The Chicago Sun Times has a story this morning that gives a twist to the story of Wal Mart’s entrance into the Chicago market. Chicago Federation of Labor President Dennis Ganno said building five supercenters on the South side was: almost like a payoff.

Ganno takes exception to the fact that the five supercenters are to be built in the five wards of the alderman who voted against the minimum wage hike for Big Box retailers.

…Gannon vowed to renew the battle against Wal-Mart that culminated in Mayor Daley vetoing an ordinance requiring retailers with more than 90,000 square feet of space and $1 billion in annual sales to pay their employees at least $13 an hour in wages and benefits by 2010.

“You can see that it wasn’t a fair and even playing field when it comes down to passing an ordinance and having it veto-proof…. Wal-Mart changes the playing field for everybody…. They were out there lobbying aldermen to get their votes… It’s almost like a payoff.”

And not only does Ganno think the Bentonvile Behemoth is taking care of its friends, he also thinks it changed the game as soon as Mayor Daley vetoed the minimum wage ordinance.

“Wal-Mart told the world, the aldermen and the mayor that they weren’t bringing supercenters to Chicago…. Now, big-box living ordinance goes away and, all the sudden, we’re talking supercenters. Wal-Mart has a credibility issue with the public. They’re saying one thing and doing another. They owe us an explanation about why they’ve changed their strategy,” Gannon said.

The walmarting of America continues apace.

Jeff Hess: Have Coffee Will Write.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 17th, 2006 at 0725 by Jeff Hess and is filed under Legislation, Local, Organized Labor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.