Other Chicago Walmart May Not Get Built Either: Not Willing to Pay Higher Wage

After plans for a South side Walmart store were abandoned earlier this week Walmart is now reconsidering it's other proposed store. Wal-Mart's plans in the city may be determined by what happens with two pending ordinances that would set minimum pay and benefit standards for employees of "big box" retailers, including Wal-Mart, said John Bisio, a company spokesman. If a measure considered burdensome by Wal-Mart is passed, it would put the firm at a competitive disadvantage with other retailers, he said. Wal-Mart has purchased the West Side site, at Grand and Keating Avenues, and hopes to begin demolition of an existing building there this fall, Bisio said. But "if an onerous big-box ordinance is passed, we may have to re-evaluate that location," he said. The  measure would require big retailers to pay a minimum of $10-an-hour in wages and benefits to workers. Ald. Edward Burke (14th) has co-sponsored another proposal that would set a $12.43-an-hour minimum wage and require that 40 percent of all merchandise sold by the big retailers be manufactured in the United States, [more ]