An influential alderman accused organized labor on Tuesday of using political threats to muscle aldermen into supporting wage and benefit standards for Wal-Mart and other giant retailers.
Ald. Bernard Stone (50th) said he would move to postpone a showdown vote on the "big-box" ordinance at today's City Council meeting, even though proponents now plan to soften the blow by giving businesses four years to comply.
Instead of raising wages and benefits in one fell swoop, the phase-in calls for giant retailers to pay: $9.25 an hour and $1.50 in benefits on July 1, 2007, $9.50 and $2 a year later, $9.75 and $2.50 on July 1, 2009 and the full $10 an hour and $3 in benefits on July 1, 2010. After that, the "living wage" would be raised annually to match the rate of inflation.
"I honestly don't want to hurt business," said Ald. Joe Moore (49th), chief sponsor of the big-box ordinance. "For a business now paying people $7.50 an hour, $13 [in wages and benefits] is a big jump. We recognize that and want to address those concerns. This will satisfy all but the hard-core opponents."
David Vite, president of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, apparently falls into the "hard-core" category. He was not appeased by the phase-in, the latest in a series of concessions to business. Moore has also agreed to raise the store size trigger -- from 75,000 square feet to 90,000 -- and to double the hours employees would have to work to qualify for the "living wage" from five hours a week to 10.
"If we wait long enough, maybe Ald. Moore will recognize that any increase over what is currently required under state law will cost the city jobs, revenue and future opportunities," Vite said.
It's interesting to note that earlier this year Wal-Mart opened a store in the Chicago suburb of Evergreen Park...and had 25,000 job applications for 325 positions.
What does this tell us? For one thing it tells us that the compensation levels at Wal-Mart must be just fine with the citizens of the greater Chicago area if 25,000 jump at the opportunity to work for the company.
Another thing it tells us is that Chicago really is costing itself jobs, revenue and opportunities by meddling in the business market. One reason that Wal-Mart built in Evergreen Park - bringing it's jobs and tax revenue to that city instead of Chicago itself - is that Wal-Mart didn't want to subject itself to the union-backed idiocy of Chicago politicians.
What many people fail to realize is that jobs are a market like any other in the economy. Wage rates are based on supply and demand. When there are lots of people unemployed wages tend to be low as most positions are relatively easy to fill. The opposite is true, of course, when unemployment is low. Wages go up as businesses compete against one another for workers.
This is why there is no such thing as a "bad job." There is no such thing as a bad job. Whenever you add jobs to an economy you increase demand for workers. Increased demand for workers means increased wages. If politicians worked to make it easier for businesses to operate - as opposed to making it more expensive for businesses to operate by dictating compensation levels - businesses would employ more people, and that increase in employment would drive wages higher as well.
Unions and most liberal politicians don't get this, however. They feel that government coercion is the only way to make wages go higher. That isn't true, but unfortunately those people have never let little things like facts get in the way of some premium "big business" bashing.