The detrimental effects of Wal-Mart’s encroachment on U.S. small businesses has been well documented. It has also been widely reported that the world’s largest corporation drives down local wages as it strives to offer the lowest price. ACORN is working to help communities keep Wal-Mart out as well to help Wal-Mart workers get fair pay and benefits.
It may be less well known that the global retail giant also threatens to destroy thousands of jobs in India as small businesses are forced to close. Wal-Mart has depressed wages and deteriorated working conditions as it spreads around the world.
Michael Duke, Vice Chairman of Wal-Mart, visited India in February to put final plans on the joint venture deal between Wal-Mart and Sunil Bharti Mittal, an entrepreneur who has made a fortune in India’s cellular phone industry. India FDI Watch, along with campaign partners, organized actions and events protesting Wal-Mart in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. India FDI Watch is a national coalition of labor unions, trade associations, environmentalists, NGOs and academics, organized by ACORN, that have formed to block attempts to allow foreign direct investment in India’s retail markets.
In Mumbai, campaign leaders came together for a joint press conference and platform against the "back-door" entry of Wal-Mart and called on the government to oppose the deal. In Delhi, more than 300 protesters staged a militant protest at the steps of Parliament, breaking through police barricades and burning effigies of Wal-Mart.
Prominent Muslim clerics joined a fast opposing Wal-Mart, saying that the retailer represented a serious threat to the 15 million poor in the community. Wal-Mart’s bid to enter India through the backdoor marks a real threat to the livelihood of small Muslim traders who account for a big share of the community's population, the leaders said.
Wal-Mart has a clear anti-union policy aimed at preventing its workforce from gaining any collective bargaining power, which could result in increased wages, healthcare benefits and job security.
The National Joint Action Committee for Retail Democracy was recently formed in India to oppose the entry of retail giants, including Wal-Mart.
ACORN’s founder Wade Rathke is in India now working on inclusionary housing for the poor and reporting on his Chief Organizer blog.
Read ACORN's magazine, Social Policy, about the dangers of Wal-Mart at home and abroad.