Last month, the Stonewall Democratic Club, the "oldest and largest citywide Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) Democratic organization," came out against Walmart, the retail giant who are trying to open their first NYC-based store in East New York. And now, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, a political action committee based in Washington, has joined in the anti-Walmart fervor: “With the expansion of Wal-Mart stores comes the expansion of antiquated employment policies that provide little to no protections for, and at times even hostility toward, their L.G.B.T. employees.”
But why are a non-NYC based group getting involved with a hot-topic local issue? Rea Carey, the executive director of the task force, said, “It may be a local debate for New York City, but Wal-Mart is a largest private employer in country. To have Wal-Mart as a substantial employer there, and an employer that lacks these basic protections, then a lot of people who need work, who seek work, simply won’t feel comfortable.” City Council speaker Christine Quinn echoed those sentiments: “This lack of inclusion in its diversity policies is the antithesis of what we in N.Y.C. want and expect from our corporate partners. These are yet two more reasons why Wal-Mart is a poor fit to do business in N.Y.C.”
It isn't just LGBT people who feel that Walmart is hell-bent on making life miserable for anyone who works for it: at a public hearing on Walmart last month, one former employee testified about the realities of working for the corporate giant: "Many of my co-workers worked in fear but not just of losing their jobs. The fear of humiliation that the managers were always dishing out. They made people feel like they were under surveillance 24/7." But there's one place that might actually want you Walmart: Sheepshead Bay.
In a "Letter to the Editor" of GerritsenBeach.net, "Mike" argues that Walmart would be the perfect fit to replace a recently closed Pathmark on Nostrand Ave: "The obvious reason to bring Walmart into the community is jobs and low prices that Walmart provides. Walmart transforms communities into better places then they were before...Walmart stores do not put small stores out of business, they are in fact magnets for growth and development." One reader wasn't so convinced by the argument, and was disappointed in the editor for featuring Mike: "I’m disappointed that Dan would allow such an obvious WalmartNYC hack to use space on his site without at least paying for the ad space (since this most certainly is an ad)."
