Wal-Mart plan 'like a payoff': union chief

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/99069,CST-NWS-walmart17.article

Wal-Mart plan 'like a payoff': union chief

October 17, 2006
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter

Wal-Mart's tentative plan to build five new South Side supercenters is "almost like a payoff" to aldermen who opposed the big-box minimum wage ordinance, Chicago's most powerful labor leader said Monday.

Chicago Federation of Labor President Dennis 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.

"Does the world think that Wal-Mart pulled these five wards out of a hat? The aldermen getting these supercenters were the most vocal in the debate against paying people a living wage," Gannon said.

"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."


FULL story at link above.

[Jackpine Radical]

1. I offer Mr. Gannon a friendly editing suggestion on his comment:

Strike the words "almost like."

[fasttense]

2. But don't worry, Wal-Mart allows Unions in China. It's just American

Unions they don't like. You know the world has gone crazy when a communist country allows its employees more rights than the US.