Wal-Mart discusses wages as it pushes Chicago expansion

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Wal-Mart discusses wages as it pushes Chicago expansion




Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Monday pledged to pay a starting wage of at least $8.75 an hour if the city allows it to build dozens of new stores in Chicago, but influential unions called the amount disappointing.

The giant retailer's offer — 50 cents above minimum wage but 50 cents below what unions sought as a compromise — comes ahead of a key vote Thursday on a South Side store that would be the second Wal-Mart allowed within city limits.

Hank Mullany, a local vice president for Wal-Mart, said the company hopes to build stores ranging in size from 25,000 square feet to 140,000 square feet. The smaller ones, which would focus mainly on grocery and pharmacy sales, would be built in "food deserts," where traditional grocers have abandoned down-and-out neighborhoods.

Ald. Anthony Beale, whose 9th Ward would get a new Wal-Mart as part of the major Pullman Park development, announced the wage concession after Wal-Mart met with city unions Monday.
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"There is nothing 'big' about $8.75 an hour," said Jorge Ramirez, secretary-treasurer of the Chicago Federation of Labor, after Beale promised that he would make a "big" announcement about Wal-Mart. "They knew it was something that wasn't acceptable to us."

Ald. Daniel Solis, the City Council Zoning Committee chairman, said aldermen are evenly divided ahead of Thursday's meeting.

Wal-Mart expansion has stalled for years in Chicago amid the dispute over wages between the retailer and unions. The renewed push puts aldermen in a tough position. While a major expansion would bring construction and retail jobs during a down economy, unions could try to defeat aldermen in February's city elections. Unions took down several pro-Wal-Mart aldermen in 2007.

Mayor Richard Daley has said it's the right time to allow Wal-Mart to expand beyond its sole city location in the Austin neighborhood on the far West Side.

In recent months, Wal-Mart has pushed a public relations campaign, taking out advertisements boasting of how well it treats its employees — even as the world's largest retailer has proved to be a national lightning rod for criticism in that area.

hdardick@tribune.com