May 10, 2007

Protesting Wal-Mart's Health Care Hypocrisy

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Wal-Mart's newly launched effort to portray itself as an advocate for health care reform drew a stern rebuke when company CEO Lee Scott came to New York Tuesday for a meeting of the Wal-Mart-backed "Better Health Care Together Coalition."

When Scott arrived for the meeting at the Hilton New York hotel, he was greeted by several hundred labor and community activists who formed a "Picket Line for America's Working Families" to protest the company's refusal to provide affordable and comprehensive health care to to 735,000 Wal-Mart workers and their children.

Demonstraters, led by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), denounced Wal-Mart's involvement in the coalition as a "publicity stunt" by the retail giant.

Two protesting Wal-Mart workers, Charmaine Givens and Cynthia Murray, were later ejected from the hotel site after unsuccessfully attempting to meet with Scott to discuss Wal-Mart's refusal to provide health insurance.

Watch video of the protest and Wal-Mart workers being denied entry to the meeting.