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99% SPRING TRAINING WALMART TOOL-KIT

WHY WALMART?

As the largest private sector employer in the United States, Walmart has enormous power to set the trends not

just for the retail and service industries, but for the economy as a whole. Wages and working condions set at

Walmart have a ripple-eect throughout all jobs: low wages, limited access to health care, and no rerement

security.

Walmart has a habit of making promises they arent keeping.

Currently, Walmarts goal to expand their prots is leading them into key urban areas across the country.

Walmart is campaigning to win support from community leaders and public ocials that will help them expand

into new urban markets. They are aempng to posion themselves as a good corporate cizen and jobs

creator, when in fact the company has a record of not creang good jobs, not paying their fair share of taxes,

and having the eect of forcing neighboring small businesses to close down. Walmart employees can tesfy

that what Walmart promises to communies, good jobs and fair wages, are not what the company is actually

doing in pracce.

Now the Walmarts retail workers, called associates, have formed the Organizaon United for Respect at

Walmart (OUR Walmart). They are asking Walmart to meet with OUR Walmart and to begin a substanve

dialogue to get on a construcve path towards improving condions for workers and communies.

Some say that Walmart cannot be organized. But many said the same about auto workers at Ford before 1935

or about janitors before 1985. Both victories not only changed the lives of the workers involved, but they

raised the oor for working people and our communies across the country. They changed the enre economy

for the beer by creang sustainable, union jobs and dignity for our communies.

If we can change Walmart, we can improve the lives of all working people and rebuild America.

WHO ARE THE WALMART 1 PERCENT?Taken from walmart1percent.org

The Walton family is the richest family in the United States and one of the richest and most powerful in the

world. They are heirs to the Walmart fortune and the companys largest shareholders, with a nearly-y

percent ownership of stock in the retail giant.

Sam Walton and his brother Bud opened their rst Walmart discount store in 1962. Today three family

members serve on Walmarts board of directors;[1]Rob is the chair, and sits on the board with his brother Jim

and his son-in-law, Greg Penner.

Six members of the family rank among the top eleven on Forbes list of wealthiest Americans,[2]with acombined net worth of about $93 billion. With their 49% stake in Walmart, they brought in an esmated $2.2

billion in dividends from Walmart stock last year alone.

Through the millions the family spends on elecons and its donaons to right-wing causes, the Waltons are

eecvely gaining an outsized inuence in our democracy.

The Waltons arent just the face of the 1%; theyre the face of the 0.000001%.

In 2007, when the six Waltons on the Forbes list were worth $69.7 billion, their wealth was equal to the total

wealth of the boom 30% of American families.[3]When new data on American wealth is available later

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in 2012, it will likely show an even wider gap between the Waltons and the rest of American families. The

Waltons are worth $93 billion now, while most Americans sll havent recovered from the recession.

Why does all of this maer? Walmart, the countrys largest private employer pays its associates an average

of $8.81 an hour.[4] That means even full-me workers at Walmart make an average of just $15,500 a year.

The Waltons make billions a year o of Walmart, while many Walmart associates struggle for respect on the

job and enough pay just to make ends meet. As the largest corporaon in the United States, Walmart sets the

standard for other companies. Walmarts pracces put pressure on many other businesses to lower wages and

benets in order to compete.

Through their family legacy, posions on Walmarts board of directors, and their 49% stake in the company, the

Waltons have the power to turn 1.4 million Walmart jobs into good jobs. Despite their power to improve the

lives of Walmart workers, the Walton family has chosen not to do so.

[1] hp://investors.walmartstores.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=112761&p=irol-govboard

[2] hp://www.forbes.com/forbes-400/

WHAT YOU CAN DO!

1. SHARE YOUR STORY AND BUILD TOWARDS JUNE 1ST

As Walmart turns 50, join with Associates and community members across the country by sharing your

story at www.Walmartat50.orgabout working at or living in a community where there is a Walmart. Then

pledge to join Walmart workers naonal day of acon on June 1stat Walmarts annual Shareholder

Meeng either at their corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas or at Walmart stores across the

country.

2. ORGANIZE A COMMUNITY DELEGATION TO A WALMART STORE

Organize a community delegaon to a Walmart store near you and demand managers give workers

the right to speak out at work and join the Organizaon United for Respect at Walmart! Share a leaet

with workers about how to get in touch with the Organizaon United for Respect at Walmart and

demand that the store manager removes an-OUR Walmart videos and signs, puts up a poster in the

breakroom arming workers right to organize and commit to no retaliaon against workers who stand

up for change.

3. ORGANIZE A DELEGATION TO A MEMBER OF THE WALMART 1%

Gather your friends, neighbors or co-workers and visit a member of the Walmart 1% in your area.First, visit Walmart1Percent.org to nd a member of the Walmart 1% in your community. The list will

include members of the Walton family, members of the companys Board of Directors, Walmart

execuves and lobbyists. And, since Walmart and Waltons also spend millions on contribuons to

policians and organizaons, the list will also include some of the largest recipients of that money.

We encourage you to take creave, non-violent, peaceful acon to make sure that the Walmart 1%

hear our concerns. Take photos and videos of your delegation and share it on the Walmart1Percent.org