We have only just begun. In 2005, we started WakeUpWalMart.com. We had no official supporters for what we were about to launch. We just had millions of Americans who have seen Wal-Mart's negative impact and the strong belief in the power of the American people -- a belief that if we could empower Americans to join together, we could build a powerful force for change. You are proving every day that ordinary Americans have the power to change the largest company and to make Wal-Mart change into a responsible and moral employer.

In the years since our launch, you have organized thousands of grassroots actions and grown our campaign to 483,454 supporters. Millions of Americans have heard our message and begun to take part in this movement.

Below is a brief recap of some of the major nationally coordinated actions you all have led over the past two years:

America was outraged after Glenn Beck began slinging racially-charged insults at Barack Obama. Amazingly, even after it became a high-profile issue, Walmart continued to advertise on the Glenn Beck Program.

In the end, Walmart bowed to pressure from activist groups and over 14,000 WakeUpWalmart.com supporters, ending its direct support of Glenn Beck.

You can still see the petition and tell Walmart executives to stop supporting FOX altogether until Beck apologizes.

As part of a campaign to silence Canadian Walmart activists, Walmart issued a ridiculous injunction against WalmartWorkersCanada.ca. Among other ridiculous demands, Bentonville's legal team ordered the group's website be stripped of any ovals, circles, and semicircles. Does Walmart really think it owns the circle?

Read more and take sign the petition

When Walmart released news that it was offering a line of cheap generic drugs, it postured itself as part of the solution to America's growing health care crisis. With little surprise, we found that Walmart's idea of a "solution" is really part of a disturbing trend toward the erosion of America's product safety.

Read more and download the report today

After the tragic Black Friday 2008 accident which claimed the life of Jdimytai Damour, Walmart revamped store security to avoid a criminal investigation... but only in New York State. We think all Americans deserve a safe shopping environment. Please tell Walmart that it's time for a security overhaul across the board.

Sign the petition today

When The New York Times implied that Andy Stern's cozy relationship with Wal-Mart signaled the end of the movement to change Wal-Mart, our supporters sprang into action. Activists around the nation bombarded the news outlet's editors, demanding that they the REAL story. Our story.

You can still write The NY Times today

Wal-Mart faces the largest gender-discrimination lawsuit of all time, with 1.6 million women suing over unequal pay and unequal opportunities. Its managers have told women they “don't belong in management” and that they “can't manage men.” More recently, Wal-Mart has repeatedly denied military moms leave to see their children before they deploy to war zones.

We couldn't make this stuff up. Check out our Mother's Day feature page to read stories from real Wal-Mart workers, and sign on to our 3 Demands for Change.

Check out the Mother's Day Feature

Wal-Mart's sustainability campaign is more hype than change. Write a local newspaper today. Let's set the record straight on the Wal-Mart's sustainability hype.

Write a letter to the editor today!

In March of 2008, Wal-Mart faced a wave of public outrage after America learned the story of Wal-Mart's lawsuit against Debbie Shank. When Wal-Mart attempted to justify its actions as being taken "out of fairness to all employees," Wal-Mart associates around the country took action. Read their reactions here!

Wal-Mart workers speak out against the suit against Debbie Shank

Is Wal-Mart Helping YOU "Live Better?"Is Wal-Mart taking our country in the right direction? Find out how Wal-Mart is shipping American jobs overseas, failing to make good on its sustainability promises, and leading the race to the bottom among American employers.

Watch our web video, "Living Better"

Starting in November of 2007, we undertook a series of holiday themed mini-campaigns that educated consumers and held Wal-Mart accountable for its negative effects on America. Thanks to over 400,000 WakeUpWalMart.com supporters and several allied advocacy groups, our holiday campaign was an enormous success.

Relive our 2007 holiday campaign.

Wal-Mart is putting profits over people - again - by blocking laws requiring disclosure of where food comes from. Instead of looking out for consumer safety, Wal-Mart is watching its own bottom line. Our food safety campaign sought to expose the truth about Wal-Mart's battle to block potentially life saving legislation.

Watch the video spot today

In October of 2007, we released a report with the facts on Wal-Mart's collusion with China. While Wal-Mart has blindly pursued its race to the bottom, America has reaped the aftereffects. Our manufacturing jobs are being shipped overseas and dangerous products are our shelves.

Read the report and watch the video spot

Wal-Mart earns an "F" for paying poverty-level wages, breaking child labor laws, and pushing its health care costs onto taxpayers. During the kickoff of the 2007 school year, thousands of our supporters wrote their local newspapers, letting America know how Wal-Mart has failed the American people.

You Can Still Sign the Letter Today

During this campaign, we called on our supporters to call, write, fax, or email their elected official and urge them to put America's families first, not Wal-Mart and China.

You Can Still Sign the Letter Today

Call us crazy, but we think most Americans believe that Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest private employer of women, and no doubt moms, should treat its women workers with fairness, equality, decency, and respect.

Check out this mini-campaign dedicated to American moms

On Tuesday, May 8th, 2007, America’s working families issued a nationwide public challenge to any and all participants in Wal-Mart’s latest health care publicity stunt to honor the “Picket Line for America’s Working Families,” and not support Wal-Mart’s health care hypocrisy.

Learn more, and sign the petition

Ever wonder why you pay so much in taxes? A big part of the reason is because multi-billion dollar corporations like Wal-Mart hire high-priced accountants and attorneys to dodge paying the taxes they owe.

Tell your state legislators to close the Wal-Mart tax loophole

Since 9/11, it is one of the greatest security threats facing America, a nuclear weapon in the hands of terrorists being shipped on container into an American port. That's why we sent thousands of letters to the U.S. Senate, and aired a new TV ad to spotlight this frightening reality. You can still call on Wal-Mart to stop lobbying against 100% scanning of port containers, just follow the link below.

Get the facts about port security

We petitioned Wal-Mart to remove offensive nazi imagery from their shelves once and for all. Our petition, with several thousand signees, was a major part of the groundswell that helped remove this offensive stock from Wal-Mart stores around the country.

Check out the petition and summary here

In a landmark victory for women, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 2004 federal judge's decision to let the nation's largest class-action employment discrimination lawsuit go to trial. Our grassroots supporters sent thousands of letters to friends and family, spreading the word about this legal victory for the 2 million+ women workers who were paid less than their equivalent male counterparts.

Read more about the court decision

Our staff traveled to Kansas City during January's Wal-Mart Managers Meetings, bringing our fight for change directly to the store managers who are responsible for implementing Wal-Mart’s anti-family policies. Under the heading, “Working Together We Can Change Wal-Mart,” we unveiled a new initiative to specifically target store managers and ask them to join our movement for change.

Read more about this campaign here

When Wal-Mart mislead the New York Times, alleging an increase in it's health care enrollment, we called our grassroots supporters to action. Thousands of Americans used our tools to write letters to local newspaper editors, holding Wal-Mart accountable for reporting the FACTS about it's expanding health-care crisis.

Write the editor of your local newspaper

WakeUpWalMart.com supporters, leaders of faith, and Wal-Mart workers held candlelight and prayer vigils at over 40 Wal-Mart stores in more than 24 states around the country. At these events, faith leaders and supporters called on Wal-Mart to do what is morally right and “put families first” this holiday season. As part of the 2006 faith-based campaign, two letters signed by over 200 faith leaders from across the country called on Wal-Mart to “do what is morally right” and change for the better this holiday season. WakeUpWalMart.com also released an incredible new ad campaign with Pastor Joe Phelps asking the powerful question, “If these are Wal-Mart’s values, would Jesus Shop at Wal-Mart? Should You?”

View a slideshow of pictures from our candlelight vigils

Our “Women and Families Deserve Better than Wal-Mart” campaign kicked off with coordinated press conferences in 8 states and the distribution of over 100,000 pink flyers to consumers in over 20 states. We also released one of our most emotional and powerful television ads yet, entitled “1000 Years.” The ad starred Wal-Mart Associate Charmaine Givens who in an extraordinarily real and overwhelming moment realizes that it will take her over 1,000 years to earn what Wal-Mart’s CEO Lee Scott earned in just one year. The ad is a must-see for everyone in America.

Watch our ad: "The Truth About Wal-Mart"

Our “Wal-Mart, Put Families First” initiative began with the release of a new TV ad calling on Wal-Mart to put families first this holiday season. The ad, for the first time in our campaign’s history, featured three brave, current Wal-Mart workers who spoke out and told the truth about how Wal-Mart’s anti-family policies hurt its workers and their families. As part of the effort, civil rights and community leaders held press conferences in ten states calling on Wal-Mart, America’s largest private employer of African-Americans and Hispanics, to end its anti-family business practices which needlessly hurt hundreds of thousands of minority families.

Watch our ads: "The Truth About Wal-Mart" and

"Never"

Our 6-week 2006 Holiday Campaign, entitled "Hope for the Holidays," began with two of the brightest stars in American politics – Senator John Edwards and Senator Barack Obama. The call to action by these two great leaders inspired our supporters to launch the largest holiday campaign in WakeUpWalMart.com’s history. Best of all, our supporters wrote over 50,000 holiday postcards for change to Iowa consumers, sharing their own personal opinions of Wal-Mart’s anti-family, anti-American values and calling on Wal-Mart to put families first, this holiday season. Our “Call for Change” began when over 200 Wal-Mart workers at a Wal-Mart store in Hialeah Gardens, Florida, walked out in protest of Wal-Mart’s anti-family policies. The walk-out, a first in Wal-Mart’s history, led to the first ever national conference call with Wal-Mart workers from around the country. The national “call for change” was a groundbreaking moment in the campaign to change Wal-Mart because it was the first time in history Wal-Mart workers had a chance to unite together, speak out, and take a big first step in empowering themselves to change Wal-Mart for the better.

Read the informational flyer

During the “Turn the Frown Upside Down” voter education campaign in October, WakeUpWalMart.com launched a hard-hitting national ad campaign that pointed out Wal-Mart’s right wing agenda, and the fact that Wal-Mart’s policies were, “Good for George Bush, Bad for America.” On top of that, thousands of supporters went door-to-door to educate voters about how Wal-Mart’s right wing politics and positions go directly against the best interests of hard working families. In less than 4 weeks, community activists and concerned citizens distributed over 105,000 political door hangers in 30 states in an unprecedented series of ground actions.

And, best of all, despite Wal-Mart’s last minute donations to right wing Republicans, the American people rejected Wal-Mart’s right wing agenda, voted for change on Election Day, and forced Wal-Mart to fire its senior consultant, Terry Nelson, who produced a racist ad attacking Rep. Harold Ford in Tennessee.

Visit our voter education site

Sometime in May, we came up with a crazy idea to take our campaign on the road and to meet the people who count - You. And, never being satisfied with a small idea, we decided to do a nationwide bus tour for 35 straight days - (really 36 days, because we actually started 1 day early). And, what a trip it was.

On August 1, we launched the 19-state, 35-city, 35-day “2006 Change Wal-Mart, Change America” national bus tour. Speakers at tour events included some of America’s most prominent political and community leaders including Sen. John Edwards, U.S. Senator Evan Bayh, U.S. Senator Joe Biden, Governor Tom Vilsack, Governor Bill Richardson, Senator Joe Lieberman, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, U.S. Senator Ben Cardin, and many other local and state officials. Along the way, our supporters organized events and joined us at town hall meetings, state fairs, and other tour stops all across the country. Best of all, you recruited your fellow citizens to join the movement, and we met our goal of 25,000 new WakeUpWalMart.com supporters by Labor Day. Whether it was a weekday in downtown Philadelphia, the state fair in Iowa, or the Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle, our little bus trip became the talk of America.

Check out our tour website

Earlier this year, Wal-Mart launched a personal attack website against the WakeUpWalMart.com campaign team, calling us names and hurting our feelings (well not really). So, not to be outdone, in July, WakeUpWalMart.com launched its very own website in response to Wal-Mart’s “swift-boat” style attack website with one of the longest names for a website in recent political history.

Our new website, www.ABunchOfGreedyRightWingLiarsWhoWorkForWalMart.com, made clear the deep and disturbing right-wing connections behind Wal-Mart’s attack machine and the links that many of Wal-Mart’s newly hired right-wing operatives had to some of the most vicious political smear campaigns in American political history. As part of the effort, our supporters nationwide voted online for their favorite right-wing liar – and the results for the year are in – Taylor Gross wins!! Best of all, while America’s campaign to change Wal-Mart grows everyday, Wal-Mart’s right wing machine seems to be sputtering with Bob “Big Tobacco” McAdam leaving for a cushy job at some big food chain, and Terry “Racist Ads Rock” Nelson off to manage the John McCain Presidential Campaign (News Bulletin to McCain – What the Hell Are You Thinking???!!!)

Visit ABunchOfGreedyRightWingLiarsWhoWorkForWalmart.com

We love July 4th, and what better time to declare your independence from Wal-Mart than to do it on independence day – so we did. Our “Declare Your Independence from Wal-Mart” campaign began with the release of our own Declaration of Independence from Wal-Mart that stated, very eloquently, that ““We, the American people, hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Americans are created equal and all American workers have certain unalienable rights, including the right to a living wage, affordable health care, and a safe and just work place …”

As part of the effort, tens of thousands of WakeUpWalMart.com supporters signed the “Declaration of Independence from Wal-Mart”, calling on all Americans to stand up and once again defend our country from big corporate interests like Wal-Mart who have declared war on America’s working families. Best of all, we released a new, patriotic ad, “Declare Your Independence from Wal-Mart,” which asked people to join the fight for a better America.

Sign the Declaration of Independence from Wal-Mart

Since we are not often invited to Wal-Mart’s headquarters, we decided to visit Wal-Mart’s annual shareholders meeting in June. As part of our effort to “wake up” Wal-Mart’s shareholders, some of our most loyal WakeUpWalMart.com supporters hand delivered our message to Wal-Mart shareholders as they walked into the annual meeting in Fayetteville, Arkansas. We distributed over 1,500 copies of the WakeUpWalMart.com letter inviting shareholders to join our movement to change Wal-Mart into a better business “on behalf of its employees, its shareholders and the American people.” The letter also ran in a statewide, full-page ad in the Arkansas Democratic Gazette.

Read the press release

In May, we joined with civic leaders and 57 community groups in a nationwide mini-campaign to “Help Make Wal-Mart Safe By Mother’s Day.” Press conferences across the country highlighted the troubling findings of a new report, “Is Wal-Mart Safe?” The report analyzed the official police incident reports from a random sample of 551 Wal-Mart store locations. During the grassroots actions, we discussed the impact a Wal-Mart store has on the community including crime and public safety concerns. Based on the high number of reported police calls from the Wal-Mart stores sampled, we called on Wal-Mart, on behalf of its customer’s safety, to improve security at its stores by Mother’s Day. Sadly, as is often reported in the news across the country, despite the continuation of police incidents at Wal-Mart stores, Wal-Mart continues to ignore this serious problem.

Read the shocking report for yourself and see how much America pays for Wal-Mart’s failure to address this serious issue.

Go to our crime website and learn more about Wal-Mart's impact on your community

As part of a nationwide day of action to “Help Cure the Wal-Mart Health Care Crisis,” local Change to Win federation members, workers, community activists, and WakeUpWalMart.com supporters held public rallies involving thousands of Americans in 35 cities nationwide. During this week of action, we delivered a powerful message to the American people about the real costs of the “Wal-Mart Health Care Crisis”. The Wal-Mart Health Care Crisis is the fact that Wal-Mart fails to provide company health care to 57% or over 775,000 of its employees costing American taxpayers an estimated $9 billion over the next five years.

Check out our extensive health care feature

In celebration of our first anniversary on April 5, 2006, WakeUpWalMart.com supporters held local “WakeUp” meetings in 14 different cities and towns, including Virginia (2), Massachusetts (2), Michigan (2), California, New Jersey, Florida, Iowa, Oregon, West Virginia, Ohio, and Nebraska. Americans from all walks of life – from students to elected leaders to health care advocates to everyday hard-working citizens – joined together to celebrate a year filled with incredible activism and energy, leadership and change. The “WakeUp” groups watched a new video, “Celebrating a Year of Change”, surveying the first year of this movement and our goals for the future.

Visit our 1st Anniversary page

All across America, tens of thousands of you participated in the March Madness Tournament For Change - our own version of the great national college basketball tournament. On March 13, we launched a membership drive with an ambitious goal of signing up over 15,000 new supporters by our one-year anniversary on April 5, 2006. You responded with enormous grassroots energy and surpassed our goal, and WakeUpWalMart.com began its second year with over 210,000 supporters. Caroline Vernon of Iowa won the individual grassroots competition with over 200 points.

With Wal-Mart workers and community leaders, you helped lead a new national health care campaign initiative called "Stop the Wal-Mart Health Care Crisis." Press conferences in 14 states included rare testimonials from 17 former and current Wal-Mart workers, the most ever to speak out publicly at one time. The workers called on CEO Lee Scott and Wal-Mart to do more to help them and to improve conditions and benefits for other workers and their families. WakeUpWalMart.com also released a new report, "America Pays, Wal-Mart Saves," detailing the incredible cost American taxpayers bear because of the Wal-Mart health care crisis. When three Massachusetts women sued Wal-Mart for failing to provide access to emergency contraceptive pills, over 7,000 of you signed a petition calling on Wal-Mart to stop denying women access to this legal medicine. You pledged not to buy medicines from Wal-Mart pharmacies until Wal-Mart respects the rights of all women. Also, WakeUpWalMart.com issued a joint statement with America's leading women's rights groups calling on Wal-Mart to end this outrageous intrusion into the health and privacy of American women. Twelve days later, a state board voted to require Wal-Mart to stock emergency contraception pills at its Massachusetts pharmacies. Wal-Mart hired high-priced lobbyists to sway Maryland state legislators, but your grassroots pressure helped them make the right decision and pass the first Fair Share Health Care legislation in the United States. Your phone calls and letters to key legislators, plus the WakeUpWalMart.com press conference with Wal-Mart worker Cynthia Murray, influenced them to enact the law by overriding Governor Robert Ehrlich's veto. The vote expands health care for working families and stops large, profitable companies from shifting their health care costs onto taxpayers. As the finale of the Wake-Up Wal-Mart 2005 Holiday Campaign, you held rallies at Wal-Mart stores in over 20 states to raise public awareness about Wal-Mart's failure to provide affordable health care to its workers. Santa Claus, elves, children and other supporters distributed flyers and a national petition supporting Fair Share for Health Care legislation. Speakers at the event talked about Wal-Mart's health care crisis and how nearly 1 out of every 2 children of Wal-Mart workers has no health care or receives public assistance. WakeUpWalMart.com supporters and leaders of faith held candlelight vigils at over 30 Wal-Mart stores in more than 20 states around the country. At these events, you asked Wal-Mart to do what is right and change for the better this Holiday Season, since Wal-Mart can, but chooses not to, reflect the best of our moral values. While at the stores, you gave local Wal-Mart managers copies of the interfaith letter signed by over 93 respected religious leaders representing over 1.3 million Americans. The letter was also sent to Lee Scott, CEO of Wal-Mart. You went door-to-door and to local shopping centers talking with your neighbors about standing up to corporate greed and demonstrating the amazing power all Americans have to change Wal-Mart and America for the better. In and around Denver, Colorado, canvassers signed up nearly 900 new supporters. Over 4,000 new sign-ups from this action helped us reach our ambitious goal of 150,000 supporters before the end of December. The “Guess Who's Not Shopping” online contest was a fun campaign based on the fact that someone important was not shopping at Wal-Mart this Holiday Season given Wal-Mart's record of gender discrimination in the workplace, violation of child labor laws, and the fact that over 600,000 of Wal-Mart employees are not covered by Wal-Mart's health insurance. After nearly two weeks of suspense and thousands of posters all around town, the competition ended on December 9 with the answer revealed -- the Reverend Jesse Jackson. Of the 68 people who guessed correctly, we randomly selected ten to receive a free TiVO. Congratulations to our lucky winners! You took to the streets with early-morning actions at over 400 Wal-Mart stores on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Over 2,000 volunteers passed out over one million flyers to inform consumers about recent studies in four states showing that Wal-Mart failed to meet federal standards for pricing accuracy in those states. Click here for more on the price accuracy studies. WakeUpWalMart.com worked with our allies during Wal-Mart Week, November 13-19, to host hundreds of screenings of Robert Greenwald's documentary “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price.” In addition to organizing hundreds of screenings across the country, you held teach-ins, community forums, store actions, and other events. The film screenings drew enormous crowds and built momentum for the larger Holiday Campaign. One screening in Milwaukee, Wisconsin was attended by over 900 people, and over 600 people attended a movie screening in Atlanta, Georgia. You hosted 113 Halloween candy fundraisers in 91 cities in 31 states to highlight the scary fact that Wal-Mart fails to provide company health care to more than 600,000 (over half) of its workers. With children and adults dressed in Halloween costumes, you raised thousands of dollars to help uninsured Wal-Mart workers get health care through the new association Wal-Mart Workers of America. You also passed out over 100,000 flyers on the scary “Secret Wal-Mart Memo” that outlines Wal-Mart Vice President Susan Chamber's memo calling for the use of more part-time workers instead of full-time workers, pushing spouses of workers off Wal-Mart's health care plan through higher premiums, and trying to dissuade “unhealthy” people from seeking jobs at Wal-Mart. At local events across the country and online, over 20,000 of you signed our pledge to send Wal-Mart “Back to School” by buying my “Back to School” supplies somewhere other than Wal-Mart. Once again, you joined with the two largest teacher organizations, the NEA and AFT, to hold Wal-Mart accountable for its behavior. With over $10 billion in profit, Wal-Mart can afford to do better than poverty level wages, no company health insurance for more than 600,000 employees, discriminating against 2 million female workers and violating child labor standards. You hosted over 120 house parties in 38 states, with over 1500 guests, which led to over 150 actions to Make Wal-Mart Care About Health Care. More than 7,000 of you signed up to be Citizen Co-Sponsors of Fair Share for Health Care legislation. Nine press conferences were held in 9 different states, bringing together community leaders in support of Fair Share for Health Care. Your grassroots pressure also contributed to the introduction of the Health Care Accountability Act by Sens. Kennedy and Corzine and Rep. Weiner. You can read more and sign up to be a Citizen Co-Sponsor by clicking here. To read about the actions taken by one supporter to "Make Wal-Mart Care About Health Care," click here. Although Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich ended up vetoing this legislation which would require large corporations, like Wal-Mart, to pay their fair share of their workers health care, almost 3,000 of you sent the Governor an email, urging him not to do so. Now, the momentum is growing to introduce similar legislation all across the country. For examples of such momentum, click here or here. Wal-Mart sponsored an advertisement featuring Nazi imagery, which was run in a newspaper in Flagstaff, Arizona. Over 4,000 of you immediately called on Wal-Mart to denounce this ad and issue an apology. Within a day, Wal-Mart apologized and ran another quarter page ad in the same newspaper, apologizing for their use of a Nazi image. To read more about this success, please click here. In April and May, over 21,000 of you joined with members of Congress and pledged not to shop at Wal-Mart for your Mother's Day gifts until Wal-Mart ended their record of discrimination against women. You also added your name to the "Mother of all Mother's Day cards," which was sent to Lee Scott, CEO of Wal-Mart. Our national day of action, which was the day before Mother's Day, included over 70 events all across the country, where supporters talked to people in their community about Wal-Mart's record on gender discrimination and encouraged people to sign the "Love Mom, not Wal-Mart" pledge. To read more about this success, please click here. In March and April, over 12,000 of you wrote to ABC News President David Westin, calling on him to drop Wal-Mart immediately as the sole sponsor of ABC's "Only in America" series. Wal-Mart continues to spend millions of advertising dollars perpetuating a myth about the company that is patriotic, when in fact up to 70% of the goods in their stores are foreign and made in China.