This sort of thing is actually the little guy's best hope
Wal-Mart and the like actually has more economic power than most of the communities it negotiates with. Unchecked it can starve out unions and workers and worse: they change the environment such that everyone else is inspired to starve out unions as well. And if you think they will deal with individuals (whose efforts would bounce off them as doth the spring rain with falleth gently from above) more generously than with collectives that at least have a chance of affecting them, you must be a corporate executive.
At this point, only governments are powerful enough to protect the interests of humans in the necessarily adversarial relationships that are marketing and employment.
2 Bills Target 'Big Box' Benefits, Impacts
Democrats hope the legislation will force companies to improve healthcare for workers.
By Robert Salladay
Times Staff Writer
April 7, 2004
SACRAMENTO — As Wal-Mart battles to expand in California, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante and other Democrats are pressuring the world's largest retailer through proposed legislation to improve health benefits for its employees — or pay a steep price.
The effort is part of a five-year push by Democrats to target Wal-Mart and large warehouse stores that do not hire unionized workers. The attack is coming on two fronts.
One bill would require "big-box" stores to reimburse government for the cost of providing public healthcare to workers. Another would require the stores to pay for expensive studies on whether they harm local economies by crushing competition and offering inadequate benefits to workers.
To retailers, the legislation is a special favor for unions battling Wal-Mart as the company moves vigorously into California. The retailer has said it wants to open 40 Supercenters, which carry everything from cheese to chairs in stores that are at least 200,000 square feet.
"When the unions say jump, the lawmakers jump," said Bill Dombrowski, president of the California Retailers Assn., which represents grocery stores and other large retailers such as Target but not non-member Wal-Mart. "I think the unions are introducing [the] bills as a platform to continue their fight with Wal-Mart."
Although most of the recent skirmishes over Wal-Mart have occurred at the local level — most notably Tuesday night's vote against the mega-store's expansion into Inglewood — Democratic officials are continuing a long-standing fight with the firm at the state level.
