March Against Wal-Mart To Be San Diego's Largest Ever

“We Deserve Better” March and Rally in San Diego:

A Thousand March for Change at Wal-Mart

Local Residents, Faith Leaders, and Workers Call on Wal-Mart to Stop Stampeding into San Diego’s Historic Farmer’s Market and to Bring Good Jobs to Our Communities

San Diego — Community members, faith leaders, and workers are gearing up for the city’s largest ever rally and march against Wal-Mart to call on the retail giant to meet with community stakeholders if it wants to open new stores in the city.

“We’ve seen how this company mistreats its employees and how it bulldozes over residents in a community,” said Genoveva Aguilar of Casa de Vecinos Organizados. “We don’t need Wal-Mart to come into our city, bringing poor paying jobs and destroying our cultural history.” Earlier in the spring, Wal-Mart surprised local residents and neighbors when the company partially demolished the iconic Farmer’s Market building in Sherman Heights without public notice or hearings. The permitting process that allowed the demolition is also currently facing audit over questionable political donations to city officials.

The march in San Diego is one of hundreds of marches and rallies calling for change that have been happening nationwide. Last week, Wal-Mart contracted warehouse workers in the Inland Empire and outside of Chicago went on strike in protest of unsafe working conditions and unfair labor practices.

The Saturday march will begin at Golden Hill Community Park and end at the Sherman Heights Farmers Market.

EVENT:           
Wal-Mart retail associates, warehouse workers, and community leaders will share concerns of poor working conditions and unanswered calls to meet with Wal-Mart at rally

LOCATION:     
March begins at 2590 Golden Hill Dr., San Diego, CA 92102
March ends at Sherman Heights Farmer’s Market, 21st St./Imperial Ave.

DATE/TIME:   
Saturday, September 22, 2012 at 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

SPEAKERS:      
Including: Congressman Bob Filner, Assemblymember Ben Hueso, San Diego Unified School Board Member Richard Barrera, San Diego Labor Council Secretary-Treasurer Lorena Gonzalez, UFCW Local 135 President Mickey Kasparian, Father Robert Fambrini, and Father Tommie Jennings

VISUALS:         
More than 1,000 marchers expected, with giant signs, musicians, marchers to participate in the largest rally ever against Wal-Mart in San Diego history

CONTACT:      
Patrick Pierce, 619-807-0850
Jorge Amaro, 202-412-4998

You can follow the march and rally on Twitter with the hashtag #stopwalmart

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