Letters to the Editor
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‘Thanks to the Council’
It’s flattering to read that my union is responsible for the City Council’s efforts to tank Wal-Mart’s plan to expand into New York City [Editorial, “Thanks to the Council,” October 30, 2006]. But it wasn’t the RWDSU that drove the City Council: It was the facts.
Far from being the benevolent force for good the Sun describes, Wal-Mart has built its success on the backs of one of America’s most exploited workforces.
Despite Wal-Mart’s announcement that it would gouge it’s customers less for the cost of prescription drugs, the truth remains that Wal-Mart, the world’s wealthiest corporation, still refuses to provide health care to over half of its employees.
The upshot of Wal-Mart’s indifference is that, today, 46% of its workers’ children are uninsured or depend on public health care at a cost to taxpayers of more than $1.2 billion annually.
To praise Wal-Mart for easing the suffering of the poor is akin to saying that, dangerous working conditions aside, the Triangle Shirtwaist Company was actually performing a public service by creating both jobs and a decent shirt.
STUART APPELBAUM
President
Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union
New York, N.Y.
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