2007 Actions

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Cleveland Jobs with Justice, 20525 Center Ridge Road, Suite 700
Cleveland, Ohio 44116 ~ 440-333-7007 Fax: 440-333-1491
debbie@clevelandjwj.org ~ copyright (c) 2008 - 2010

All photos copyrighted by Debbie Kline 2007-2010 (c)

Candlelight Vigil - Prayer for Wal-Mart to Change

On Wednesday, December 19, 2007 about 100 members from the faith
community, brothers and sisters from several unions, and members from
community organizations showed their solidarity with UFCW and Wake Up
Wal-Mart by attending a Prayer Vigil at Steelyard Commons. Security from
First Interstate Properties welcomed early arrivers and informed lead
organizer, Mike Martino that we needed to vacate and call off the vigil, but

Rally for a Living Wage

Cleveland Jobs with Justice held a rally outside the Cuyahoga County
Commissioners Offices, followed by a public hearing where all three
commissioners publicly supported a living wage. However, the commissioners
vocal support of a living wage was as far as their efforts went to enact the
resolutions. By November, the County Assistant Prosecutor released an
opinion that the commissioners did not have the authority to pass the
resolutions. So, we shifted our focus to obtaining an Attorney General’s
opinion on the legality of the resolutions.

we moved forward informing them we would be gathering on city property (the tree lawn along the road
across the parking lot from the store). We assured them we would not impede business in anyway, but
they insisted we leave - we stayed. Early arrivers headed off to other stores on the other side of the
complex to shop, saving their receipts to prove they were actually shoppers and not just "trespassers." All
of this was done under the watchful eye of two security officers.

Undaunted by the threat of the two security officers, we continued on with the Candlelight Vigil until
backup arrived in the form of the Cleveland City Police. The first on the scene were two detectives and
before we knew it there were 4 cruisers with armed uniform officers as backup. The two detectives
approached, with the security officers in tow, and asked that we disperse. An agreement was quickly
reached and we were given 5 minutes to wrap up the evening's event that had already gone on for almost
the amount of time we had planned.

So basically, Wal-Mart officials think that it is necessary to tie up the time of the Cleveland City Police to
disperse a crowd of people holding a peaceful Candlelight - Prayer Vigil. A Vigil that was not on their
property, not interfering with business, not being unruly in any way - it was a Prayer Vigil! This is America
and we were exercising our rights to assemble freely on city owned property. OH WAIT! That's right! You
like doing more business with China, where they don't have that right. Maybe you were confused and
forgot we were in the United States! Come on Wal-Mart! WAKE UP! Click here for more photos.