Photo by Robin Doyno
ILWU members joined other unions and community groups on Saturday, June 30 for a mega-march and rally in downtown Los Angeles that attracted thousands – the largest protest against Wal-Mart in U.S. history.
Marchers did their best to blemish Wal-Mart’s 50th anniversary on July 2 – but the immediate goal was to stop America’s largest low-wage private employer from building a new store in LA’s Chinatown. Community anger helped fuel the march after it was learned that Wal-Mart secured building permits for a Chinatown store just before the Los Angeles City Council passed a resolution restricting bog-box retailers.
Protesters rode buses to attend the action from San Diego, Orange, South Bay and San Francisco labor councils. Grammy-winning artists and union members Tom Morello and Ben Harper pumped-up the crowd. ILWU Local 13 Vice President Bobby Olvera, Jr. spoke from the podium, explaining the ILWU’s legacy of fighting for good jobs – and organizing against corporate greed. Wal-Mart worker Girshriela Green told the crowd she works hard at the company’s Crenshaw store, but still needs MediCal in order to provide healthcare for her kids. “If we don’t put an end to the Walmart model of making a few people rich and keeping the rest of us struggling, we are going to live in a country with no middle class at all.”