Group pushed empty shopping carts through store chanting 'buy local, buy American'

MISSOULA -- Empty shopping carts, pushed by 11 people clad mostly in pink, gathered in the center of the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Missoula at lunch time Friday.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave now," an employee told the group, which then formed a conga line and circled the huge store 1 1/2 times chanting "buy local, buy American" before exiting.

Shoppers looked on with a mixture of amusement and puzzlement.

"We heard you the first time," a young boy kept shouting back.

It was "Buy Nothing Day," according to Code Pink, the women's peace movement that organized the protest.

"We're encouraging people to buy from their local retailers," said Erin Thompson of Code Pink. "For every $100 that is spent with a local retailer, $73 stays in the local economy. For every $100 spent in a chain store, only $43 stays in the local economy."

The group passed out leaflets entitled "How Walmart (sic) is Destroying the World." The word "America" appears before "the World," but is crossed out.

The leaflet claims that two to five existing community jobs are lost for every two new jobs at Wal-Mart; that the majority of Wal-Mart employees have no company-provided health coverage; and that more than 1,800 Iowa grocery, hardware, drug and clothing stores shut their doors in the first 10 years Wal-Mart opened its doors in the state.

"Five of the richest human beings in the world are Wal-Mart heirs," Thompson said, "and they got that way by the company exploiting labor overseas, and exploiting the labor in its own stores."

Code Pink had its work cut out for it if it wanted to make a dent in the company's profits on Friday. Last year, Wal-Marts did $1.53 billion worth of business on the day after Thanksgiving alone, part of its quarter-of-a-trillion dollars in annual sales.

The Arkansas company, beset by negative publicity stemming from lawsuits alleging sex discrimination and violations of federal immigration laws, plus things like a University of California study that estimated California taxpayers spend $86 million a year in public assistance to Wal-Mart employees who cannot make ends meet on company wages, has fought back recently.

The corporation disputes claims that it pays employees lower wages than comparable retailers and says health benefits are available to both full- and part-time employees.

The leaflet said Code Pink "is a woman-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement that seeks positive social change through pro-active, creative protest and non-violent direct action."

Thompson said before entering the store that the group expected to be asked to leave, and would. After circling through the store with their empty carts, the protesters joined a handful of other people on the sidewalk at the corner of Mullan Road and Reserve Street, where they displayed a banner that said "Support the Montana economy, not the Fortune 500."

Two Missoula police officers arrived at the store shortly after Code Pink left. The group disbanded after about an hour on the sidewalk. No citations were issued.

Reporter Vince Devlin can be reached at 523-5260 or at vdevlin@missoulian.com.