Via Common Dreams
"When about 650 members of community, labor and faith organizations rallied today in Elwood, Illinois in support of workers at a key Walmart warehouse striking to protest “poverty wages,” sexual harassment, racial discrimination and extreme work conditions, they were met with riot-gear-clad police and the private security Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System Mobile Field Force who surrounded them, arrested all 47 who committed civil disobedience by sitting in the road, and told the other peaceful protesters to disperse or risk “chemical or less lethal munitions being deployed.”
“They call us bodies and that’s what we feel like.” - Mike Compton, one of the striking warehouse workers."
The Banksy street art from years ago was prescient as riot gear has become de riqeur when peaceful protestors take to the streets. How eerie to be so close to these actual photos.
Update 10/2/12
Wal-Mart in CaliforniaAt least 18 Wal-Mart locations have received subsidies worth about $50.8 million in California.
At least 10 Wal-Mart locations in California have challenged their property tax assessment, recouping about $873,000.
Many Wal-Mart workers are ineligible for health coverage from their employer or choose not to purchase what is available, because it is too expensive or too limited in scope. These workers often turn to taxpayer-funded health programs such as Medicaid. California is among those states that have not disclosed data on the employers with the most workers or their dependents enrolled in such programs.
For more information, see the California page of Wal-Mart Subsidy Watch.
