Non-partisan group calling for national ‘economic blackout’ in response to moves from corporations

PITTSBURGH — A non-partisan group called the People’s Union has called for a national economic blackout. On Friday, the group is urging consumers to shut their wallets. No spending for 24 hours, not in-person or online, the group said this is not political but in response to what they are calling corporate greed.

The group said corporations have driven up prices, underpaid workers, and outsourced jobs.

John Schwarz is the founder of the People’s Union.

The 57-year-old teacher said he came up with the idea for a boycott as he was searching for a way to take action. In a span of a few weeks, Schwarz’s social media post calling for the blackout was shared thousands of times on both Instagram and TikTok, inspiring similar posts sharing the call for a boycott.

“Even though we may be individually weak, collectively we are strong,” said Tim Stevens.

Locally, Tim Stevens, a civil rights leader and founder of B-PEP said his organization will participate in the boycott and even has shared the social post and flyer.

Channel 11 News asked Stevens what motivated him to support the efforts, and told us when corporations began removing their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, that was the final straw.

“You have the national administration eliminating diversity programs within the federal government and urging corporations to do the same, we can’t have that,” Stevens said.

We went to the union’s website to learn how the “blackout” works.

According to the site, starting at midnight Friday morning, consumers should stop spending any money, and if they must make an essential purchase like food or medicine, to only support small local businesses.

This boycott comes at a critical time when many consumers already feel uneasy.

“There is also that fear of not being able to spend your discretionary income and those two things [a boycott and uncertainty] together are going to have an impact on our economy,” said Point Park Professor Elaine Luther.

Retail makes up 6.4 percent of the gross domestic product.

Some economists have shared that the effectiveness of financial boycotts may not disrupt the stock market but can send a significant message to corporations.

“One day can make a difference in a particular business, but it will be the signal that they now have two competing pressures against them, and they will have to make a decision,” Luther said.

Economists warn that if these boycotts lead to more permanent consumer decisions, corporations may be forced to make changes.

“People were already thinking of alternatives and they may start finding alternatives that are acceptable to them and the big risk is it will be permanent changes,” Luther said.

The one-day action has since been expanded by The People’s Union: It includes boycotts of various companies and retailers during different time periods including Amazon (March 7-14), Nestle (March 21-28), Walmart (April 7-14) and a second broader one-day economic blackout on April 18.

A full description of the action items below:

WHAT THE BOYCOTT REQUESTS:

Do not make any purchases

Do not shop online, or in-store

Do not spend money on:

Fast Food

Gas

Major Retailers

Do not use Credit or Debit Cards for nonessential spending

WHAT THE BOYCOTT REQUESTS:

Only buy essentials of absolutely necessary

(Food, Medicine, Emergency Supplies)