"Lynch Mob at Walmart Breakfast"

Letter to the Editor
Posted: 01/13/2010 02:14:49 PM PST

Dear Editor,

In a community organized meeting Saturday of the newly formed Milpitas Coalition for a Better Community primarily led by union steward Ron Lind, a panel of speakers presented their campaign against the proposed Walmart expansion, at the Sunnyhills United Methodist Church. They succeeded in demonizing Walmart for such preposterous claims like "jobs at Walmart keep women in poverty" (Cathy Deppe, 9to5 California Chapter of the National Association of Working Women, and "Moms Rising"), people being fired for getting sick, "They'll screw anybody," and the failure to pay prevailing wage (Nancy Mendizabal, announcing her candidacy for Milpitas City Council.) They proceeded to claim that Walmart was causing all the problems of Milpitas, including destroying the small-town character of our city.

Presenters on the panel were caught in a dichotomy of statements, such as when Councilman Peter Ariana (imported from the City of Gilroy) claimed that Walmart had lied by promising to find a new tenant within two years for a building they vacated. He claimed Gilroy was still waiting five years later. Then at the end of the meeting, he mentioned that Walmart had sold the building within two years. Seems to me they fulfilled their promise. I wondered why Gilroy is still waiting. He then proceeded to say that traffic conditions were atrocious at the new Walmart Supercenter in south county, which also contributes to global warming, don't forget. Yet, he encouraged Milpitans to pollute their way down to Gilroy to shop in their outlet center, and further donate to their terrible traffic congestion. So what side of the mouth are we supposed to listen to?

Pastor Chansoo Lee announced that the Sunnyhills United Methodist Church has taken an "oppose" position to Walmart's expansion, because it is consistent with values in the Bible: "justice, compassion, truth." He proceeded to quote the history of the Ford manufacturing plant in Milpitas and how racial discrimination was the cause for colored people being unable to own a home. He further noted the slave trade, smuggling, and treatment of people in prisons. He said that they sing social justice hymns from their hymnal. Out of the other side of his mouth, he mentioned that the International United Methodist Church has invested globally in Walmart stock. At least one attendee was shocked to learn of this.

Mr. Lind said that the Walmart business model is to operate as cheaply as possible. OK. Personally, I think that's actually a good business practice when you run a large company. He termed all jobs at Walmart as "bad jobs" and "members' jobs" (we're talking union members here) as "good jobs." He also said that they wanted to "level the playing field," referring to pay rates. Does this not sound like communist Russia? A little socialism here, perhaps? Last I heard, America was built on the free market system. It works. For one company or group of people to tell another company what they should be paying their workers is un-American. It's called competition.

The way I see it, what a man has agreed to for a wage, is what he gets paid. That's biblical (1 Timothy 5:18), and I mention it since leaders of the faith community stated that they were putting pressure on Walmart. By the way, the state does not allow any company to pay below minimum wage, Mrs. Mendizabal, and last I heard, Walmart does not hire undocumented workers. My daughter worked at Walmart for a very decent starting wage of $11 per hour and had full insurance benefits.

A video by Supervisor John Gioia of Contra Costa County was distributed at the meeting that refers to Walmart Supercenters the size of four football fields. Now, is that what we are looking at here in Milpitas with our expansion of 18,000 square feet?

One of the only sensible statements made that morning was from Mr. Lind, closing the meeting saying that the Milpitas City Council is not allowed to make a decision based on labor practices. So, as a moderator of the meeting, why did he encourage people to continue their diatribes of this very subject?

The meeting had person after person taking single examples of lawsuits, labor practices, denied women's rights, and claiming that these are the norm. It was a lynch mob without adequate representation of Walmart's side of the story. Where was fairness represented? Were they interested in an actual reasonable debate, or in knowing both sides of the story? I think not. Pretty sad, if you ask me.
 

Brant Whiteside, Milpitas Resident for Honest Government