Jul 25, 2006 11:04 am US/Central
Marches, Rallies Planned For Big Box Ordinance
Wal-Mart, Target Have Threatened To Pull Out Of City If Ordinance Passes
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Numerous marches and rallies are being held Tuesday by supporters and opponents of the proposed city Big Box ordinance.
The proposed ordinance ultimately would require mega retailers in the city to pay their workers at least $10 an hour in wages plus another $3 in fringe benefits. That's significantly above Illinois' minimum wage of $6.50 and about twice the federal minimum wage of $5.15.
Wal-Mart and Target have threatened to take their jobs and tax dollars elsewhere if the ordinance is approved.
But some aldermen do not believe them.
"I've heard these scare tactics before," said Ald. Ed Smith (28th). "There are a lot of dollars in Chicago. The big boxes do not have any other place to go because they have saturated suburbia. Chicago is a huge market. They do not want to leave those dollars to someone else."
Supporters of the ordinance expect it to pass, but they say the vote will be close.
On Monday, at least 10 African-American aldermen met in the South Shore neighborhood to hear last-ditch arguments from both sides in the living wage debate as big business accused the big unions of threatening to muscle council members out of office.
"They're telling aldermen they're going to vote them out with their troops, and they're going to dry up their financial resources," said ABLE's Hermene Hartmann.
But aldermen say the threats are coming from both sides.
"If anything, the intense pressure I've been getting is from people with a financial stake in bringing Wal-Mart in, the people who already have contracts. The people who want contracts," Ald. Freddrenna M. Lyle (6th) said.
"I'm getting calls day and night. And yes, there are threats and talk about getting big money to put me out of office. So yes, those threats are very, very real," said Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th).
CBS 2's Derrick Blakley will have more on this story later today.
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