Americans Join Together to Demand Wal-Mart Change

5/12/2005 4:09:00 PM

To: National Desk

Contact: Paul Blank of Wake-Up Wal-Mart, 202-466-1503

WASHINGTON, May 12 /U.S. Newswire/ -- As a sign of the growing political and grassroots pressure against Wal-Mart, 51 Members of Congress, led by Rep. Rosa DeLauro, released a letter today calling on Wal-Mart to address their worrisome record on gender discrimination. The letter to Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott calls on the company to disclose their wage data for Congressional review so Congress can "further understand why Wal-Mart pays its women associates less than men and promotes its female workers less frequently than their male counterparts."

The Congressional letter by Rep. DeLauro and her congressional colleagues follows her public support for WakeupWalmart.com's "Love Mom, Not Wal-Mart" Mother's Day campaign. On April 26, Rep. DeLauro, Rep. George Miller, Rep. Hilda Solis, Rep. Linda Sanchez, and Rep. Jan Schakowsky joined together to call on all Americans to support the "Love Mom, Not Wal-Mart" campaign. The "Love Mom, not Wal-Mart" campaign was designed to foster a nationwide grassroots effort to apply public pressure on Lee Scott, CEO of Wal-Mart, to end gender discrimination.

"This is fantastic news. The 51 members of Congress join over 21,000 Americans who think Wal-Mart's practice of discrimination against its female employees must end. America's campaign to change Wal-Mart is growing as more and more Americans wake up to the high cost of Wal-Mart," said Paul Blank, campaign director for http://WakeUpWalMart.com

As part of WakeupWalmart.com's Mother's Day campaign, over 21,788 Americans signed the "Love Mom, not Wal-Mart" pledge that they would not shop at Wal-Mart on Mother's Day until the company addressed the issue of gender discrimination. Thousands of Americans also signed the Mother of all Mother's Day Cards - an 8-foot-by-8-foot card - which is being mailed to Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott. On May 7, WakeupWalmart.com also held a national Day of Action in 26 states and 70 cities and towns to raise awareness about Wal-Mart's record of discrimination covering 1.6 million Wal-Mart women who are part of the largest gender discrimination lawsuit in U.S. history.

"What we are witnessing right now is a growing movement to change Wal-Mart. It will grow every day, from state to state and from town to town, until Wal-Mart becomes a fair and responsible corporate citizen," added Blank.

WakeUpWalmart.com, the campaign to change Wal-Mart, is backed by the UFCW. Since the group's launch on April 5, over 50,000 concerned citizens have joined the growing effort.

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