Immediate Release
Contact: Chris Kofinis (202) 486-6422

WAKEUPWALMART.COM ISSUES PUBLIC CHALLENGE: “WILL YOU CROSS THE LINE AND STAND WITH WAL-MART, OR WILL YOU STAND WITH AMERICA’S WORKING FAMILIES?”

GROUP TO STAGE “PICKET LINE FOR AMERICA’S WORKING FAMILIES” AGAINST WAL-MART’S LATEST HEALTH CARE PUBLICITY STUNT IN NYC

Washington, D.C. - This Tuesday, May 8, WakeUpWalMart.com, America’s campaign to change Wal-Mart, will hold a “Picket Line for America’s Working Families” to protest Wal-Mart’s refusal to end its health care public relations events, and, instead, provide affordable and comprehensive health care to all of its employees today.

The group’s “Picket Line for America’s Working Families” will be held in front of Wal-Mart’s latest health care publicity stunt, the so-called “Better Health Care Together Coalition,” which is scheduled to meet at the Hilton New York, in New York City, from 11:45 a.m. - 1:30 p.m., on Tuesday, May 8, 2007. As part of the “Picket Line for America’s Working Families” NYC action, the group is issuing a nationwide challenge to all of the participants planning to attend the Wal-Mart publicity stunt.

The “Will You Cross the Line and Stand with Wal-Mart, or America’s Working Families?” challenge to each participant is this - will you honor the picket line and stand with America’s hard-working families, union members fighting to keep their health care, and the 735,000 Wal-Mart workers who have no company health care, or will you stand with Wal-Mart, a company that fails to provide company health care to over half of its employees and their families, undermines health care benefits for millions of hard-working Americans, and disingenuously supports universal health care?

“Our challenge to all those who would think of standing with Wal-Mart is simple - don’t take part in another publicity stunt, instead, do the right thing, and stand with the countless Wal-Mart workers who need and deserve health care now. At the end of the day, 735,000 Wal-Mart workers and children need company health care - NOW!” said Paul Blank, Campaign Director for WakeUpWalMart.com.

WakeUpWalMart.com is holding this grassroots action to protest the fact that while Wal-Mart disingenuously touts its empty support for “universal health care,” the company ignores the brutal truth about Wal-Mart’s health care record. The facts speak for themselves: Wal-Mart leaves over 53 percent of its workers without company health care; 46 percent of the children of Wal-Mart’s employees are either uninsured or on public health care assistance; and, Wal-Mart costs taxpayers an estimated $1.3 billion every year because so many uninsured Wal-Mart workers are forced onto public health care.

The action is also in response to recent statements by Wal-Mart’s CEO Lee Scott, who made it clear, at the previous “Better Health Care Together” gathering in Washington, D.C. in February, that Wal-Mart’s endorsement of universal health care was both disingenuous and marked by hypocrisy. In fact, when asked by the media, CEO Lee Scott said Wal-Mart would NOT increase its own health care spending to address the large number of Wal-Mart workers left uninsured by the company, and would NOT stop its financial and political support for right-wing candidates who oppose universal health care.

As a further indication of Wal-Mart’s growing health care hypocrisy, WakeUpWalMart.com has also learned that Wal-Mart, through its special interest lobbying association the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), has actively opposed efforts to pass universal health care in Pennsylvania. Ironically, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell is scheduled to attend the event even though Wal-Mart’s irresponsible behavior costs his state an estimated $59 million in total taxpayer-related health care costs, including dependents and spouses.

The video of WakeUpWalMart.com’s grassroots action in NYC, as well as footage of those who
“Cross the Line,” will be made available in the near future on YouTube.com.

#################