Huffington Post: Chicago Wal-Mart: Unions Reach Deal, Passage Expected

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/24/chicago-wal-mart-unions-r_n_624290.html

At a press conference this morning, the Chicago Federation of Labor announced its support for a Wal-Mart superstore on the South Side, after reaching a deal with the corporate giant on employee wages.

Crain's Chicago Business reports that Wal-Mart will pay workers an entry wage of $8.75-an-hour, as previously reported, a salary of 50 cents above the minimum wage. But the company has also agreed to give a 40-cent-an-hour raise to employees within a year.

Labor had been asking for salaries of at least $9.25-an-hour. After the one-year raise, the deal comes only ten cents short of the union's demands.

Dennis Gannon, the president of the powerful Chicago Federation of Labor, seemed satisfied with the result of his efforts. "It's been a long fight," Mr. Gannon said, according to Crain's. " Wal-Mart never sat down with organized labor until they sat down with us."

The deal comes just hours before a scheduled Zoning Committee meeting in which the Wal-Mart question was on the agenda.

FULL story at link.