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 零售业：Wal-Mart's Big-City Plans Stall Again |
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安普若
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头衔: 海归元勋
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加入时间: 2004/02/21
文章: 26038
来自: 中国美国的飞机上
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作者：安普若 在 海归商务 发贴, 来自【海归网】 http://www.haiguinet.com
Wal-Mart's Big-City Plans Stall Again
May 6, 2004
By STEPHEN KINZER
CHICAGO, May 5 - Less than a month after voters in
Inglewood Calif., rejected Wal-Mart's effort to build a
store there, Wal-Mart was dealt another blow on Wednesday
when the Chicago City Council postponed a vote on zoning
changes that would have allowed it to open its first two
stores here.
The setbacks in Chicago and Inglewood reflect the
increasing difficulty Wal-Mart is facing as it tries to
push in to more urban markets.
Most of Wal-Mart's more than 3,500 stores in the United
States are in rural and suburban areas. Chicago may be a
major test of whether organized labor, which is relatively
strong here, can block or obstruct the company's plans to
continue expanding in big cities.
"It would be nice to have seen the proposal go through and
be voted on today," said John Bisio, a Wal-Mart spokesman,
"but this just gives us the opportunity to engage people
and go back and dispel a lot of the misinformation that's
out there."
The dispute has pitted some of the city's most prominent
politicians, clergymen and civic leaders against each
other. Both sides brought busloads of people to City Hall
for the council meeting, and there were boisterous
demonstrations in the corridors and on nearby streets.
Supporters of Wal-Mart's expansion plans here say the
company offers both badly needed jobs and rock-bottom
prices. They said they were disappointed by the council
vote, but still expected it to approve the zoning changes
at its next meeting on May 26. Individual aldermen are able
to block a vote on such changes once, but under council
rules a roll-call vote must be taken at the next meeting.
Opponents vowed, however, to intensify their campaign
against the giant retailer, which they say crushes small
businesses and lowers labor standards by paying low wages,
offering minimal benefits and opposing efforts by its
employees to unionize.
Aldermen who represent the poor and mainly African-American
neighborhoods in Chicago where Wal-Mart wants to build the
stores support the company. They say the neighborhoods, on
the South Side and West Side, are desperate for the
estimated total of 600 jobs Wal-Mart will bring. The City
Council usually defers to the wishes of local aldermen on
zoning matters, but the Wal-Mart proposal has stirred such
controversy that the Council set aside that tradition on
Wednesday.
"This is certainly not a local issue for one ward or for
Chicago," said William J. P. Banks, an alderman who voted
against the plan. "It's a nationwide issue, and it's not
going to go away anytime soon. People are looking for a
quick fix in areas where economic development is very poor,
but down the line they'll see that along with that quick
fix come a lot of problems."
A leading opponent of Wal-Mart, Jamie Daniel, who heads a
coalition of labor, religious and civic groups called the
Chicago Workers' Rights Board, said she thought opponents
had "a good shot" at blocking the company's plan.
"This vote shows that aldermen still have a lot of
questions and concerns about Wal-Mart," Ms. Daniel said.
"We've been organizing like maniacs, and now it's going to
be even more intense."
The most vocal supporter of Wal-Mart on the Council, Emma
Mitts, who represents the neighborhood where the West Side
store would be built, said she was "a little upset" by the
Council's decision.
"Let them try to organize in my community," Ms. Mitts said
of the opponents. "We've been organizing for a year. How
are they going to organize in a month?"
Labor unions are stronger and more combative in Chicago
than in most places where Wal-Mart has opened outlets.
Seeking to counter their influence, Wal-Mart has hired a
formidable team of local public relations and legal
consultants, including the law firm of Michael Daley,
brother of Mayor Richard M. Daley.
Mr. Bisio, the Wal-Mart spokesman, said his company was "a
very good corporate citizen" and had contributed tens of
thousands of dollars to community projects in cities and
towns near Chicago where it has stores.
"Our average hourly wage is $10.70 an hour, which compares
favorably to other Chicago retailers like Target and Home
Depot," Mr. Bisio said. "As far as having an impact on the
overall economy, if you talk to the Chambers of Commerce in
any town where we're present, they'll tell you that we not
only create jobs, but we also help attract sales revenues
for ourselves and neighboring retailers, which generates
taxes that pay for law enforcement jobs and roads and
everything else."
Mr. Bisio said that Wal-Mart was not anti-union, and that
"the reason our associates haven't wanted third-party
representation is because they have faith in the company,
and it provides them with tremendous opportunity."
In recent days, both supporters and opponents of Wal-Mart's
entry into Chicago have held public meetings to rally
support.
Opponents gathered at a South Side church on Saturday and
heard a succession of labor leaders and economists denounce
Wal-Mart. Oneeconomist, Chirag Mehta of the University of
Illinois at Chicago, presented a report by the university's
Center for Economic Development that predicted that the
West Side Wal-Mart would drain customers from 763 nearby
stores and "displace more jobs and income than it creates."
On Tuesday afternoon, about 200 West Side residents who
support the retail chain gathered at the site of the
proposed Wal-Mart for a rally that had the fervor of a
revival meeting. The Rev. Pearlie Freeman opened it with a
prayer that concluded, "We need Wal-Mart to come here, God,
and make a difference for our people."
The final speaker was Alderwoman Mitts, who whipped the
crowd into a shouting fervor. She promised that she and her
constituents would transform Wal-Mart once it opened here.
"We want to take the worst retailer in the world, the
worst, as they say, and make it the best," she said. "But
you know something? To make them the best, you've got to
have them inside."
Some retail experts doubt, however, that Wal-Mart would
make concessions in Chicago that it has refused to make
elsewhere.
"Wal-Mart has a lot of power," said Kenneth Thompson, a
professor of management at DePaul University. "It would be
very hard for a few aldermen or community figures to
negotiate with a company that's this tough. And what do
they do if Wal-Mart says no? Once the store is open, they
can hardly close it down."
The proposed South Side Wal-Mart would be part of a large
new mall, while the one on the West Side would be a
free-standing store with 150,000-square-feet of shopping
space. There is a Walgreen's a block away from the site,
and a mall across the street has a large grocery store, a
beauty supply store, two shoe stores and chain outlets
including Old Navy, Radio Shack and Marshall's.
Wal-Mart's uniquely powerful role in the American retail
economy and its reputation for vigorously fighting unions,
has attracted increasing attention from labor leaders. One
of them, John Wilhelm, a member of the A.F.L.-C.I.O.
Executive Council, said on a visit to Chicago this week
that he had asked John Sweeney, the A.F.L.-C.I.O.
president, to make Wal-Mart the central focus of the
American labor movement.
"After the 2004 elections are over, we should make this our
main project," Mr. Wilhelm said. "No one union can organize
Wal-Mart. We need to face this in a comprehensive way."
作者：安普若 在 海归商务 发贴, 来自【海归网】 http://www.haiguinet.com
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 零售业：Wal-Mart's Big-City Plans Stall Again -- 安普若 - (7618 Byte) 2004-5-06 周四, 22:01 (1923 reads)
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