Comments on: Chicago battle over Wal-Mart pits jobs vs quality-of-life issues

By: je

je — Sun, 08 Aug 2004 14:34:17 +0000

The author of the article purports to know how “area residents” where Walmart wants to build feel about the issue. I really wonder how many of them he’s actually talked to. He only quotes the aldermen who want the wal-marts, who are hardly potential employees (well, maybe as PR spokespersons).

A group of us spent an hour going door-to-door in the 21st ward last weekend, and I can tell you exactly how the people I talked to felt about it. EVERY person I talked to was opposed, including several who were unemployed. The feeling was, “yes, we’re poor, but $7 dollars an hour without affordable benefits isn’t going to bring us out of poverty”. In an hour we collected about 500 signatures of people in the 21st ward who didn’t want more poverty-wage jobs in their community.

The good-paying factory jobs that used to support the working class in Chicago have all but disappeared, because companies like Wal-mart find it cheaper to buy products from China, where there are basically NO labor standards. They’ve become the richest, most powerful retailer in the world that way and can EASILY afford to pay even their entry-level workers a wage that will put them above the federal poverty line.

To claim that the folks who live in the 21st ward don’t realize this is really to sell them short. Just like these aldermen who claim to represent them, while actually representing Wal-mart’s interests. Aldermen Brookins and Mitts are very literally selling their people short.

btw, Wal-mart’s average wages of $8.23 an hour includes management, so most workers are making considerably less. There are walmart employee message boards where anonymous workers are citing numbers more like $6.50 an hour. You just can’t live on that in Chicago.

By: name

name — Fri, 06 Aug 2004 20:54:49 +0000

In Europe, eurosclerotic and uncompetitive as we are, I know of no such deprived and hopeless districs as one sees in the U.S. of A.
I wonder how (till when?!) can you still call yourselves a _developed_ country when more than 20% children are below the poverty line. I find that social structure more similar to countries like Saudi Arabia and the Emirates (big GDP, low human development) than to really developed contries.

By: Adrian Spidle

Adrian Spidle — Wed, 26 May 2004 18:14:47 +0000

Lonely and slightly confused Right Winger seeks intelligent but gentle Left Winger for meaningful discussion of today’s issues. Show me the error of my ways, PLEASE.

http://pep.typepad.com/

By: Pete

Pete — Wed, 26 May 2004 15:46:00 +0000

Come on, City Council, do the responsible thing. (“No.”)

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 14 May 2004 18:32:19 +0000

Perhaps people who buy tequila have more accidents and need more band aids; hey, it’s starting to sound like a conspiracy!

By: Diana Grove and her one man band "Raped By Nuns"

Diana Grove and her one man band "Raped By Nuns" — Fri, 14 May 2004 05:59:18 +0000

Walmart is an excellent place to buy Band-Aids at 3am, but unfortunately only the Super Walmarts sell tequila.

By: Wotta Maroon!!

Wotta Maroon!! — Thu, 13 May 2004 22:11:00 +0000

Note to self – look up “proofread” in the dictionary.

By: Wotta Deal!!

Wotta Deal!! — Thu, 13 May 2004 22:09:20 +0000

Wal-Mart wouldn’t be so bad if it paid their workers shit, but let them have an allowance of necessary household stuff like toilet paper, detergent, milk and all that for next to nothing, if not free. The amount of cash they pull in, the stuff is almost free to Wal-Mart anyway. So why don’t they sayy, “Hey, we won’t pay you a lot, and your health benefits won’t be that great, but the things you worry about providing for your family on a regular basis will be taken care of. I guess I just think that IN AN IDEAL WORLD, companies that have expanded this much could stand to have a little more of a social conscience and not only run commercials about how they help communities, but actually go beyond that and really help communities. Face it – people need work. Not just for money, but for self-esteem and a sense of purpose; to have a stake in the world around us. Something to give a shit about. Take that away, and a hundred other problems fill in the gaps cascade in.