Wal-Mart feels workers’ heat

The Maryland General Assembly overrode on Jan. 12 Gov. Robert Ehrlich’s veto of a bill that will require Wal-Mart to pay more for workers health care. The bill is called the Fair Share Health Care Fund Act and it is the first of its kind to succeed in the U.S. Thirty other states are poised to look at similar legislature, which has been put forward by union and community activists.

The law, which will take effect in 30 days, requires companies with more than 10,000 employees to spend at least 8 percent of their payroll on worker health care or pay the difference to a state medical assistance fund. Of the four companies of that size in Maryland, Wal-Mart is the only one that would be affected.

In Maryland, the state AFL-CIO and health care advocates from the Maryland Citizens Health Initiative launched a campaign that included rallies, protests, lobbying and call-ins. It touched off a fierce debate on workers’ rights versus a company’s ability to exploit at will. Wal-Mart has become the new prototype corporation leading the way in low wages and no benefits. It has lost this round in the battle.

Wal-Mart workers in Florida have been fighting back and winning. In one rural Florida town, over 20 percent of Wal-Mart workers had their hours cut. The workers were bold; they went into the community and collected petitions against the company. As a result, their hours were restored. In St. Petersburg, a third-shift worker was accused of theft and fired. The day after the firing, half the day shift quit in protest. In another store, workers marched on management after a 70-year old worker had her schedule changed. Management quickly reinstated her schedule.

These actions were initiated and led by members of the Wal-Mart Workers Association. WWA is a non-majority union founded with seed money from the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, SEIU, the AFL-CIO and other community groups. Their strategy has been to channel workers’ anger into action rather than to wait for court mandates. This is particularly important to central Florida workers since Wal-Mart is projected to double its super centers there by 2010.

The larger question facing the Wal-Mart workers, the rest of the labor movement and its allies is how to mobilize the working class as a whole to fight for health care for all. The 46 million uninsured workers desperately need this. The union members who are enduring health care cuts on the jobs and waging defensive battles to save benefits need it. What would greatly benefit this cause is to bring all the workers to Washington, D.C., to hold a Million Health Care March rather than to fight each battle isolated and alone.