Mar 2, 2009 10:44 am US/Central
Chicago Wal-Mart Plans Meet Union Resistance
Organized Labor Has Battled Retail Giant In The Past
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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The only Wal-Mart in the city of Chicago opened in 2006 on the West Side.
CBS
Efforts by Wal-Mart to expand in Chicago are hitting a major obstacle in union-backed aldermen, according to a published report.
The retail giant has only one store within the city limits, at North and Kilpatrick avenues on the city's West Side, and it says it can bring new jobs despite a down economy
if it opens more stores.
But Crain's Chicago Business reports that union leaders want the chance to organize Wal-Mart store employees. This is the same issue that kept Wal-Mart out of the city for several years, before the West Side store finally opened in September 2006.
Earlier that year, the City Council passed an ordinance that would have required "big box" stores to pay workers at least $10 an hour plus $3 in fringe benefits. But Mayor Richard M. Daley vetoed the ordinance.
There has been a push to open other Wal-Mart stores, most notably one at 83rd Street and Stewart Avenue in the Chatham Market shopping center. But for that project to move forward, the city must approve any tenant leasing more than 100,000 square feet.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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