City Report Is Critical of Wal-Mart Supercenters (Los Angeles)

[DeepModem Mom]

A report commissioned by two Los Angeles city councilmen warns that Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s Supercenters could harm the local economy and recommends that the company be required to raise its pay and benefits if it wants to operate in the city.

The report, made public Friday, moves Los Angeles one step closer toward banning or placing severe restrictions on the mega-stores, which combine a full supermarket with a typical Wal-Mart discount outlet. Wal-Mart plans to open 40 of the stores in California within the next two years. At least five California cities have approved Supercenters; Oakland and several others have instituted zoning rules that ban them.

The expansion of nonunion Wal-Mart into the grocery business threatens the state's highly unionized supermarket industry and figures prominently in the strike and lockout of grocery workers in Southern and Central California. The supermarket companies say they must cut labor costs to compete.

Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart will oppose any effort by the city to prevent it from opening a Supercenter in Los Angeles, said Pete Kanelos, the company's California-based community relations specialist.


http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-walmart6dec06,1,175923.story?coll=la-home-business

[meti57b]

1. Good! I hope the City of Los Angeles is successful.

Otherwise, after we export tech jobs to India, export manufacturing jobs to everywhere else, put small, medium and even large business out of business by mega-stores, depress salaries to below living wage .... exactly what are people supposed to do to earn a living.

[Melsky]

2. That is good for Los Angeles

I'm so glad that cities are waking up to the fact that these stores hurt the communities they are in.

[Fitzovich]

3. Yes!

Way to go L.A. I hope we see more of this!

[UpInArms]

4. since squalmart opened its

super-duper-everything-in-one-store center 30 miles from me - that little town has closed 3 grocery stores and one general purpose store -

loss of jobs - probably 150

gain of jobs - probably 40

loss of choices - priceless