Posted on 07/14/2006 4:02:49 AM PDT by Chi-townChief
Target is putting plans to build three South Side stores "on hold" -- and making veiled threats to close existing Chicago stores -- if the City Council mandates wage and benefit standards for "big-box" retailers, African-American aldermen warned Thursday.
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.
Minneapolis-based Target becomes the second retailing giant to threaten to pull out of the lucrative Chicago market in a last-ditch effort to stop an ordinance championed by organized labor that breezed through the City Council's Finance Committee 15-6 and has attracted support from 33 aldermen.
WAGE WAR
The current federal minimum wage is $5.15 an hour. Illinois' minimum wage is $6.50
Most Chicago area Wal-Mart employees average $10.99 an hour, with just a few making the starting wage of $7.25 an hour, Wal-Mart spokesman John Bisio recently said.
As of 2004, Target in many cities had a starting salary of about $7 an hour, published reports said. A few Target workers outside Illinois said they recently started with salaries as low as $6.25 an hour, according to postings on the Target Union! (www.targetunion.org) Web site for store employees.
Wal-Mart has threatened to cancel plans to build as many as 20 Chicago stores over the next five years if retailers are required to pay employees at least $10 an hour and $3 in benefits by July 1, 2010.
'It would be devastation for us'
Mayor Daley is taking the threat seriously. He has challenged aldermen who oppose Wal-Mart's 20-store expansion to describe how they would replace the 8,000 lost jobs.
Target failed to return calls on the admonition communicated to aldermen of the 5th, 9th and 34th wards in recent days. Target real estate executive Chris Case was scheduled to meet with African-American aldermen Thursday, but the meeting was canceled because of scheduling conflicts.
Ald. Carrie Austin (34th) said a Target pullout would be devastating to the 32-acre shopping mall at 119th and Marshfield that developers had hoped to build, with help from a $23 million city subsidy. Home Depot would likely follow Target out the door. As many as 1,000 jobs would be lost, Austin said.
"It would be devastation for us. Our largest employer in the 34th Ward is the Police Department. The second-largest for us would be Jewel. We have no other resources," Austin said.
Referring to the anti-Wal-Mart movement that gave birth to the big-box ordinance, Austin said, "If you want to bully up on Wal-Mart, you've got to bring in the other ones, and damned if you do on them. If they suffer from it, too bad. If you want to control Wal-Mart, you should go about that a different way."
Accused of 'bullying tactics'
Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th) said she has a letter of intent from Target to build a new store at Marquette and Stony Island in her ward. But the developer has told her the store is "on hold" and that Target may close existing Chicago stores if the big-box ordinance goes through.
Hairston called it little more than a scare tactic. And even if the threat turns out to be real, she's standing firm in support of organized labor.
"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.
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.
"It's an idle threat. ... They're clearly trying to ... intimidate members of the City Council. I am very hopeful that members will hold firm. ... The votes are still there," Moore said. He predicted 33 votes for the ordinance, "maybe more," even though Daley has been buttonholing aldermen to try to stop it.
Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) is still searching for a big-box retailer to replace the Wal-Mart his colleagues nixed at 83rd and Stewart.
Brookins said Wal-Mart executives have told him they may take the lead of the riverboat casinos that ring Chicago and run free shuttle buses to their suburban stores if the big-box ordinance passes.
"I don't know if it was in jest, but they did say it. ... That is an option that they could employ. They could set up locations to have pickup and dropoff. I don't think that is that farfetched," Brookins said.
fspielman@suntimes.com
It was here that Mrs. jimfree smiled and asked if they were going to build a floating store in Lake Michigan. Then I read on:
and run free shuttle buses to their suburban stores if the big-box ordinance passes.
It's a great idea, but the image of a container ship moored in the lake with a senior citizen greeter and 45 checkout lanes is forever etched in her mind.
Well.....aren't these businesses in the business of giving away profits? They exist as entities of the state......or city councel. /sarcasm
The small businesses may be laughing now....eventually the socialists will come for them too.
Typical liberal mantra. Misery and failure need to be spread out evenly.
What does $7.25 have to do with it? The article says $10.00 PLUS $3.00 in benefits.
And if you "just raise prices" the 'poor' workers in non big box stores making less will be even 'poorer'.
Hairston called it little more than a scare tactic. And even if the threat turns out to be real, she's standing firm in support of organized labor.
Just like the Air Traffic Controllers did in 1981...guess big labor taught Reagan a lesson didn't they?
Chicago and any other city that tries to regulate/mandate wages and benefits should lose all their big box stores...a pox on all their houses!!!
There fixed it.
But plenty of people do, as evidenced by the 25,000 who showed up to apply for the jobs at the Evergreen Park store.
The demonrats just don't get it and will be the losers every time.
Exactly. And if a city council can dictate wages and benefits, can prices be too far off as well? This is just so wrong on so many levels.
The complaint was that they didn't want these "slave jobs" by St. Sabina parish in Chicago.
I think they should force all the big stores to run charity stores where all the merchandise is free to people who live in the neighborhood. They would need to hire a lot of people to stock the shelves and they should be paid at least $25 an hour since they will be working so hard.
OK, African-American councilpersons, do you see any flaws in this plan? If so, how would you improve it if you were the owner of the store?
These power hungry shakedown artists and racebaiters don't care and don't understand. To them it really doesn't matter if nothing makes sense. The only thing that matters is making sure the constituents feel like victims and that they personally get their cut. They drive through poverty and despair all day with a smile on their face and they feel like kings and queens in control of their "peoples". IF those constituents took control, bettered themselves and tried to escape, well then they become nothing more than a Rice, Watts, or a Powell.
"...French own Target"
I thought there was a snippet of humor there.
Target as in Roget.
That is a great idea! You should float it past the Walmart people! /slight pun.
I don't know if there was ever a test on this but I would guess people would travel to the nearest Wal-Mart. We don't have a Wal-Mart in our town. The closest one is about 25 miles but that doesn't seem to stop people from shopping there. I would think you could build a Wal-Mart or Target in the middle of a field and it would still be busy. Like the "Field of Dreams", if you build it, people will come.
So Target is gonna close those stores.
Its so unlike the French to surrender.
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