A headline in the Progressive States Network daily email today:
Target Corp. Blackmails Chicago to Scrap Living Wage Ordinance
The story is that Chicago’s city council passed an ordinance on July 26 that would impose a minimum wage “of at least $10 per hour with $3 in benefits by 2010”
on stores larger than 90,000 square feet. Wal-Mart said it would cancel
20 stores in Chicago it planned to build over the next five years.
Target said it would put three stores “on hold.” Most of the stores are
in low-income areas. Mayor Richard Daley has said he plans to veto the measure.
So Wal-Mart and Target are threatened with extortion to budget $13
per hour for their employees if they hope to open their large stores.
They respond to the threat by saying it’s not worth opening smaller
stores, eating the labor cost, or passing it on to customers. And the
left says the companies are blackmailing the city.
Wow. That’s harder to swallow than a whole pizza from Gino’s East.
