Target threatens to leave city (Chicago) if 'big-box' wage rule passes

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | July 14, 2006 | FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter

[Chi-townChief]

WOW - 'good' Target is going the same route as bad old WalMart. This should piss off a few lefties.

[mainepatsfan]

So only the "big" stores have to abide by this law. So every other business in the area better not become too successful or else.

[AmericaUnited]

For once I'm proud of something "French", showing some brass ones.

[toddlintown]

Maybe the spread of HIV/AIDS after the Gay Games will occupy the time of the alderman who don't like guns, cigarettes, trans fats, or foie gras.

I hope Target and all the big boxes come out to Will County (heavy Republican) where growth is spectacular.

[the invisib1e hand]

"Chicago...." "big-box...." "wage rule...." the race of the alderman was specified (why is that newsworthy if color isn't supposed to matter?) --- all the buzzwords of a fat, lazy, dog-days shakedown.

[Chi-townChief]

CHICAGO PING

[Brilliant]

The minimum wage is going to be at $7.25 everywhere in short order anyway. I don't think they are actually going to leave. They'll threaten. But there is no where to run.


It really doesn't make sense to leave even if the minimum does not go up everywhere else. You just raise your prices to cover it, and you give that as your reason.

[onevoter]

"Ald. Joe Moore (49th), chief sponsor of the big-box ordinance, accused Target and Wal-Mart of using "bullying tactics" to stop a train that has already left the station."

Gotta love the way the libs insist that they have the right to demand that Target and Walmart build in their area, all the while giving up any rights to make their own decisions in regards to running the store. As far as I can see, if a person doesn't want to work for $8 an hour, they simply don't apply for the job. Raising the wages would only result in higher product cost - that way everyone gets to move backward.

[Egon]

For once I'm proud of something "French", showing some brass ones.

Target is not French-owned. That's an urban legend.

[Mr. Brightside]

Our largest employer in the 34th Ward is the Police Department.

Maybe they should open another Bix Box Police Department.

The city is lucky that ANY business wants to open in this district.

[John D]

WOW - 'good' Target is going the same route as bad old WalMart. This should piss off a few lefties.



And a few Freepers.

[Mr. Brightside]

The minimum wage is going to be at $7.25 everywhere in short order anyway.

But the city is also demanding another $3 in benefits for every employee.

Plus, these stores will have higher insurance, higher rates of theft and vandalism, and higher employee turnover.

Something will have to give. There's not that big of a margin.

[toddlintown]

"But there is no where to run."

Will and Kendall counties are waiting...

[rhombus]

What makes this story so delicious is that so many lefties seem to worship Target as the anti-Walmart. I have long wondered why some embattled larger corporation did not exercise a boycot of their own and simply refuse to do business in states or cities where they are harassed. Can you imagine if one (or better yet all) of the tobacco comapnies just decided they would no longer sell their legal products in a state? Tax revenues would plummet and government officials would be demanding the resumption of sales.

[cbkaty]

The saber-rattling is intensifying as the clock winds down toward a July 26 showdown vote on plans to make Chicago the nation's first major city to establish a "living wage" for stores with at least 90,000 square feet of space operated by retailers with $1 billion in sales.

So build 89,999 SF stores with the design ability to shed SF, based on changing standards....

[conservativehusker]

I love the idea of running a shuttle bus from Chicago to the Walmart in the suburbs.!!!

I figure it would take a few months for the liberals to find a law squashing that..but it would be great to see....they could make a point to drive by city hall and maybe have a counter on the bus to show how many shoppers they pull from the city everyday!!!

[dmw]

True, the French do not own Target.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/target.asp

[Marathoner]

"Wal-Mart and Target could pay their people a living wage. Then we wouldn't have this problem, and people could actually live on the money they made," Hairston said.

Well, geez, Ms. Hairston, you seem to know so much about how to run a Walmart or Target store, why don't you just step in and take over as CEO?

Typical liberal the state should run everything mindset.

[Chi-townChief]

"Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) is still searching for a big-box retailer to replace the Wal-Mart his colleagues nixed at 83rd and Stewart."

This WalMart ended up at 95th & Western with hundreds of employees, thousands of happy customers, and of course, millions of tax dollars for Evergreen Park instead of Chicago.

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

[AmericaUnited]

Wow! I never knew that. The French story is just so pervasive. I looked at Target's "About Us" and just read that they are the old Dayton-Hudson and Marshall Fields.