Posted on 08/12/2005 9:28:37 AM PDT by truth49
SEATTLE When Michelle Wolfe is out stocking up on erasers, pencil sharpeners and 20-cent bottles of Elmer's glue, she hopes she's not spotted by anyone she knows.
Why? Because the Spokane schoolteacher buys her classroom supplies at Wal-Mart.
On Wednesday, Washington's 77,000-strong teachers' union called on members and parents to avoid the world's largest retailer when shopping for school supplies. It was one of more than 30 similar press conferences in 20 states held Wednesday by teachers, union members and lawmakers critical of Wal-Mart.
"As educators, we recognize that we have a responsibility that goes beyond instruction in the classroom," said Charles Hasse, president of the Washington Education Association.
Standing in a century-old former schoolhouse in Seattle's University District, Hasse and others decried the company's employment practices, saying that Wal-Mart pays paltry wages and has a high percentage of workers without health insurance.
"The fact is that when it comes to Wal-Mart, it's always high costs, always," Hasse said.
State Rep. Joe McDermott said he wants people to "vote with their dollars" to encourage the company to change its practices.
"They pay poverty-level wages," said McDermott, D-Seattle.
The company called Wednesday's announcements a union "smear campaign," which ignores the substantial good that Wal-Mart does for schools and students.
"Through low prices like 25-cent crayons and substantial support for local education, students are our priority, not politics," the company said in a statement. "Isn't it time the teachers' unions do the same?"
Locally, the Spokane Education Association hasn't taken a stance on Wal-Mart, said SEA President Maureen Ramos.
"It's a personal choice," she said, but one she supports. "Everywhere I go and whomever I talk to, I encourage people not to shop at Wal-Mart."
The company's critics are "playing with the numbers," said Wal-Mart spokeswoman Melissa O'Brien. She said the retailer contributes $45 million a year to schools and students. It awards scholarships, gives schools cash in honor of local teachers of the year, and tries to keep prices low so teachers and working families can afford school supplies, she said.
More than 950,000 workers and family members are covered by Wal-Mart's health insurance, she said, which costs just $40 a month for an individual and $155 for families. Part of the reason that more workers don't opt for the coverage, O'Brien said, is that they're students, retirees or second-income providers who are already covered.
As for wages, she said, hourly workers at Wal-Mart average $9.68. And 76 percent of management staff started out as hourly workers.
"So there's great opportunities for our work force today," she said.
Spokane-area teachers spend an average of $600 a year out of their own pockets for school supplies, Ramos said. That's on top of the $225 school-supply payment included in the current elementary teacher contract.
For teachers like Wolfe, shopping for those school supplies is a dilemma. She said she spends up to $1,500 of her own money each year. For a lesson on clarity in writing, for example, she has students list instructions for frosting a cookie. She'll follow each list, then present the cookie perfect or a mess, depending on the writing to the student. The paper plates, knives, frosting, sprinkles and other supplies all come from her pocketbook.
Wolfe said she grew up in a pro-union household, and it's a point of shame that she shops at the retailer, which has repeatedly resisted attempts to organize workers.
But those 20-cent bottles of glue at Wal-Mart, she said, cost $1.24 at her local grocery store.
"I'm kind of trapped to buy at the cheapest price ," she said. "You have to stretch the dollars as far as you can.
"If someone else comes along and is cheaper than Wal-Mart," she said, "I'll be there."
Given the poor state of public education, failing schools, and number of kids who cannot read, etc, the teachers union should quit all the social activism and focus on actually teaching kids. But, this will never happen. Public schools are screwed, the kids they are supposed to be teaching are screwed, and our taxes fund it all.
Randy: All right, let's not make that mistake again.
Mr. Garrison: Yeah, lets all shop over at Tru-Value!
But those 20-cent bottles of glue at Wal-Mart, she said, cost $1.24 at her local grocery store.
Hey, BRAIN-DEAD! If Wal-Mart unionizes, you can bet those bottles of glue will cost over a $1.00. Besides, you ever hear of a Office Max, Office Depot, etc?
If I don't like the job the government school is doing, I must leave my money behind if I go to another provider.
Question for the class. Which one provides the worse deal for me: WalMart or government schools?
Thanks to this article I am goingto Wal-Mart today. I am goingto buy something. I don't even know what, but if "Bagdad" Jim McDermott is against it, it can't be all bad.
Those who can, do.
Those who can't, teach.
Waiting for the anti-WalMart freaks to come out and defend the Teacher's Union.
My kids Go to public schools in Olympia, Wa.
They are going into the 8th and 10th grades respectively.
They are at the top in each of their classes.
Of course they went to private school K-6.
I bet when no one's looking they shop at Wal-mart. No matter how much you hate them, they still have cheap prices
The above is Point 16 of the 25-point platform of the Nazi Party.
According to the Marxist wing of FR, Wal-Mart is forcing employees at gunpoint to work for them at below minimum-wage.
Oh, and every one of their goods, including the candy bars, toothpaste, etc. are made in China.
Couldn't really understand the Walmart haters myself. They were all concerned about Walmart being smelly and having aisles that were too crowded, etc.
I don't love Walmart myself. But I'm glad it's there for the poorer shoppers. And I do go in often for cheap stuff.
Even tho I didn't take a side, the thread was extremely entertaining.
LOL!!! Exellent!!
What does this have to do with wages, hours and terms of employment? Unions are meant for members benefit not for this social activism crap.
YEAH, what YOU SAID.....and....another reason for me to go shopping at WALMART.....by the way....I find LOTS of stuff NOT Made in China there....
Unions must die. Especially the government-thug unions.
Every living brain donor I know is a Union person. I think they named that movie after union idiots, that being: Dumb and Dumber....what do you mean they teach our children? Oh no, what do we do now? Guess I'll teach them at home.
I'm with ya on that!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.