Group to counter Wal-Mart critics
Posted on Tuesday, December 20, 2005
With financial backing from Wal-Mart Stores Inc., a group of community leaders - from clergy to Latino activists to businesswomen - is expected to announce the formation today of a national group to speak up for the world's largest retailer and launch counter-attacks when it senses criticism is unfair.
The steering committee of 16 people, funded in large part by Wal-Mart, organized Working Families for Wal-Mart, whose job will be to talk about what it sees as Wal-Mart's positive contributions.
"I know Wal-Mart is good for working families because I know men and women in my congregation who work at Wal-Mart, shop at Wal-Mart,"committee member Bishop Ira Combs Jr. said in a statement. Combs is the founder and pastor of the Greater Bible Way Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith in Jackson, Mich.
Bentonville-based Wal-Mart is the largest financial backer of the group, company spokesman Sarah Clark said without providing details.
The group formed as Wal-Mart has stepped up its responses to attacks from two political-campaign-style groups backed by unions. Those groups, Wal-Mart Watch and Wake-Up Wal-Mart, claim that Wal-Mart is bad for its workers, their communities and the American economy.
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