Chicago 'detour' on living wage movement

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Chicago 'detour' on living wage movement
Activists and alderman in Chicago refuse to be discouraged by the veto of an ordinance requiring "big box" retailers to pay their workers a living wage in the city.

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"The veto was a detour; it was a delay; it was not a defeat," says Alderman Freddrenna M. Lyle of the 6th Ward, a supporter of the ordinance. "We will continue to work on the issue."

Chicago's city council passed the "big-box ordinance," which would require stores that are at least 90,000 square feet and are owned by companies with $1 billion in sales to pay their employees a so-called living wage of at least $10 an hour with an additional $3 an hour in benefits by 2010. A "living wage" allows workers to achieve a basic standard of living for themselves and their dependents with a full-time job. The wage adjusts according to local economies, but supporters for the movement often set the wage at twice as much or more of the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour.

Because a good deal of manufacturing jobs in Chicago have been replaced with relatively low-paying retail jobs, the biggest and richest retailers were simply a logical place to start in the effort to promote a living wage, says Reverend Robin Hood, pastor of Redeemed Outreach Ministries and lead organizer for Chicago ACORN, an organization active in the living wage movement.

"Why are we picking on poor $100 billion corporations?" he asked. "These are the companies whose employees go to our county hospitals. These are the companies that force our state to pay for child care."

Although 35 Chicago aldermen—enough to override a mayoral veto—voted for the ordinance on July 26, Mayor Richard Daley won three aldermen over to his side, securing enough support to veto it on September 11.

"I understand and share a desire to ensure that everyone who works in the City of Chicago earns a decent wage. But I do not believe that this ordinance, well-intentioned as it may be, would achieve that end," Daley said, according to the Chicago Sun Times. "Rather, I believe it would drive jobs and businesses from our city, penalizing neighborhoods that need additional economic activity the most. In light of this, I believe it is my duty to veto this ordinance."

After the ordinance passed, Wal-Mart and Target announced that they would not open any more stores in Chicago if it stood. Daley also has criticized organized labor, saying that local unions only became interested in the issue when the big-box retailers began moving into impoverished black neighborhoods.

Daley's objections, however, have not fazed supporters of the ordinance, although Lyle and her colleagues say they would negotiate over the issues that other alderman, the mayor, and the retailers find troubling, such as the breadth of ordinance and its wage requirements. Some argued that a living wage ordinance ought to be more comprehensive, so aldermen will look into requiring the same wages for more businesses than just big-box stores.

The city may be able to compromise with retailers as well, Lyle says, by restructuring the wage requirements so that companies can get credits for benefits.

Even without concessions to the retailers, Hood is not afraid of their threats to stay out of the huge Chicago. "They've been saying this all around the country," he says. "If we have the political will to force them to a standard, they wouldn't have a problem paying a living wage."

The aldermen supporting the big-box ordinance hope to get some leverage from the results of a citywide non-binding advisory referendum on the February 27 ballot. Lyle and Hood expect the referendum to reflect poll results showing that 80 percent of Chicagoans surveyed supported a living wage and 71 percent support it even if stores say they will not come.

"I got into this battle knowing that it was going to be a battle," Hood explains. "I liken it to David fighting Goliath." Goliath was not beaten easily, and it took the right stone to take him down. "That stone is the people—the voters and the tax payers of Chicago."—Megan Sweas

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