Hibbing, Al Franken, Wal-Mart

Kathee and I were in Hibbing with Al Franken on Thursday!

Well actually:

Kathee and I were in Hibbing Thursday & Friday (for a wedding on Friday!) and Al Franken happened to be there at the same time! We saw this on the local news Thursday night:

Union workers protest Wal-Mart / Al Franken visits to show support

Excerpt:

HIBBING — Local trade union members gathered at highways 169 and 73 in Hibbing Thursday to protest Wal-Mart’s failure to rely on local union labor for a remodeling project, and a candidate for U.S. Senate showed up to support them.

The union members accused the company of “shopping out bids” and said out-of state, non-union labor will soon revamp Hibbing’s Wal-Mart in a $1.8 million project. They said the store was originally built with local union labor.

One union official said a few local union conractors would work on the $1.8 million renovation, but their share added up to “a minute percentage” of the contract’s worth. Al Franken, the DFL nominee for the Senate seat now held by Republican Norm Coleman, came to the protest site Thursday and said “the least they (Wal-Mart) could do” would be to use union labor on construction projects.

“We have to get back in this country to where we care about quality, and we care about paying people enough, so these people can buy things and have a good quality of life,” Franken said in an interview.

Gordon Smith, an organizer with the International Union of Painters an Allied Trades, said local trade unions learned of the project — slated to start July 21 — a few weeks ago. He said they approached Wal-Mart’s local and corporate offices to submit bids but learned later the project had been awarded to a general contractor in South Dakota, who then picked out-of-state subcontractors.

“It’s very frustrating,” Smith said. “You can’t allow these companies and businesses to keep undermining the standards of everybody. If you do, pretty soon, they’ll have everybody working for nothing.”

Smith said union workers will protest at Wal-Mart until construction starts or Wal-Mart changes its decision to farm out the work.

Weak economy may be Wal-Mart’s strong suit / When the going gets tough, shoppers turn to the giant discounter

Excerpt:

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Melissa O’Brien said the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer has “absolutely” benefited from the fact that more Americans need to pinch pennies. But she thinks the company’s efforts to make shopping there more appealing — including extensively remodeling stores, working to improve customer service and revamping the product mix — also have helped keep them coming back.

The company also has undertaken a major effort to improve its reputation, countering attacks over its wages and benefits and working to make its business more environmentally sustainable.

Observations:

1. There is more to Hibbing than one who has never been there might think. I told my boss today that I was in Hibbing over the weekend and he kind of scrunched up his face like "oh well ... too bad for you".
   
2. Hibbing is an attractive city of 17,000. It has at least three car dealerships, some nice restaurants, a brand new movie theater (we went out to see Wall-E), a Lowes, Caribou, Pizza Hut, and a Wal-Mart. It also has some nice housing and many churches (only one Baptist that I could find!).
   
3. Back to Al Franken and his labor protest. The non-union laborers ... they are laborers too! Right? I'm not in a Union. (I wanted to form one back when I was a Baptist minister: The United Brotherhood of Ordained Baptist Ministers (UBOBM). This idea never really took off and when I was locked out of my church I realized the error of my way!)
   
4. And back to Wal-Mart. In the strongly union town of Hibbing, the Hibbing Wal-Mart is one busy place. They must be doing something right. Perhaps to keep costs down for the average guy, they have to bid out projects to the lowest bidder. That's what I would do!