2007-06-05 TSUPERSTORES - Laserfiche WebLink

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keep afloat with the low wholesale prices that Wal-Mart dictates. On top of forcing suppliers to move to countries that allow sweatshop labor or close down, they are forcing our small local mom and pop shops out of business, because they can’t compete with Wal-Mart’s low prices. On Hawaii Island we have local grocery stores, such as KTA, that will be threatened by Wal- Mart’s Hilo and Kona superstores. I have been a faithful customer of KTA in Hilo for most of my 18 years of living in Hawaii, Hawaii County. I noticed that many of their employees are working for them for much of the time that I have been their patron. I’m assuming that the reason the employees stay with KTA, for so long, is that they provide descent wages and benefits. The Wal-Mart supercenters will begin to undercut the prices of local grocery stores forcing them to narrow their profit margins. This will economically pressure local grocers to lower wages and minimize benefits or be forced out of business. As low wages will result -. ALAMEDA: Donald, sorry to interrupt. Are you going to read the – cause we’ve got the letter I believe. Fellow Commissioners, did you get -? WESSELS: I’ve never sent this. ALAMEDA: That sounds familiar to me. Could you summarize it or is it long? WESSELS: I was about half way. ALAMEDA: Okay, go ahead. WESSELS: What Wal-Mart is doing is, what Wal-Mart is doing and it should be, got me off-line -. What Wal-Mart is doing is legal, it should not be. I’m here to say that we must end this monopsony process and protect our profits, our wages and our way of life here on the Island of Hawaii. These kinds of economic pressures are degrading the ability of Hawaii citizens to demand a living wage and local retailers and supplies from maintaining a decent profit. In summary, I support the Big Box Ban set forth by the Hawaii County Council. In fact, it doesn’t go far enough to right this inherently undemocratic situation. We have a right to demand that companies who do business here be accountable to the citizens of this County. We need to make a living too. I leave you with these questions. How far will the economic squeeze go and who or what will stop it? Will our businesses be pressured to pay us 15 cents per hour to remain profitable while will Hawaii’s labor force have to compete for slave wages around the world to have any employment at all? Mahalo. ALAMEDA: All right. Donald, thank you for keeping it concise. Any questions for our testifier? Okey, dokey, seeing none you may be seated. Thank you for coming today. And thank you to the public for coming. That’s what these hearings are for, you know, it’s for the public to share with us your opinions, your perspectives, and then for us to think about it, and for us to kind of make a decision. So we appreciate you all coming. We will break for lunch and then we will talk about it more as Fellow Commissioners, but we won’t vote on it today or we will talk a little bit about whether or not we’re going to vote on part of it. But we’ll definitely be EXHIBIT D 22