I'll never forget my first trip to rural USA. A friend had invited me to spend Thanksgiving with his family in Sparta, Wisconsin--population 8,921. As we made the drive, I imagined a quaint town, lined with small stores, selling local products. In reality, Sparta felt more like a main drag for big-box retailers―the largest of which was the brand new Walmart Supercenter.

Walmart's business model--based on low prices, large volume and high sales--has been tremendously successful, at least for shareholders. With revenues twice the size of South Africa's Gross Dometic Product (GDP), Walmart is the largest corporation in the world. The company's founders, the Walton family, have accumulated a combined wealth equal to the bottom 30 per cent of people in the US.

In recent years however, sales at the retail giant have stagnated as the company's traditional market―rural and peri-urban areas―becomes saturated. While profits continue to rise, the company is trying to expand. Walmart currently operates in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Japan, Mexico, the UK and most recently, South Africa. Its purchase of 51 per cent of Massmart shares last June sparked a debate about the potential costs and benefits to South Africa. While supporters argue that Walmart will bring investment, increase productivity and lower costs, critics warn that Walmart's purchase of Massmart will trigger a "race to the bottom" across the supply chain by squeezing suppliers, workers and communities.

However, expansion also provides new opportunities to organize and win concessions. " We think they [Walmart] are so desperate to grow that they're willing to change their business model," explains Mackenzie Baris, Walmart campaign coordinator for Jobs with Justice, a national coalition of labour, community, student and faith groups in the US. While in the US, Walmart has fought tooth and nail against the union―intimidating, threatening and even firing workers who tried organize―Walmart has agreed to honour union contracts in almost every other country. This can give organizers a new kind of leverage, adds Baris "We can go to Walmart and say, you changed your business model in South Africa, you accepted the union there, so you can do the same here. We have a lot to learn from labour movements in other parts of the world, and a lot to gain from global partnerships."

We can go to Walmart and say, you changed your business model in South Africa, you accepted the union there, so you can do the same here

Historically, the US labour movement has tried to organize Walmart workers on a store-by-store basis. With more than 4300 stores, this is a daunting task, especially given Walmart's zero tolerance towards unionization. From day one, US retail workers are bombarded with anti-union propaganda. Words like "committee," "organize," and "meeting," are considered "unlawful" and employees who use these are written up, subjected to intimidation and cuts in hours. Where workers have voted to unionize, Walmart has simply closed the stores, sending a clear message to workers elsewhere—organize and you're fired. As a result, no Walmart store in the US has been successfully unionized—at least not "officially." Instead, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union has taken a more holistic approach, which includes: forging relationships with workers across the supply chain; participating in coalitions with both traditional and non-traditional allies, such as small-business associations; developing global partnerships with unions already representing Walmart workers; and helping workers to fight for better working conditions, without actually forming a union.

At the core of this approach is the workers' association Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart). For $5 a month any current or former hourly Walmart worker can be a member. This is a departure from traditional modes of "minority" organizing, which focused exclusively on current workers in specific workplaces. Rather, this strategy, which harkens back to the US labour movement of the 1930s, is based on organizing massive constituencies. With 2.1 million employees, if just 10% of workers join, it would constitute a base of 210,000 members—a serious force to reckon with. Given Walmart's rapid turnover, former workers are an important constituency. They are still in touch with their colleagues at stores, can give testimony about their experiences at the company, and they can participate in actions without fear of immediate reprisal.

The demands are modest: respect, affordable health care, stable and fair scheduling, and $13 an hour. But the overarching goal is to build a powerful association with a cadre of strong activists. Recently, 100 members of OUR Walmart crashed the shareholders meeting in Bentonville, Arkansas. Shortly after, the Dutch Pension fund, Algemeen Burgerlijk Pensioenfonds announced that it was going to divest from the retail giant due to repeated violations of international labour standards.

In US cities where the retail giant in trying to expand, UFCW has participated in and supported, community-based coalitions. Coalitions have evolved differently depending on who is at the table. In New York City, where there is a strong union base and political allies, the local coalition has pursued a Walmart-free strategy. In Washington DC, where the City Council is overwhelmingly supportive of Walmart, the local coalition, Respect DC has focused on "changing" Walmart by demanding a community benefits agreement. "Our anchoring goal is to change Walmart, to gain concessions that begin to chip away at their power," explains Baris. Demands are not universal, "we support communities at each site in figuring out what they want, and helping them to influence the development process, to have a say in their neighbourhood." Does that lead to confusion? Baris argues that it is a necessary part of the process. "It's not possible to choose the right goals without community input."

It's not possible to choose the right goals without community input

However, changing Walmart will not be easy. When in 2006, Walmart was forced by community and labour pressure to retreat from Washington DC, it adopted a covert strategy. It hired a lobbyist to build relationships with politicians and lobby on relevant legislation, donated millions of dollars to community groups, met with editorial boards of all the major newspapers, and sponsored high profile events such as the travelling exhibition, "America I AM: The African American Imprint." So as to limit public leverage, Walmart picked sites that were privately owned and asked landlords to keep quiet about negotiations. Once the retail giant had all its ducks in a row –including a new website complete with a sign up sheet and petition--it went public. "It was a surprise blitz," recalls Baris. "Suddenly we weren't dealing with one Walmart in one community but six Walmarts in six different communities. That gave us little time to organize." Across the US Walmart has divided communities and at times the labour movement itself, by playing offering the building trades 100 per cent union built stores, while refusing to accept unions in the retail sector.

It is too early to tell what impact Walmart's purchase of Massmart will have on South Africa, and the other 13 African countries where the company currently operates. The merger was approved by the Competition Commission on the basis that Walmart would honour union contracts for three years, maintain current workers for two years, and set up a R100 million supplier development fund for local producers. Nonetheless these concessions did not stop the South African Minister of Trade and Industry, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the Minister of Economic Development and the South Africa Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (SACCAWU) from demanding a review of the decision. The Competition Appeal Court is due to announce its decision this month.

Ruth Castel-Branco is a researcher and activist. She has been involved in the US labour movement—as a volunteer and organizer-- for ten years. She is affiliated with the Centre for Civil Society, University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban South Africa