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Wal-Mart opponents long on ideas, short on leverage
by Jeff Horwich, Minnesota Public Radio
January 23, 2004

Chris Conry of the UFCW, left, talks with other local residents and activists concerned about Wal-Mart moving to the Midway area of St. Paul. They have developed a series of conditions for the retailer they hope will "make them a better neighbor." (MPR Photo/Jeff Horwich)

Minneapolis and St. Paul have many amenities, but neither city has a Wal-Mart. That will probably change this spring, when a Wal-Mart opens in the Midway area of St. Paul. The opening faces few, if any, obstacles, but community activists are marshalling their forces nonetheless. They say if they can't make Wal-Mart go away, they want to at least make it a better neighbor.

St. Paul, Minn. — Few things can bring people together like a Wal-Mart coming to town. Under the dull fluorescent lights of a Midway community center, 18 union leaders, activists, and local residents gathered recently to plot strategy. They doled out assignments to talk with local officials, business groups and community groups, and laid out a relatively swift timetable for action.

They all accept that Wal-Mart is coming. The world's biggest retailer bought out the lease on a University Ave. K-Mart building, when K-Mart declared bankruptcy in 2002. Wal-Mart doesn't need a zoning change for the site, nor have they asked for tax breaks or other financial help. In fact, it doesn't appear Wal-Mart needs anyone's approval for anything at this point.

But people like St. Paul resident Bruce Faribault still intend to raise a ruckus.

	Coming soon...

"I'm not a local activist or anything, but I'm a retiree and I know that the community's going to get burned in the long run on it," Faribault says. "I think it's up to them to prove their worthiness to the community."

Wal-Mart brings its share of baggage to town, including a current class action lawsuit brought by four Minnesota women who claim they had to work extra hours without pay. Wal-Mart is currently appealing the case's designation as a class action.

The St. Paul activists propose a series of ambitious conditions. Among them -- Wal-Mart will hire mostly from the surrounding neighborhood, and pay a starting wage of $9.50 an hour; Wal-Mart will meet every three months with community members; Wal-Mart will agree to certain "non-competition" agreements with other local businesses.

Activists hope the retailer, in a show of good faith, will voluntarily agree to the stipulations. But they expect it will take major public pressure to prompt any change.

The effort is coordinated by Chris Conry, an organizer with the local United Food and Commercial Workers union.

"We did a door-knock last autumn, and when we approached people with what we were doing, lots of people were willing to say, 'Yeah, that's great by me,'" Conry says. "Because we're not trying to stop them. We're just trying to make them a better neighbor."

Wal-Mart, which did not return calls for this story, has shown it can be flexible on some points. Wal-Mart officials have agreed not to sell guns in a number of U.S. locations. In the St. Paul suburb of Inver Grove Heights, a Wal-Mart opens this week with a substantially altered appearance -- a concession needed to obtain a zoning change.

Inver Grove resident Chris Reese led the charge against Wal-Mart there. He's not optimistic about the St. Paul group's chances, since this time Wal-Mart doesn't need to go through city officials.

	Fritts: "We're very excited" about Wal-Mart

"When you're talking about something that has to be approved by the city council, then you have a great deal of leverage in terms of denying something. If they don't have any real leverage, it's going to be difficult to get any of those things," Reese says.

The president of the Midway Chamber of Commerce, Lori Fritts, says there is no reason for Wal-Mart to enter any kind of agreement on something like wages.

"This is not a case where they're taking a public subsidy. And I would not approach them and discuss their employee benefits, any more than I would any other company along the avenue," Fritts says.

Fritts says she's excited Wal-Mart is coming, bringing activity and sales tax revenue back to a site that is otherwise a vacant eyesore.

"Wal-Mart will have a large marketing budget, so it's possible they'll be bringing people back to the Midway who maybe haven't been here for some time," Fritts says. "And certainly, the smaller vendors along the way that don't have large marketing budgets can benefit from that flow of people."

Some small business owners might agree. The manager in a nearby herb and nutritional supplement store says not only is she not worried about competition, but she is personally looking forward to shopping there.

Kathy Stransky, co-owner of the Midway Book used bookstore, doesn't see her business suffering directly. But she isn't happy about adding one more big-box retailer to the neighborhood.

"There's no individuality. That whole area's taken over, and I just feel like they're putting the squeeze on us," Stransky says.

But activists will have a hard time taming the excitement of consumers like Alberta Ingram, shopping with a friend in a strip mall across from the Wal-Mart site. She's delighted to hear Wal-Mart is coming.

"About time we got one here, because we don't have one in St. Paul, (anywhere) in the community," she says. "They have everything. The prices, the sales. School supplies, household stuff -- it's a good place!"

A top St. Paul development official confirms the city has no intention or reason to interfere with Wal-Mart's move-in. But on the other hand, she says, St. Paulites do have a history of catching public officials' ears and making things happen.

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