The “Walmart Free Newark” campaign was a tremendous success of our coalition and the Newark community. Working together with small business, faith, labor, student, women, civil rights, and community groups, we not only stopped Walmart from opening a store in Newark, but also paved the way for a family-friendly ShopRite to open in the city.
Working Families United for New Jersey, Inc.’s success came as a result of the collective dedication to ensuring a prosperous future for the Newark community and the broad range of organizations involved in this campaign. We thank each and every organization and individual who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with us on the steps of Newark City Hall and who joined to testify before the City Council and Newark Planning Board on several occasions. Your community solidarity made the critical difference.
The impact of this campaign cannot be understated. Unlike Walmart, which is infamous for lowering community working standards, ShopRite will be built, staffed, and operated union and uplift the community by creating family-sustaining jobs for local residents.
Working Families United for New Jersey, Inc.’s “Walmart Free Newark” campaign provides an example of how we can promote a statewide economic recovery. We must combat the trend towards part-time, low-wage, low-benefit work which undermines our middle class, and instead stand strong – as we did in Newark – to support companies which provide family-sustaining jobs that strengthen our communities.
We cannot thank our coalition partners enough for making this campaign such a massive success. We look forward to building on our victory as we work with community partners to register to vote, vote to “Raise the Wage”, and continue to empower our state’s working families.
CLICK HERE for a press release regarding the success of “Walmart Free Newark”.
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