Chicago City Council Thinks Outside The Big Box

August 02, 2006

Take that, Wal-Mart! The retail giant’s campaign against decent wages was dealt a crushing blow recently when the Chicago City Council approved an ordinance requiring big-box retailers to pay its workers at least $10 an hour plus $3 in fringe benefits by 2010. The measure applies to companies with over $1 billion in annual sales and stores of at least 90,000. “The passage of the ordinance is a victory for all the communities and working men and women in Chicago who deserve to earn a living wage and benefits in exchange for their hard work,” said Dennis Gannon, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor and Industrial Union Council. “It sets a national standard for making sure individuals earn a living wage with benefits in exchange for day's work.” In spite of city Mayor Richard M. Daley’s fire and brimstone warnings that the living wage proposal would scare developers, aldermen voted 35-14 in its favor. “[The proposal] is trying to get the largest companies in America to pay decent wages,” Alderman Toni Preckwinkle said. Michael Lewis, Wal-Mart’s senior vice president of store operations, lamented how the ordinance “imposes special interest mandates that will unfairly deny savings and job opportunities to those who need them most.” What’s that special interest? Paying workers a living wage? Chicago has now become the biggest city in the U.S. to require big-box retailers to pay a living wage. Other cities with similar laws include Santa Fe, , Albuquerque, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. For more on living wages campaigns, visit Let Justice Roll.