Working Families for Walmart is an

advocacy group Advocacy groups, also known as lobby groups, interest groups, special interest groups, pressure groups, or public associations, use various forms of advocacy or lobbying to influence public opinion and ultimately public policy. They play an impor ...

formed by

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

and the Edelman public relations firm on December 20, 2005. It has been used to praise Walmart in a show of opposition to union-funded groups such as Wake Up Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart Watch. The group is financially supported by Walmart and is headquartered in Edelman's

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

office. It is not organized as a non-profit, and is not required to disclose its sources of funding. Critics have accused Walmart of leaving the impression that Working Families for Walmart is a spontaneous grass-roots organization, without fully disclosing its financial reliance upon Walmart. The group's web site does not reveal its connection to Walmart or Edelman. Its home page features a blog with a link stating that the bloggers are employees of Edelman; however, no other mention is made of Edelman on the site. This has led to accusations of Walmart being engaged in deceit and

astroturfing Astroturfing is the deceptive practice of hiding the Sponsor (commercial), sponsors of an orchestrated message or organization (e.g., political, economic, advertising, religious, or public relations) to make it appear as though it originates from ...

. For example, Wal-Mart Watch has stated, "Working Families for Wal-Mart is not a lobbying group or a 501(c)3 (non-profit), but is a sock puppet for Edelman, Walmart's public relations firm."

Leadership

Initial leadership

The group's initial leader was Bishop Ira Combs Jr. of the Greater Bible Way Temple of the Apostolic Faith in Jackson, Michigan. According to Lynda Edward's December 22, 2005 story in the ''

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette The ''Arkansas Democrat-Gazette'' is the newspaper of record in the U.S. state of Arkansas, printed in Little Rock with a northwest edition published in Lowell. It is distributed for sale in all 75 of Arkansas's counties. By virtue of one ...

'', Combs said, "Some friends I worked with on the 2004 Bush campaign phoned me and asked me if I knew about any good things Wal-Mart was doing in my community. ...I said Wal-Mart is supplying jobs that may not pay a union wage but they pay twice the minimum wage. They asked me if I would be part of this group. Wal-Mart isn’t paying me." Another of the group's early members, Courtney Lynch, taught seminars at Walmart headquarters on cultivating female leaders. She stated that she received no salary as an advocate but estimated that her consulting firm got 7 percent of its revenue from Walmart in 2005.

Andrew Young chairmanship

On February 27, 2006, former ambassador to the United Nations

Andrew Young Andrew Jackson Young Jr. (born March 12, 1932) is an American politician, diplomat, and activist. Beginning his career as a pastor, Young was an early leader in the civil rights movement, serving as executive director of the Southern Christia ...

assumed duties as "the public spokesman for a group organized with backing from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. that defends the world's largest retailer against mounting attacks from its critics," according to Associated Press business writer Marcus Kabel's article. In a telephone interview, he told Kabel that he is not being paid but that the organization that he currently heads, GoodWorks International, has a contract from Working Families for Wal-Mart for consulting work. GoodWorks pairs corporations and governments on global issues. Working Families for Wal-Mart declined to disclose how much Walmart contributes or what it is paying GoodWorks. Young, a former labor organizer, parts ways with unions regarding Walmart. "The union position is talking about the

redistribution of wealth Redistribution of income and wealth is the transfer of income and wealth (including physical property) from some individuals to others through a social mechanism such as taxation, welfare, public services, land reform, monetary policies, con ...

, but they're not talking about generating new wealth. Wal-Mart is generating new wealth when it comes in. The pluses outweigh the minuses. They do give benefits, they do have health insurance."

Reaction by groups critical of Walmart

Wake Up Wal-Mart

According to Edward's story, the previous week, the union group Wake Up Wal-Mart announced a campaign by 13 religious leaders from Texas, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Colorado and Oklahoma to persuade Wal-Mart to adopt labor reforms. Its spokesman, Chris Kofinis, expressed frustration by what he sees as a media chess game. "It should be easy for Wal-Mart to reach out to genuine Republicans, patriotic Democrats and independents who can sit down together to find ways Wal-Mart can treat its workers and communities better. ... Instead, it hires right-wing attack dogs." In reaction to Young's role with the organization, Paul Blank, campaign director for Wake Up Wal-Mart issued a statement on February 27, 2006. “We call on Ambassador Andrew Young to use his new position to help us change Wal-Mart for the better, rather than defend its abysmal record of child labor violations and poor health care. As a consultant to Wal-Mart, Ambassador Young is now in a unique position to reach out to Wal-Mart and CEO Lee Scott and urge them to change. We hope he will work with WakeUpWalMart.com and help our efforts to create a better Wal-Mart and build a better America."

Wal-Mart Watch

On December 20, 2005 in response to the announcement of the organization, Wal-Mart Watch issued a statement inviting "this new group ... to review the latest data on the company. "Some facts on Wal-Mart and working families: *The average annual pay for a cashier is $14,000 a year, $1,000 below the federal poverty line for a family of three. *Wal-Mart fails to provide

health insurance Health insurance or medical insurance (also known as medical aid in South Africa) is a type of insurance that covers the whole or a part of the risk of a person incurring medical expenses. As with other types of insurance, risk is shared among ma ...

to over half of its 1.3 million U.S. employees. *By its own admission, 46% of the children of Wal-Mart employees are uninsured or covered by

Medicaid Medicaid is a government program in the United States that provides health insurance for adults and children with limited income and resources. The program is partially funded and primarily managed by U.S. state, state governments, which also h ...

AFL–CIO

On January 5, 2006,

AFL–CIO The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a national trade union center that is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 61 national and international unions, together r ...

President John Sweeney, saying the union had been unable to garner Republican congressional support for a national solution, announced a "Fair Share Health Care Campaign" in 33 states. The campaign would work to pass state laws requiring large corporations to spend a certain percentage of their payrolls to provide health care benefits for employees or pay into a state Fair Share Health Care Fund. The percent of payroll would be set by the state legislature or based on the average percentage paid by large employers in the state. Sweeney cited the example of an

Alliance, Ohio Alliance is a city in Stark County, Ohio, United States. The population was 21,672 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It was established in 1854 by the merger of three smaller communities and was a manufacturing and railroad hub in t ...

Walmart employee who went on

when her wages would not cover the cost of the corporation's health insurance. “Why should a company like Walmart – which made $10 billion last year alone – be able to force taxpayers to foot the bill for their

health care costs A health system, health care system or healthcare system is an organization of people, institutions, and resources that delivers health care services to meet the health needs of target populations. There is a wide variety of health systems aroun ...

?” Sweeney asked.

References

External links

PR Newswire release on January 2006 poll commissioned by Working Families for Wal-Mart

December 2005 Pew Research Center Poll Results sponsored by Pew Charitable Trusts

December 2005 Zogby poll commissioned by Wake Up Wal-Mart

Partial list of Wal-Mart Watch partners from the group's website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Working Families For Wal-Mart Walmart Advocacy groups in the United States Front organizations Organizations established in 2005 Organizations based in Washington, D.C.