Letter: Walmart Model: Who's next?

On Jan. 11 Walmart announced it was shutting down 63 of its Sam's Club locations nationwide, seven of them in Illinois, including the Sam’s Club in Moline. This could cost Illinois 1,137 jobs, including 155 just in Moline.

And for the estimated 10,000 Sam’s Club workers across the U.S., including those in Moline, they have none other than Walmart to thank.

Over the last two years, Walmart has eliminated an estimated 30,000 jobs and closed more than 170 stores nationwide, which in addition to these 63 ill-fated Sam’s Clubs, is not only a frightening insight, but begs surviving Walmart employees – and their communities – to ask: Are we next?

On average, a typical Sam’s Club will contribute millions to local tax coffers. The Sam’s Club store in Moline was open for just a year and a half, but was already one of the city’s 10 biggest sales tax generators. And unfortunately for us, once a Walmart or Sam’s Club store closes, the company never repays the subsidies or local resources it has drained, often devastating local economies and destroying jobs.

This should come as no surprise, since it is, in fact, the Walmart Model.

For the sake of standing up for what is right, it’s time we all start using our hard-earned dollars to value corporations that value us, our community, and workers, not those who only value greed. Because, while this may be the Walmart model, it doesn’t have to be the model for America or our great state.

Jerry Messer,

Davenport

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