Wal-Mart workers, labor organizers protest planned Chinatown store

Wal-Mart workers and labor organizers will hold a news conference Thursday afternoon to protest the retailer's plans for a new store in Chinatown.

The group, Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, accuses the store of denying workers adequate wages and benefits. Organizers also say Wal-Mart is circumventing a city ordinance prohibiting the expansion of its big-box stores by opening smaller grocery stores.

Wal-Mart announced last month that it would open a 33,000-square-foot grocery store next year at the northwest corner of Cesar Chavez and Grand avenues. The store would be the first of the company's so-called Neighborhood Markets to open in Los Angeles County, he said. Others are planned for Orange and San Diego counties.

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Photo: A worker pulls carts at a Wal-Mart store in Pittsburg, Calif. Credit: Paul Sakuma / Associated Press