Hundreds of University Intellectuals Sign Petition Denouncing
Wal-Mart
More than 200 university intellectuals across the world have signed a petition
criticizing Wal-Mart’s contempt for employees who are demanding improved working conditions. University professors who signed the petition include Noam Chomsky (MIT), Roy Adams (McMaster) and Elaine Berhard (Harvard), while several others are affiliated with such prestigious institutions as Harvard, Yale, Berkeley, Stanford, Oxford and Cambridge among others.
The intellectuals are speaking out in support of an international effort urging Wal-Mart to show respect for its employees. In denouncing the giant retailer’s attitude towards workers, the petition addresses Wal-Mart’s decision to close down a Canadian store in Jonquiere, Quebec, where employees won union representation with UFCW Canada.
Rather than reach an agreement for fair wages and benefits, Wal-Mart would rather close stores, eliminate workers’ jobs and make the entire community suffer. The petition also criticizes Wal-Mart’s anti-union “policy of discouraging its employees from exercising this fundamental right and in frustrating its object when employees choose, nevertheless, to exercise it.” Those who signed the petition believe it is essential for Wal-Mart to “recognize and deal fairly with leaders freely chosen by its employees with a view towards working out, in good faith, mutually acceptable solutions to issues raised.”
Click here to see a copy of the petition and signatories
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