City Council in Chicago has brushed aside warnings from Walmart stores to approve an ordinance

that makes Chicago the biggest city in the nation to require big-box retailers to pay a living

wage. The ordinance passed 35 to 14 yesterday. After three hours of impassioned debate,

it requires mega retailers to pay wages of at least $10 an hour plus $3 in fringe benefits.

$3 in fringe benefits. By mid 2010, it would only apply to companies with more than one billion

dollars in annual sales and stores of at least 90,000 square feet. Alderman Tony Preck Winkle said,

it's trying to get the largest companies in America to pay decent wages. No, it's not.

minimum wage in Illinois, by the way, six and a half. The federal minimum is $5.15. Mayor Daley

and others warned that the living wage proposal would drive jobs and desperately needed development

from some of the city's poorest neighborhoods and lead people like Walmart to abandon the city.

It's exactly Walmart will ring the city. Walmart will surround the city, but they will not go there.

This is nothing to do with a livable wage. This is nothing to do with making big companies

pay livable wage. This was all about unions. This is all about the Democrats being loyal to unions.

I think the ACORN group was behind this. A huge liberal group. Let me, the minimum wage,

and it looks like the Republicans are going to propose one of their own increases. So this is all

moot. I'm going to keep talking about it because it's ridiculous. The minimum wage

is an arbitrarily set wage has nothing to do with market conditions. It actually reduces jobs.

It results in the loss of jobs. People don't believe that, but it is statistically true.

Now let's, let me ask you people in Chicago at the city council, 10 bucks an hour in 2010. Why not

tomorrow? This is desperately needed, isn't it? Why are you going to wait almost three years or four?

Why wait four years? What's the point here? By the time we get to 2010, $10 an hour is going to be

not that much different than the 615 or 650. That is the required minimum wage in Chicago now.

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