A year ago, I was scrambling to find everything on a school supply list. The teacher asked for fabric paints. Not being a crafts person, I didn’t know what fabric paint was or where to get it.
So I asked. People tried to be helpful. “Wal-Mart,” they said.
Not only was that of no help to me, it could easily have been an opening volley in a touchy debate.
Isn’t Wal-Mart on the ever-growing list of taboo subjects, not to be discussed in polite company? Religion, politics, Cindy Sheehan’s peace camp in Texas and Wal-Mart. These are the things that rile us up and split us apart.
I don’t shop at Wal-Mart. Ever. I don’t even want to know how cheap the cereal is there. I won’t go. I can afford not to.
That doesn’t mean I was entirely supportive when I read about the state teachers union calling on its 77,000 members – and parents of students – to avoid Wal-Mart when shopping for school supplies this year.
On Aug. 10, the Washington Education Association took part in a news conference in Seattle, one of 30 gatherings around the country organized by union members and lawmakers critical of the world’s largest retailer.
Charles Hasse, state teachers union president, said that “as educators, we recognize that we have a responsibility that goes beyond instruction in the classroom.”
I’d never say the union shouldn’t ask its teachers to avoid Wal-Mart. I just don’t like the idea of including parents in the crusade.
Should the teachers union advise parents on where to shop? I think that crosses a line. It seems akin to telling parents how to vote – not just on a school issue, but for president.
Mike Wartelle doesn’t see it that way. Wartelle is executive director of the Pilchuck UniServ Council, which represents teachers organizations in central Snohomish County.
“There are very good reasons for it,” Wartelle said of what he called an educational campaign. “Wal-Mart’s record of providing livable-wage jobs is so dismal, that’s the thrust behind it.”
Wartelle said local teacher associations aren’t making a concerted effort to reach parents. “We have publicized the reasons surrounding WEA’s stance,” he said.
The issue won’t come up at school, he added.
“Very clearly, our members are not promulgating this view in the classroom,” Wartelle said. “In our off-work professional time, we try to share what is good and bad for the community. The genesis really is Wal-Mart’s record of not providing health care to employees, and the pressure that puts on the state or community health care system.”
“It’s not a formal boycott at all. There won’t be union members picketing outside stores,” said Kit Raney, head of the Snohomish Education Association and president of Pilchuck UniServ.
Raney agreed the campaign isn’t aimed at children. “They’re kids; they don’t have those choices,” she said.
The Wal-Mart issue was presented to teachers in the Snohomish Education Association’s newsletter.
Raney pushes affordable alternatives. “I love Target, Fred Meyer and other stores in our area. They pay a fair wage,” she said.
Where to shop is a personal choice. I have strong opinions about Wal-Mart, but I’m usually polite enough not to say. I only brought it up because the state teachers union did. There’s lots of Wal-Mart news around to help you form your own opinions.
In June, a Health Care Accountability Act was introduced in Congress to expose the trend of workers for profitable companies enrolling in public health care intended for the poor.
In March, Herald business writer Eric Fetters reported that when the Washington State Health Care Authority, overseer of the subsidized Basic Health Plan, analyzed where participants worked, Wal-Mart topped the list.
Yet Fetters didn’t find local Wal-Mart workers complaining about their average hourly wage of $9.98, which is considerably lower than pay in unionized stores.
Work where you like, shop where you like. It’s up to you.
When all the other businesses are either gone or paying $9.98 an hour, don’t say no one tried to warn you.
Those fabric paints? I finally found them, but they were no bargain.
Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlstein julie@heraldnet.com.
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