Protesters bash Wal-Mart's attempt to open 2 stores in city

Chants bashing Wal-Mart filled the St. Sabina Church auditorium Saturday as more than 300 people attended a Chicago Workers' Rights Board protest of the retail giant's attempt to move into Chicago.

Speaker after speaker -- from religious and political leaders to labor and community activists to current and former Wal-Mart employees -- accused the company of providing low-paying jobs with meager benefits, gobbling up competitors and running roughshod over women and illegal immigrants. Wal-Mart disputes the claims, saying it has been unfairly maligned.

"I think we have to get away from the mentality that we're just glad to get a job," said St. Sabina's pastor, the Rev. Michael Pfleger. "We've got to stop accepting crumbs as if it's the only thing we're meant to eat. A slave job is a slave job."

Wal-Mart's efforts to open two stores in predominantly black Chicago neighborhoods have fueled tensions. The proposals are for a former West Side industrial area at Kilpatrick and Grand and on the site of the old Ryerson Steel plant at 8301 S. Steward.

"I'm for jobs in this community, but I have an insult level," said state Rep. Mary Flowers (D-Chicago). "People need a livable wage. As an African-American woman, I once worked for $1 an hour. I'm not talking about what I don't know."

Despite a fierce zoning battle led by the Chicago Federation of Labor and its aldermanic allies, Wal-Mart's initial entries into the Chicago market are expected to come before the full City Council for a vote Wednesday.

"Right now, we have to organize and tackle this beast," said Elce Redmond of the South Austin Coalition Community Council, who added that "a ton" of West Side residents will attend the meeting.

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Sharon Webber maintained the retailer is innocent of the group's criticisms.

"You become the target of a lot of different criticisms when you're as large as we are," she said. "I firmly believe at Wal-Mart we do our best to treat people right and treat them with respect. We believe we bring good things to communities."

It was reported in CNN that Wal-Mart recieved $245 million in so-called "subsidies" by governments interested in having a store in their town.

And how much in income and sales tax did Wal-Mart pay, as compared to the $245 million in "subsidies," I wonder?

Let's see, they had $256,329,000,000 in sales in FY2003.

At a national average combined sales tax rate of 8%, that comes to $20,506,320,000 worth of sales tax paid to cities, towns, and states. Even if you assume half that amount, given that so many people in Massachusetts shop Wal-Mart in tax-free New Hampshire and other tax-avoidance situations, that's still over $10 billion dollars.

They had $9,054,000,000 in net income, a figure that has been increasing steadily for years, and they paid, as of Jan 04, $5,118,000,000 in state and federal income taxes.

The so-called "subsidies" provided by cities and towns nationwide looking to land a Wal-Mart store, adding up to $245 million, amount to nearly a 6,400% return on investment.

And that doesn't count the money collected from the purchasing and income of the store's employees.

I'd lay money on the "free" land they got being government-owned brownfields unmarketable to any other buyer.

Its funny the same criticism of Wal-mart comes from the same folks kvetching about the outsourcing of jobs overseas. Wal-mart would create thousands of minimum wage jobs for young black men and women in Chicago and give them the chance to move up the economic ladder. But to liberals, better no job than a job that pays an unskilled person a starting wage. That's their compassion for people in Chicago who want a shot at the American Dream: we're going to block the doors to keep you from getting a chance to have it cause Wal-mart isn't paying what WE consider the right wage. Add to that the Left's dislike of people being able to buy quality goods at the lowest prices. Not to mention all that tax revenue Chicago won't be getting to support schools and municipal services. Oy vey!

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