Below The Beltway

The Chicago City Council is considering a law that would require all so-called “big box” retailers to pay their employers the insane minimum wage of $ 13 per hour.

Opponents of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s expansion into inner cities are scoring early success with a new tactic, enlisting support for a proposed local ordinance requiring giant retailers to significantly raise the minimum wage and help pay for health benefits.

Advocates of the so-called living wage or big-box ordinance, which advanced to a vote by the Chicago City Council next week after being passed by its finance committee Wednesday, say its approval would set the stage for similar actions in other U.S. cities.

(…)

The ordinance would require operators of large stores in the city to pay their workers at least $10 an hour in wages plus another $3 in fringe benefits. That’s significantly above Illinois’ minimum wage of $6.50 and roughly double the federal minimum wage of $5.15.

If enacted, it would be one of the nation’s first industry wage laws, following one adopted last November for large hotels in Emeryville, Calif., on San Francisco Bay. Supporters say it would raise pay for tens of thousands of local residents working for employers such as Wal-Mart, Target Corp. and Staples Inc.

No, what it would more likely do is make Wal-Mart, Target, Staples and the others think twice about opening a new store in an inner city area where such a law was in effect.

The proponents of the law, of course, don’t look at it that way:

“I believe it is an important step that we’ve taken to speak on behalf of the working people, not only of our area but generally of the United States,” said Chicago Alderwoman Freddrenna Lyle, a co-sponsor of the proposed ordinance, following the 15-6 vote by the finance committee.

“We’re basically saying that labor has a right to be paid a wage which allows them to not just live but to sustain themselves and improve themselves,” she said.

Madeline Talbott of the grass-roots community group Chicago ACORN, or the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, says that once the ordinance passes, “Wal-Mart is welcome to move in.”

“It’s a way to allow big-box retailers like Wal-Mart to come in without threatening the level of wages and benefits that unionized stores and stores with a conscience are already paying,” she said. “We believe lots of cities will pass something similar nationally.”

Good lord, I thought Marxist claptrap like that had died out with the Soviet Union. Apparently, its alive and well in Chicago.

What is clear from the story, though, that the proponents of this law don’t want the big box stores to come to the city at all. They clearly hope that by making it too expensive to do business, these retailers, most specifically including Wal-Mart will just go away.

“Why would any business want to invest in a marketplace where it is subject to a minimum wage that is effectively $13 an hour and meanwhile every other business, including the city itself, doesn’t have to abide by that and is given a free pass?” [Wal-Mart spokesman John Bisio] said. “That just doesn’t make sense and probably is outright unconstitutional.”

Indeed.

H/T: Outside The Beltway