Tax Day Walmart Demonstration

Saturday, April
15th
12:30pm – 1:30pm
Northeast corner of 53rd & Elmore
(parking at
Staples)
Davenport


Friends,

Iowa needs our help. Please
stand with us this day – We are asking for corporate accountability and
demanding that the largest corporation, Walmart, pay their fair share for health
care, particularly at a time when we are seeing budget cuts to the very
assistance programs that are subsidizing Walmart's employee health benefits.


Your tax dollars pay for Walmart's greed – The staff of the House
Committee on Education and Workforce estimates Walmart costs federal taxpayers
up to $2.5 billion a year in the form of federal public assistance programs
because Walmart's low wage and poor benefits.

Walmart cost Iowa
taxpayers $10,059,698.00 (state & federal) in 2005 alone. This amount
doesn't even reflect the TIFs or other subsidies Walmart gets when they move to
town. Walmart is looking to open yet another store in the Quad Cities
(Silvis)… We can't afford to let Walmart continue doing “business as usual”.


As fate would have it, the Fair Share For Health Care Bill has been
introduced into the Iowa legislature by Senator Joe Bolkcom, but leadership
won't let it come to the floor for a vote.  We know there is bi-partisan support
for the bill because the PACG Health Care forum lobbied for it in February. This
is a common sense bill that will require (very) large corporations to either
provide affordable benefits to their workers, or pay a fixed rate to the State
to offset the cost to Medicaid.

If ALOT of
US participate in the demonstration, we can make a greater impact,
bring attention to this issue, raise public awareness, and encourage the
community to contact their representatives as well as the governor.

We
need volunteers… if you can give just 1 hour of your valuable time to this
very worthy cause, and know of others who may also be interested in
participating in the demonstration (holding a small sign for 1 hour) please let
me know ASAP! carolina1961@gmail.com.

We will display a 9 foot long
“check” made out to Walmart in the amount of $10,059,698, signed by Iowa Tax
Payers, with a big red stamp on it that says “Stop Payment On This Check”.  We
also have 100 smaller (4″ by 10″) checks for every one to hold. We need
YOU to hold them.

We are “aiming” for a large turnout so please
contact me ASAP if you can help us move this bill to the floor by standing with
us; (563) 676-7580 or carolina1961@gmail.com, or simply RSVP
to the following link:

http://wakeupwalmart.com/ucp/findevents.html

In
addition to the Walmart Demonstration, Working Families Win and Communities
United will be hosting a leadership planning session earlier that day, also
around economic justice issues:

For more information, contact Dave Leshtz at 319-621-4205 or email
dleshtz@ia.net.

Our hope
is that citizens will participate in the leadership planning and then head over
to the demonstration immediately thereafter.

With your help, April 15th
will be a big day toward achieving economic justice in the Quad Cities!


Thanks for all you are doing!

In Solidarity,
Caroline
Vernon
carolina1961@gmail.com
563-676-7580