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protest against walmart
Walmart is a corporation known for its right wing policies. Within the labor movement it has become an infamous anti-union symbol through its extensive use of resources and pressure tactics to keep unions from organizing its employees. To date, only one Walmart store is unionized, a store in Canada. Recently when a group of workers in the meat department of a Southern Walmart store successfully won a fight for union recognition, Walmart responded by laying off the workers and closing down the meat departments in all of its stores.
It should come as no surprise then to learn that Walmart’s reactionary policies also extend to women and their right to choose. Following the Federal Drug Administration’s approval of the “morning after” contraceptive pill, Walmart has decided that none of its pharmacies will be allowed to carry Preven, or any other similar “morning after” contraceptives. This is despite the fact that such contraceptives are little different from the traditional birth control pills, in that they prevent implantation in the uterine wall.
When activists called Walmart’s corporate offices (which can be reached by calling 1-800-WALMAR) for comment, Walmart refused to offer any explanation other than it was corporate policy, and they had no intention of changing it.
Despite Walmart’s silence on the reasoning for its policy, given its political record we think it’s safe to assume that it isn’t based on any scientific or health concerns, but rather represents the pushing of an anti-woman agenda by its corporate leadership.
A group of activists in Wilmington, North Carolina have responded by announcing they will protest the opening of a new Super Walmart store in their area, and by putting out a national call for local protests against Walmart’s refusal to carry the morning after pill. It’s important that we respond to each and every attempt to deny a woman the right to choose, be it by the government, mobilizations by the religious right, or the policies of corporations.
For more information about the Walmart protests, or to announce that you are planning a protest in your area, email Michele Lefler at mdlefler@ivillage.com .
This article was written by YSAer Adam Ritscher.
