Is Wal-Mart Good for America?
CONFERENCE
9:30 am to 4:30 pm
UCLA Ackerman Grand Ballroom
With 8.3 billion in sales in the fiscal year ending January 2005, Wal-Mart today is the world?s largest retailer, employing 1.6 million workers in the United States and beyond. In 2003 and 2004, Fortune magazine dubbed the company the ?Most Admired in America,? and Vice President Cheney has said that Wal-Mart, ?exemplifies some of the best qualities in our country?hard work, the spirit of enterprise, fair dealing and integrity.?
Yet despite these successes, Wal-Mart is continually under media scrutiny and frequently in conflict with local communities and government officials, environmentalists, women?s groups and trade unions. Even those who have previously championed the company are starting to ask serious questions.
After years of ignoring its critics, Wal-Mart has finally gone on the counter offensive.
To address these issues, community, business, student, labor, and environmental activists will come together on June 4th, 2005, for a one-day conference to discuss ?Is Wal-Mart Good for America?? The program will feature nationally recognized experts on the subject and include debates and workshops designed to analyze the impact of Wal-Mart and the Wal-Martization of the economy.
The conference is sponsored by the UCLA Department of Urban Planning, the UCLA Institute for Industrial Relations and the UCLA Community Scholars and Center for Labor Research and Education.
9:00-9:30 am REGISTRATION
9:30-9:45 OPEN CONFERENCE
Kent Wong, UCLA Labor Center Director, Opening welcome
Goetz Wolff, UCLA Urban Planning Department
9:45-11:00 MORNING PANEL
Senator Gloria Romero
Alissa Anderson-Garcia, UCLA Urban Planning Student
Assemblymember Jerome Horton
Billy Hung, Chinese Working Women?s Network (CWWN)
Paul Meinema, United Food and Commercial Workers
(UFCW) Canada
Mexico Solidarity Network Representative
11:10-12:20 pm Informational Workshops
(1) Is the Wal-Mart Business Model Good for America?
Facilitator: Goetz Wolff, UCLA Urban Planning Department
Ken Jacobs, UC Berkeley Labor Center
Nelson Lichtenstein, Professor, UCSB
2) Wal-Mart and Labor: What?s that all about?
Facilitator: John Grant, UFCW Local 770
AFL-CIO Wal-Mart Campaign Representative
Billy Hung, Chinese Working Women?s Network (CWWN)
Paul Meinema, UFCW Canada
3) Wal-Mart: Issues of Race and Gender
Facilitator: Victor Narro, UCLA Labor Center
Emily Arnold-Fernandez, Attorney, Equal Rights Advocates
Lizette Hernandez, Strategic Action for a Just Economy (SAJE)
Rev. Jarvis Johnson, Clergy Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE)
4) Wal-Mart: Squeeze on Ports and Trucking
Facilitator: Edna Bonacich, Professor, UC Riverside
David Arian, International Longshore Workers Union, Local 13
Miguel Lopez, International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 972
5) Wal-Mart?s ?Always? Low Prices and Global Production
This will be a simulation game on Wal-Mart's
relationship with suppliers.
Facilitators: Karin Mak, Sweatshop Watch, and
Esperanza Martinez, UCLA Community Scholar
Billy Hung, Chinese Working Women?s Network (CWWN)
6) Wal-Mart: Sprawl, Development and the Environment
Facilitator: Henry Lo, Garvey School Board member
Tim Frank, Sierra Club
Tracy Gray-Barkan, Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy
Josh Kamensky, Councilman Eric Garcetti?s office
Kate O'Hara, Greenbelt Alliance
John Tran, Rosemead City Councilman
12:30-1:35 pm LUNCH & DEBATE
2 Wal-Mart Representatives vs.
Nelson Lichtenstein, Professor, UCSB
Jonathan Tasini, President, Economic Future Group
1:45-3:10 pm Strategic Workshops
7) Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats:
A SWOT Analysis of Wal-Mart
Facilitator: Desi Murray, UCLA Community Scholar
Ken Jacobs, UC Berkeley Labor Center
Jonathan Tasini, President, Economic Future Group
8) Enviro-Tactics: Thinking Green on Big Box?
Facilitor: AdelaideChen, LA County Federation of Labor
Tim Frank, Sierra Club
Brett Jolly, Attorney
Amaha Kassa, East Bay Alliance for Sustainable Economy
Kate O?Hara, Greenbelt Alliance
9) Southern CA Community Struggles Against Wal-Mart:
What Works and What Doesn?t
Facilitator: Esperanza Martinez, UCLA Community Scholar
Larry Bevington, Save our Community?Rosemead
Charles Lester, LA County Federation of Labor
Roxana Tynan, LAANE
10) Organize Wal-Mart! Strategy for Change
Facilitator: John Grant, UFCW 770
Shaun Barclay, UFCW
Paul Blank, Campaign director, Wake-Up Wal-Mart Campaign
Paul Meinema, UFCW Canada
Dave Sickler: State Building & Construction Trades Council (SBCTC)
Roberta West, UFCW Las Vegas (invited)
3:14-4:15 pm FINAL PANEL DISCUSSION
Shifting Political Terrain, Building a
Long Term Coalition
Facilitator: Kent Wong, UCLA Labor Center
Charles Lester, LA County Federation of Labor
Kate O?Hara, Greenbelt Alliance
Dave Sickler, SBCTC, Organizer of Coors Boycott
Jonathan Tasini, Economic Future Group
AFL-CIO Wal-Mart Campaign Representative
4:15-4:30 FILM TRAILER
Brave New Films ? Film as an Organizing Tool.
4:30 pm CLOSING / RECEPTION
Kent Wong
ENDORSERS
(partial list)
AFSCME Local 3299
AFSCME 36 Retiree Council
Association of Community
Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN)
California NOW
Clergy & Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE)
Excelus Law Group of Beverly Hills
Garment Worker Center
L.A. Alliance for a New Economy
L.A. County Federation of Labor
Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist
Church of Pasadena Social Justice AdvocacyGroup
Save Our Communities
Southern California Library
Sweatshop Watch
Teamsters Joint Council 42
The ?Worker Justice and Sweatshop Action? Committee of Progressive Christians Uniting
STUDENT GROUPS
Be the Change
Concerned Asian Pacific Islander Students for Action (CAPSA)
conciencia libre
Student Worker Front
MEChA de UCLA
Student Labor Action Project
TO REGISTER
Visit the Center for Labor Research
and Education website at: www.labor.ucla.edu/walmart
Or contact Cristina Lopez at
310 794 4100 or clopez@iir.ucla.edu
Parking at lots 4 & 6 on UCLA campus
Kiosk at end of Westwood Blvd. (north of Wilshire Blvd.)
Free admission
Free lunch
Please register in advance.
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