New York, NY—Community and advocacy groups, Occupy Wall Street, and unemployed and underemployed activists gathered outside of Bank of America Merrill Lynch headquarters to demand the investment bank create jobs or return the public money it has received.

“Unemployed, underemployed and struggling New Yorkers have too often seen little benefit out of expensive corporate subsidy deals, while having to fight for every penny to fund essential public services,” said Nathalie Alegre, an organizer with ALIGN. “Today we say: another way of doing things is possible, another city is possible!”

With less than two months left in its subsidy agreement with the New York City Industrial Development Agency, Bank of America Merrill Lynch is far short of its job retention and creation commitment—by nearly 5,000 jobs. The company has been awarded $12.3 million in subsidies, and activists marched to the bank to demand the bank create the jobs or pay the money back.

With timing running out to create the economic opportunity they promised, activists decided to help out Bank of America Merrill Lynch by setting up a “hiring hall” outside of their headquarters office. They distributed job applications and had several activists and curious members of the public apply for jobs on the spot. After a failed attempt to deliver the applications in person to human resources, the crowd floated the applications to the second floor with giant helium balloons as Bank of America Merrill Lynch employees looked on.

Although the action got the attention of employees, some activists were skeptical that the bank would hire more people. Despite achieving the highest revenues of any investment bank worldwide in 2010 shortly after being acquired by Bank of America, the Merrill Lynch division has recently been laying people off.

Many activists emphasized that Bank of America Merrill Lynch has failed to deliver and should return public money so it can be used for housing, childcare, healthcare, food programs, schools, job programs, training opportunities, and other community needs.

“Mayor Bloomberg is proposing to cut $25 million from the Parks Opportunity program, which will directly impact 2,000 jobs a year,” said Keith Gamble of Community Voices Heard. “Recapturing Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s misspent subsidy money could help keep this important program—and the people it employs—alive.”

The action was part of the “Another World Is Possible” Week of Action, highlighting economic inequality and better solutions to city budget cuts and austerity. The theme of the May 11 marches and actions were a city where housing is a human right, a country with good jobs for all, a world where our basic needs are met. More actions are being planned throughout the spring as the city budget is debated and major corporations are holding shareholders meetings.

“I haven’t had a steady job in two years, but I’ve been getting by on part-time and temporary construction jobs,” said Carlos Encarnacion. “Instead of throwing money away on companies that aren’t creating jobs, we should invest public money in infrastructure to create good jobs and make our city a better place for everyone.”

Corporate subsidies are increasingly being called into question by activists, elected officials, regulators, and economic development practitioners. A report released last week by New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli emphasized that IDA reform is needed to increase the transparency and accountability of this expensive corporate subsidy program. Earlier this week, elected officials in New York City attempted to delay and further investigate the lavish Fresh Direct subsidy deal awarded in February. And earlier this week in Erie County, NY, board members of the Lancaster IDA rejected an application for assistance from a pizzeria, the first project they had rejected at least three years, if ever.

“New York State spends about $3 billion a year on corporate subsidies, and New Yorkers are too often in the dark about whether this money is having any kind of positive community impact,” said Matt Ryan, Executive Director of ALIGN. “We need some straightforward, broad reforms to ensure our main job creation programs actually create jobs and community benefits.”

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ALIGN: The Alliance for a Greater New York’s mission is to create good jobs, vibrant communities, and an accountable democracy for all New Yorkers. Our work unites worker, community, and other allies to build a more just and sustainable New York. Visit www.ALIGNny.org for more information. Along with the Buffalo-based Coalition for Economic Justice, ALIGN anchors the statewide Getting Our Money’s Worth coalition.

New York, NY—ALIGN: The Alliance for a Greater New York is hosting its annual Movement Builders Awards this evening, April 25 at 6 pm. The event is a celebration of leaders from labor, community and business who have been instrumental in building a movement for a more equitable economy, a more accountable democracy and a more sustainable environment for all New Yorkers.

The Movement Builders Awards brings together nearly 300 leaders and grassroots activists from the social and economic justice movement in New York City and beyond. This year’s honorees are:

• Joseph T. Hansen, International President of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), for his leadership in bringing quality jobs and fresh food to underserved neighborhoods
• Cooperative Home Care Associates, for their track record of success in providing good jobs and quality care
• Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation, for their championing of community organizing and sustainable economic development

The evening’s presenters will highlight the innovative and inspiring work of the honorees, including efforts to: Make Change at Walmart; transform home care jobs into quality jobs; and build community-labor partnerships in affordable housing and green building retrofits.

WHAT: Movement Builders Awards 2012
WHEN: April 25, from 6 -8pm
WHERE: New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council, 305 West 44th Street

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ALIGN: The Alliance for a Greater New York’s mission is to create good jobs, vibrant communities, and an accountable democracy for all New Yorkers. Our work unites worker, community, and other allies to build a more just and sustainable New York. ALIGN was formed in April 2011 through the merger of New York Jobs and Justice and Urban Agenda. Visit www.ALIGNny.org for more information.

This week, following a report in the Times on a bribery scandal in Mexico involving Walmart, the mayor weighed in in favor of Walmart’s right to come to New York, the governor took a pass on the question, and several Democratic office-seekers, mindful of the strong opposition to Walmart by organized labor, weighed in, strongly, against.

Before this renewed debate, Walmart had been out of the news in New York for a while, more or less since late 2010, when the retailer announced plans to open up a store in East New York, and the City Council decided to hold a hearing about it. (They ultimately had to push the meeting to January 2011 because they needed a location bigger than the council chambers after seeing how many union members and others planned to flood the room.)

It almost seemed as if Walmart’s long-held pursuit of a New York location had been put on ice.

But they’ve actually been campaigning here, quietly, the whole time.

Walmart’s Steve Restivo, Senior Director for Community Affairs, said the company has yet to decide on any particular New York City location for its first proposed store.

“That’s the million-dollar question,” he said with a laugh. “It’s no secret that we think a store makes sense in New York City, and our real-estate folks are doing their work. The process is that when we have a store that we think makes sense, we’ll announce it.”

New York is the only one of the United States’ 10 most populous cities not to have a single store. (Boston isn’t in the top 10, but it’s the only major city in the Northeast that also has no Walmarts in the city proper.)

The retailer, which began as a regional store in north Arkansas and spread widely across America’s exurban and suburban areas, has lately been trying to penetrate big cities, with some success, most notably in Los Angeles.

Restivo pointed to WalmartNYC.com, a resource hub for pro-store news and research, as the first city-specific site of its kind in company history. Facebook, too, is “a great place to have a conversation,” he said, highlighting with pride the campaign’s 60,000 Likes.

The company has used its online presense to push out polls that find that the majority of New Yorkers, when asked, are open to the idea of a Walmart or Walmarts in the city.

And recently New Yorkers have found in their mailboxes fliers passionately making Walmart’s case.

“Care about a sustainable future?,” reads one. “So does Walmart!”

A handsome out-of-work carpenter is the star of another advertisement. In it, he hopes for the City Council to resist the urgings of “special interests” (revealed in another ad to be the grocery workers’ union and city-based food retailers) because, as it reads, “I need a job;” the buildings workers unions have backed Walmart’s expansion into New York City.

And then there’s a pop quiz. Do you want (1) a Walmart in New York City or (2) fewer jobs, higher prices, and “your rights being taken away.” Those who choose No. 1 are encouraged to join the company’s “Community Action Network.”

Two other advertisements draw elected officials more deeply into the mix, alternately playing to their authority and questioning it. “According to the New York City Council,” reads one, “3 million people lack adequate access to grocery stores.” And then the other: “Walmart isn’t seeking government zoning approval or anything else from the City Council.”

Walmart has focused on the three arguments in New York City that it focuses on everywhere: price, jobs and community growth. But they’ve added a fourth, an appeal to New Yorkers not to let elected officials and unions dictate their choices.

The first two are perhaps obvious. Walmart’s prices tend to be less than other retailers, and its price stability—its prices stay nearly constant from store to store, whether rural, suburban, or urban—means that those of us in expensive markets like New York City benefit from an even greater price discrepancy than our neighbors in cheaper environments. On jobs and community growth, the simple selling point is that New York City needs more of the former and is willing to invest in the latter.

It’s the last argument that puts a fine point on the company’s strategy for getting into New York City: Who are the City Council and a handful of advocates to tell the rest of New York City that they really don’t actually want a Walmart?

I talked to Bertha Lewis, a longtime activist, formerly with ACORN, presently with Walmart Free NYC, about the way Walmart had been making its case. She was particularly annoyed at the argument that appeared to suggest a rift between Manhattan legislators and citizens in poor areas of the outer boroughs.

“Where the hell is he coming up with that?” she asked. “You see how despicable these people are. You’re going to try to polarize by class, right?”

“Their strategy now is urban expansion, which is code word for black and brown neighborhoods, poor neighborhoods, places that they believe are not as powerful politically, that have high unemployment and poverty, so that they can come in and be a predatory retailer,” she said.

And the argument about availability of fresh food in underserved neighborhoods is part of what she sees as predatory, of a piece with predatory lenders.

“For years, a red line was drawn around these neighborhoods, and they didn’t have access to credit. It’s almost the same language now. It’s, ‘Aww, you don’t have access to fresh food,’ and, ‘aww, you don’t have access to affordable goods. Let Walmart help you. It’s a cynical race-based ploy.”

“What they didn’t count on is that we’re not here for a Walmart plantation. There was full employment on plantations, but we’re not going to do that here,” she said.

She derided Walmart’s online campaigning as a mere mimicking of engagement.

“We throw up a website and they throw up a website to appear as though they’re all hip with social media,” she said.

But, as Restivo pointed out, the Walmart Free NYC Facebook group, with its 4,800 Likes, trails the company’s by a significant margin.

“I think the message that has resonated best with elected official is, ‘Let the customers decide where they want to shop and work,’” he said. “The question we’ve asked is, ‘Should folks who live in Manhattan who have lots of shopping options be telling someone who lives in the Bronx what type of stores they should have in their community or what type of jobs they should be applying for?’”

“The conversation was fairly one-sided for a long-period of time,” Restivo said. “In a lot of ways, it was our fault for not doing a better job telling our own story. As a result, perception was allowed to become reality in a lot of people’s minds.”

New Yorkers especially, he argues, come to the debate with baggage.

“We were starting from a point where a lot of folks had well-entrenched, deeply conceived notions about the company,” he said.

The strategy: stacking up “urban myths”—that Walmart jobs are bad ones, that the entry of a Walmart store into a market triggers the inexorable decline of small businesses—against “facts.” They did that, Restivo said, and found that “there was an appetite for hearing some good news about the company.”

THE MEXICO SCANDAL GIVES WALMART’S OPPONENTS a place on the political agenda again, something they’ve lacked in the absence of any specific proposed Walmart location in New York City, leading them to fear they’d lose the fight without even getting to fight it.

Foes in Los Angeles recently geared up for a city council vote, only to find that Walmart had gotten the necessary permits to build their first store in the city’s Chinatown neighborhood the day before, without needing any special approvals.

And so, this week, the forces rallied against Walmart’s expansion into New York City —notably labor—called for city officials to investigate Walmart before the company gets any further here.

In a release, opponents demanded that city leaders hit pause on Walmart’s arrival “until the full scope of the company’s wrongdoing is revealed and adequate steps can be taken to ensure the retailer doesn’t engage in any illegal activity to enter New York City.”

The problem, say Walmart’s critics, isn’t simply that they don’t know whether the company is doing anything wrong. It’s that they don’t know what they’re doing at all.

Ever since there were the first rumblings that Walmart was eyeing a site in East New York, said Maritza Silva-Farrell of the Alliance for Greater New York, a group affiliated with the national group Jobs with Justice, “we’ve been trying to figure out what they want to do in New York.”

“Are they actually going to community board hearings? Are they actually talking to the community?” she asked. “From what we know so far, none of those things have happened yet. But we don’t know. And then we find out about bribery in Mexico, and it makes you think.”

“We’re looking everywhere,” Lewis said, including as-of-right sites, places where they can just lease and move in. We’re onto them. They can say, ‘Nothing’s wrong here, because we don’t know where we’re going.’ But what the hell kind of business plan is that? You’re the largest employer in the goddamn world and you’re going to say, ‘Oh, I don’t know what I’m doing’? It’s insulting.”

Walmart’s opponents are staying vigilant, she said. “We are everywhere. We are up their ass. And we’re going to stay up their ass … They need to be told, ‘Walmart, you cannot come into New York City doing things the way that you always did them. We’ve seen what’s happened in Chicago, in L.A., all over. If you’re going to come into New York City, you need to come in a different way.”

Silva-Farrell is more doubtful that there’s anything Walmart can promise that would make its presense a net benefit for the city.

“It’s really hard to trust a company that has failed so many communities so many times,” she said.

Restivo admitted New York City has been an incredibly tough nut for the Walmart to crack.

“One of the things that has changed for us in recent years is that we’ve become more flexible in our approach to communities,” Restivo told me. “That’s part of an effort to do a better job of listening.”

And that’s reflected, he said, in just what size of store—Walmart’s range from its 185,000 square foot SuperCenters to its new 15,000 square foot Express Stores—the company envisions for New York City.

“It depends on the site,” Restivo said. “Those decisions are based on real estate availability and, more importantly, customer needs. If we’re talking Midtown, we’re talking about a smaller store. If we’re talking about some of the outer boroughs, where there are larger parcels, a larger one-stop-shop store might make sense.”

He’s even willing to float the notion of no store at all.

“We want to be a good corporate neighbor in New York City for years and years to come. So we want to spend a little extra time on the front end making sure folks have informed opinions of Walmart.”

THERE CAN BE LITTLE DOUBT WHAT VALUE Walmart sees in a New York City store. A look at a mapping of the area’s stores helps to explain why. Since its founding in northwest Arkansas in 1962, Walmart stores have spiraled outward, across the country, a pattern made breathtaking in a visualization posted on FlowingData, the website of statistician Nathan Yau.

The company has saturated much of rural and suburban America—Walmart counts 3,029 SuperCenter stores, 629 Walmart discount stores, 168 Neighborhood Markets, a that pair of Neighborhood Express stores, located, naturally, in northwest Arkansas—but, by tradition, each store is placed close to another as they spread across the United States.

The reason? That network of stores is efficient, and its efficiencies are central to Walmart’s business model. In an article in the journal Econometra last year, Thomas J. Holmes of the University of Minnesota wrote: “[The] economics of density are a substantial component of Wal-Mart profitability.”

But zoom in on the New York City region, (click on the map at right to enlarge) and there’s a gap in the network. Clustered around the city are stores—in North Bergen, N.J, in Valley Stream, N.Y.—that almost seem to be leaning up against the gates of the city. The presence of stores on all sides of the city means that Walmart has a distribution center ready to serve the five boroughs. And sitting inside that blank spot on the map are some 8.4 million potential Walmart shoppers.

That said, as valuable a prize as New York City is—and as unique a challenge as it poses the company, with its strong labor presence, tremendous existing retail offerings, and history and culture that prizes small businesses—the possibility of Walmart coming into New York City is part of a national debate over whether Walmarts are welcomed into American cities.

Both sides see hope in recent developments. In Washington D.C., Walmart recently announced that it was scaling back for now its plans for six stores to a single one, in the face of opposition.

Walmart Free NYC tweeted praise to its District counterparts. “@RESPECT_DC contributes to delay of multiple stores. Hope we have a similar victory soon!” But on the pro-Walmart side, L.A. has recently moved ahead on a contested 33,000 square foot store in that city’s historic Chinatown neighborhood.

“We’re seeing the same arguments from our critics from city to city,” said Walmart’s Restivo. “But we’re also sharing information city to city as well.”

He pointed to an editorial in the Los Angeles Times that called “unwise and counterproductive” an L.A. City Council attempt to temporarily block chain retail stores in Chinatown, a restriction targeted at Walmart.

“We’re going to make sure folks in New York City see that,” Restivo said.

It is perhaps too early to see how the Mexico allegations affect Walmart’s bid to get into New York and other American cities.

To read the rest of the article visit Capital New York

New York City elected officials, community leaders and advocates gathered in front of City Hall yesterday to speak out against Wal-Mart’s operation of business in the city. This comes after The New York Times reported last Sunday that the world’s largest retailer stopped an internal investigation into allegations of $24 million in bribes that helped expand its Mexican branches.

Though there has been much opposition in the past to Wal-Mart operating business in the city because of its potential threat to union workers and small businesses, resistance has strengthened in light of the scandal in Mexico.

Matt Ryan, executive director of a labor rights advocacy group called ALIGN: the Alliance for Greater New York, urged local and federal leaders to conduct an investigation into Wal-Mart’s political and charitable spending and for the retailer to withdraw its interest in the city.

“This is a company that will stop at nothing to increase their bottom-line and get into New York City,” Ryan said. “Until we can be sure Wal-Mart isn’t gaming the system, they’re done here.”

If these bribery allegations are true, then Wal-Mart would be violating the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, which bans U.S. companies from engaging in bribery when operating in foreign countries. According to an article published yesterday by The Associated Press, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is conducting its own investigation, and the U.S. Justice Department has been also conducting a criminal probe.

But Steven Restivo, senior director for community affairs at Wal-Mart, issued a statement yesterday in which he pointed that the retailer will continue to evaluate opportunities in the city.

“As we seek to open new stores across the U.S., we will continue to act with integrity, provide good jobs, expand access to low prices and lead on issues that are important to our customers like sustainability and nutrition,” Restivo said. “Our track record as a good corporate citizen is well known and in large cities like New York. Residents continue to choose to shop and work at Wal-Mart.”

However, New York State representative Inez Barron cited previous incidences in which Wal-Mart has been accused of illicit business practices, including exploitation of cheap foreign labor, violation of wage and labor laws and charges of sexism and racism.

“This is a fight that we have been waging for many, many years,” Barron said. “Wal-Mart’s slogan is low prices, but there’s a high cost for those low prices.”

Stern freshman Faith Namsemon said Wal-Mart should not try to conduct business in the city.

“Wal-Mart should definitely not expand into New York City since Wal-Mart is already situated in so many states and other countries — they’re even trying to expand more into Africa,” Namsemon said.

To read the full article visit: Washington Square News

Walmart was again in headlines this weekend for allegedly covering up widespread, prolonged, top-level corruption in their foreign practices after a major NY Times story examined massive evidence of bribery cover ups going back to September 2005.  For the biggest, worst-paying employer in the US, the news seems only to be beginning, but their plan is simple, operating on a five decade model of aggressive, “never-enough” growth is gradually seeking to replace workers in every city in the nation.

In the Big Apple, Walmart has been eerily quiet, after their attempt last year to get their gangrenous toe in the door was rejected. Grassroots coalitions joined local businesses and community leaders to stop the Walmart “trojan horse” despite million dollar ad campaigns peppering NYC radio with propaganda promising great shopping and lots of jobs.

This deceptive corporate frame-job hopes you ignore a long history of net job losses for communities, as a single Walmart box store can easily displace over 100 local businesses. Walmart jobs pay less, passing on savings to the customer as they take profits out of the local tax base. The displaced workers will not only increase unemployment claims in the area, but Walmart’s workers often need government handouts as well because the wages and benefits are abysmal.

Multibillionaire Mayor Mike Bloomberg was dubbed “Walmart Spokesman” for his support of the box-store bully last year. In this exchange, Bloomberg got snippy with a Daily News reporter daring to ask a Walmart rep to comment on recent charity to underprivileged NYC kids coinciding with their desire to build in the area.

The non-profit ALIGN paired labor groups and CUNY researchers to publish a study detailing how NYC could fare if Walmart achieved it’s typical 20+% marketshare. They estimated a roll out of 11 Walmart Supercenters, 34 Walmart Markets, and 114 Walmart Express stores –and a citywide net loss of some 3,980 jobs.

Lower prices paid by shoppers would translate to over $353 million annually in lost wages and $4 million per year shifted to taxpayers in social services costs. City newspapers noted Walmart’s “desperate for growth” model back in 2011.

But Walmart knows how to wait communities out, wear them down, groom friendly candidates and to build positive PR. Walmart waited eight years, outlasting the city council on the South Side of Chicago after a contentious battle there. Already at it for two years in New York City, their website WalmartNYC.com paints a rosy, union-bashing picture of 100% positive comments, and the following elected officials portrayed as “on board”:

State Senator Diane Savino (D-North Shore/Brooklyn)
Assemblyman Matthew Titone (D-North Shore)
Assemblyman Lou Tobacco (R-South Shore)
Borough President James Molinaro
State Senator Andrew Lanza (R-Staten Island)
Councilman Vincent Ignizio (R-South Shore)
City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr.
Peter Koo, 20th City Council District (Flushing)
Eric Ulrich, City Council Member (Ozone Park)
Councilman James Oddo (R-Mid-Island)
Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-East Shore/Brooklyn)

You can also see six different comments from Mayor Bloomberg’s Spokesman Andrew Brent. Even a Michelle Obama quote seems to praise Walmart for bringing healthy choices to urban areas.

When Killing Jobs is Called Creating Jobs

I remember well when Walmart tried to open a second store in my community, only about a mile or so from a existing Walmart, the onslaught of local business owners and protesters spilling out of the hall made the Walmart reps leave in the middle of the hearing.

Just like the sub-prime mortgage crisis, Walmart’s low-road business practices knowingly use everyday people’s eagerness for low prices against their own greater long-term good. Steven Restivo, Walmart’s director of community affairs gloats thusly:

“If we open a store and no one comes to shop there, or if we open a hiring center and no one applies for a job, we’ll have learned a really important lesson about New York City…we just don’t think that’s going to be the case.”

Walmart also responded to charges they would blanket NYC with 159 stores by noting their current “penetration” into other US communities took decades. Not much of a denial.

Foreign Corrupt Practices and Bag-Men

I was in Beijing in 2003 when Walmart was slated to open it’s first store in the city. English language press charged blatant corruption as the last bit of resistance was overcome. Walmart exports about 70% of it’s merchandise from China, ironically driving down wages even as it supports manufacturing jobs, but has increasingly been supplanting Chinese retail workers as 31 stores in China in 2003 has ballooned to 370 today.

Also bitterly ironic, Walmart touts “local sourcing” in China — but only when it pays to. In America, Walmart has destroyed local sustainable loops from coast to coast to profit beyond behemoth proportions. Anita Chan, editor of Walmart in China also notes Walmart brings to it’s Chinese stores ”a unique corporate culture and management ideology, which oddly enough are reminiscent of Mao-era Chinese techniques for promoting loyalty.”

In late 2005, the former secretary of the Communist Party and lead trade official in Yunnan province, Peng Muyu, who reviewed Wal-Mart’s building applications was convicted for bribery and abuse of public funds because his wife accepted over $15,000 in gifts from Zhou Jiali, a board member of Wal-Mart Management Service Co. Ltd.

Walmart denied complicity, although they did admit setting up the company with Zhou, who held a 30% share. As the controlling partner, for Walmart not to have known what was going on is just as troubling. After Zhou was herself arrested, it came out that she had previously been party to a bribery scandal involving the provincial governor. Walmart’s internal reports showed 90 cases of bribery in Asia just in the 18 months before 2006.

While visiting Canada last summer, I noticed a brand new Walmart construction site about in a farming region about an hour north of Toronto. The locals told me the community had resisted for ten years, knowing it would kill jobs on Main Street and export profits to Arkansas. Walmart kept at it though, until the tide finally turned in their favor. Their efforts included development of relationships with elected officials or candidates, one-sided media campaigns, and as usual, promising the impossible: lower prices for shoppers and more jobs.

To read the full article visit NY alt news

Some call for City Council hearings to probe the retailers’ New York City business practices, including a full disclosure of the company’s philanthropic spending here.

The pressure is mounting on Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to abandon its long-running plans to enter the New York City market. In the wake of the weekend’s revelations of alleged bribery and cover-up in the retail giant’s Mexican operations, local advocacy groups here who have opposed Wal-Mart’s Big Apple ambitions for years are pressing their advantage, and redoubling their efforts.

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer; the city’s public advocate, Bill de Blasio; and Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store union, all issued statements Monday criticizing Wal-Mart. On Tuesday afternoon, they, along with former New York City Comptroller Bill Thompson and dozens of others, plan to throw their bodies behind the effort by attending a rally at City Hall. Demonstrators will call on the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer to give up its campaign for a New York City store.

“More and more New Yorkers are growing skeptical of Wal-Mart’s plans and promises for our city—and for good reason,” said Matt Ryan, executive director at the Alliance for a Greater New York, an anti-Wal-Mart group and a key organizer of Tuesday’s rally. “Armed with the latest news about Walmart de Mexico’s illegal practices, the city must investigate Wal-Mart’s recent dealings with public officials and developers in its bid to move to New York City.”

Yet Wal-Mart has reiterated that its plans for the Big Apple remain undeterred.

“Our track record as a good corporate citizen is well known and in large cities like New York, residents continue to choose to shop and work at Wal-Mart,” said Steve Restivo, Wal-Mart’s senior director of community affairs, noting the company’s involvement with issues like sustainability and nutrition. “As a result, we continue to evaluate opportunities here to make access to our stores more convenient for customers.”

Anti-Wal-Mart activists are also asking for City Council hearings to investigate Wal-Mart’s New York City business practices, including a full disclosure of the company’s philanthropic spending here. They’re also asking for an investigation into the practices of the retailer’s New York-based board members Michele Burns and Christopher Williams. Both Ms. Burns and Mr. Williams served on Wal-Mart’s audit committee in 2005 and 2006, the same years the alleged bribes took place. Neither immediately returned calls requesting comment.

To read the full article, visit Crain’s New York

By Samantha Maziarz Christmann
April 24, 2012

The County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency broke no laws when it gave a company tax breaks to add jobs in Henrietta after terminating jobs at a sister company here, according to a state report released Monday.

VWR Education received tax breaks earlier this year from the Monroe County IDA for adding seven jobs to its Ward’s Natural Science plant near Rochester. The same company closed the majority of its Science Kit facility in the Town of Tonawanda late last year, putting 41 people out of work.

The layoffs came days after a 15- year package of tax benefits granted to the East Park Drive company by the Erie County Industrial Development Agency expired.

That prompted several state and county legislators, as well as labor and advocacy groups, to file a complaint with the New York State Authorities Budget Office, which provides oversight of public authorities.

Critics accused VWR of merely shifting work from one New York county to another — leaving a net loss in jobs rather than growth — and asked that the company not receive any further tax benefits.

But the Authorities Budget Office concluded that the company’s Tonawanda layoffs and Henrietta additions followed long-standing patterns of employment at both facilities and weren’t related to a shuffling of jobs.

The report also stated that the Monroe IDA committed no wrongdoing because it didn’t condition its tax breaks on VWR shifting work from Tonawanda to Henrietta and because VWR still has some office staff at the Tonawanda facility.

“Based on our examination of the record, interviews with officials from both industrial development agencies and our understanding of these judicial rulings, we have concluded that COMIDA did not violate key elements of [the law],” the report said.

But advocacy groups said the laws governing economic-development agencies are so flawed that, in order to prove that any job piracy was committed, VWR would have had to come right out and admit that it shifted jobs out of Erie County and into Monroe County for purposes of the tax break.

“We’re disappointed with the ABO’s findings, but more importantly, we’re disappointed by what it reflects — that loopholes exist that allow VWR and companies like it to shift jobs around New York State at taxpayer expense,” said Allison K. Duwe, executive director of the Coalition for Economic Justice, one of the groups that filed the original complaint.

To read the full article visit Buffalo News

Local labor leaders spoke out Friday morning over what they say is an unfair labor practice in Batavia. The site in question is the PepsiCo Project Wave site, off of Route 5. YNN’s Geoff Redick was at Friday morning’s news conference as labor leaders spoke out.

Labor officials are accusing PepsiCo and Project Wave of taking millions in local taxpayer dollars in the form of tax incentives and giving nothing back to the local community.

Officials from the Rochester Building and Construction Trades Council, along with the Coalition for Economic Justice, say PepsiCo and local economic development officials in Genesee County are doing nothing to help the unemployed.

They claim the current unemployment rate in Genesee County is nearing 10 percent, and they say there are many skilled workers currently unemployed in Genesee County who could do the job faster and more efficiently.

“After this county gives them $11 million in tax breaks and said grants and grants from New York State, they tell the people of this county they’re not good enough to work on this project, they need to bring people in from other states and other regions in the nation,” said David Young, Rochester Building and Trades Council.

Labor leaders say a video showing project workers’ vehicles with out of state license plates is proof that Project Wave is hiring out of state. The video was posted to YouTube on Wednesday.

Because Project Wave is a private corporate project, it is not beholden to any bidding laws or public regulation laws.

PepsiCo released a statement saying:

“In fact we have developed a local labor pledge, with Genesee County’s economic development center and The Haskell Company, our design build partner, in support of this commitment. Our pledge is to use a fair and competitive selection process for the construction of our manufacturing facility. We want to use as many New York State and local subcontractors and suppliers as reasonable.”

To watch to the news story, visit http://rochester.ynn.com/content/top_stories/580430/local-labor-leaders-protest-pepsico-project-wave-site/?ap=1&MP4

Governor Andrew Cuomo speaks on teacher evaluations and flood recovery.

Then

The Governor says the answer to New York’s economic woes is “Jobs, jobs jobs”.

But which job development initiatives make the wisest use of tax payer dollars?

Today we will hear 3 stories of job development with different takes on what works, what doesn’t & why:

First up, Michael Kink of the Strong Economy for All Coalition and Matt Ryan of ALIGN: The Alliance for a Greater New York say the best kind of stimulus comes from economic and social justice & a system in which corporations are accountable to the taxpayers.

Second, there is a jobs event taking place today in a part of the state that needs help: the Southern Tier. The Joint Landowners Coalition of NY is co-hosting the “2012 NY Natural Gas Career & Education Expo” in Binghamton. It’s billed as one of the first opportunities for Southern Tier and Central New York residents to find out how they can prepare for careers in the natural gas industry. JLCNY’s Dan Fitzsimmons will have details.

Interview with Matt Ryan is from minute 15:45 to 22:35

To listen to the interview, visit http://blogs.wcny.org/the-capitol-pressroom-for-april-11-2012/

The problems aren’t limited to New York, either. Walmart is facing resistance in the Chinatown district in Los Angeles. The LA Times reported that City Council outlawed big box chains from opening up in the neighborhood last week.

But Walmart responded, quite shockingly, by saying that “it speaks volumes that the community was not consulted in the writing of the motion.” Riding the wave of input outcry, Walmart even called for community input in Aspen Hill, Md. last October.

But community input in New York? Walmart wants nothing of the sort.

“Funny that in Los Angeles, Walmart wants ‘community input’ while in New York they hold closed door meetings with a hand-selected audience and refuse to participate in Council hearings,” Maritza Silva-Farrell, Senior Organizer with ALIGN, told The Observer in response to the LA reports. “Our communities want to know how Walmart will ensure that the jobs they ‘create’ won’t simply destroy local businesses.”

There’a laundry list of meetings that Walmart and Related Companies have skipped around the city, according to the Walmart Free New York coalition:

- Walmart skipped multiple public hearings held by the New York City Council in 2011
- Related Companies agreed to discuss its Gateway II proposal with the East New York Community Board, only to cancel 20 minutes before the meeting was slated to start.
- Related Companies refused to meet with community leaders on multiple occasions – not responding to multiple requests via letter and in-person visit.
- Walmart held a secret meeting in Brooklyn and refused to allow councilmembers and members of the community board to attend.
- Walmart CEO and company board members won’t grant a meeting with their own associates, even after asked multiple times by OUR Walmart members.
New Yorkers are, once again, disappointed and angry at Walmart.

Wandra Salaman, Executive Director of Mothers on the Move, commented that “Yet again Walmart is showing its true colors—it talks a good game, but that talk rarely matches reality.”

“Will the real Walmart please stand up?” questioned Nieves Padilla, playing on Eminen’s The Real Slim Shady.

Had Walmart opened in New York, you could have saved $11.98 (71%!) on the CD in store.

To read more visit: The New York Observer