Well Mick, I'll address your issues. First of all, why in the world do you need a Union to protect you from harrasment and discrimination? There are laws that protect us. Second, shouldn't the people of Inglewood be greatful anybody would want to invest? 28 murders in a town of 112,000 people drives most business far away.
I am a teacher in Texas. We are non-union. I'd probably be union if there was enough interest, but we start at 33,000 a year. Doesn't sound like much, but it's a lot in Brownsville. So that's the info on me. Benefits are good too.
As for Wal-Mart, how can you even ask what they have to offer? How about jobs; something Inglewood is lacking. They may be "crappy retail jobs" as some have stated, but where else is an uneducated populace supposed to work? Most in Inglewood don't hold degrees past High School.
And besides, if Wal-Mart comes in and easily wipes out Mom-n-Pop, how stable were they in the first place? I have never worked for Wal-Mart myself. I have worked for Home Depot, however, which as you know is another "evil" non-union retailer. They started me at cashier part time 9 dollars an hour. In Cali, it's nada. Down here that's quite a bit. In Chicago, Home Depot starts Cashiers around 13 or 14.
Wal-Mart's pay rates can start low. However, if you make it to management, you make a good salary. You work your ass off for sure, but that's retail. And here's my final point. When is the last time your union tried to help hourly workers get into management? If they are like the unions I encountered in retail when I lived in Chicago, that would be never. It's a natural conflict of interest to promote hourlys into management, since in most situations you have to leave the union to become a manager. I'm sorry, but most retail unions do NOT want to lost those dues. Remember, retail unions take money from 15 year olds that work part-time then contribute portions of those dues (not the 15 yera old's specifically, of course) to many political causes. Sure, a 15 year old can't vote, but who cares? He can some day.

P.S. Have fun boarding up more windows in Inglewood.