critical of Wal-Mart begins in local markets when the bus hits town, Kofinis said.
The ads will air on Baltimore stations beginning Thursday.
Joining the criticism will be Democratic U.S. Senate candidates for Maryland Kwesi Mfume and Ben Cardin.
According to a fact sheet provided by Wal-Mart, as of May 2006, the company has 15,937 associates in Maryland with the full-time hourly associates earning an average of $9.97 per hour.
Wal-Mart has eight Supercenters, 33 Discount Stores, 12 Sam?s Clubs and two distribution centers in Maryland.
