Monthly Archives: December 2005

The following article is in yesterday's issue of USA Today and includes a couple comments from yours truly, Caroline Vernon.

When you finish reading this article, “Guess Who's Not Shopping at Wal-Mart This Christmas?”… Guess right and qualify to win! Get clues and details at: wakeupwalmart.com.


WASHINGTON – In a nondescript office blocks from the White House, Paul Blank chats with staffers near the start of another 12-hour workday. The beige walls are plastered with hand-lettered, cardboard signs bearing slogans “Always High Costs. Always” and “Buffy the Wal-Mart Slayer.”

The Ragin' Grannies sing their protests against Wal-Mart at a Tucson store on Nov. 13.
By Wal-Mart Watch

Despite his 80-hour workweeks, Blank settles into a chair looking energized.

This is more than a job to him, he explains. It's a crusade.

Blank is the campaign manager for the labor-union-backed
WakeUpWalMart.com. Behind the scenes at the headquarters office, staffers work at a dizzying pace. Their goal: to reform Wal-Mart, the biggest retailer in the world.

“There is a drumbeat every day that's building,” says Blank, who previously worked as political director for Howard Dean's presidential campaign. “The question of whether Wal-Mart is good for America is being pushed to the forefront of a national debate.”

As the holiday shopping season goes into full swing, Wal-Mart is facing the most formidable opposition to a retailer since the 1930s, when a campaign was waged against Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea (better known as A&P), which subsequently lost its domination of the retail market.


Continue reading →