By Gabriela Resto-Montero
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Walmart will go on the attack this week in its battle to open a Manhattan store.
The retail giant will unveil a series of radio and newspaper ads, as well as mailers, attacking labor unions and the city council for their efforts to prevent the chain's first-ever New York City store, the New York Daily News reported.
"You don't ask special interests or the political insiders for permission to use the bathroom," one of the mailers reportedly says.
"So why should they decide where you're allowed to shop?"
The ads come as the City Council prepares to hold a hearing Thursday on Walmart's plans to open the store. Company executives refused to participate in a Council hearing January 12.
Labor unions, City Council members and other groups have criticized Walmart for what they said was low wages, union-busting, discrimination against women and gays and driving neighborhood stores out of business, the News reported.
"People can run whatever ads they want," City Council speaker Christine Quinn told the paper of Walmart's strategy.
"It really speaks volumes that they're not willing to show up in front of government and answer questions."
Instead of building the large outlets typical of suburban Walmarts, officials with the company have been looking for smaller spaces that look more like neighborhood grocery stores, the paper reported.
Smaller sites would allow Walmart to skip re-zoning and applying for government permits for the new stores, the News reported.
"The key message here is that New Yorkers should decide where they shop and work," Steven Restivo, a spokesman for Walmart, told the News.
