Volume 3 Issue 2

November 2009

Living Just Enough for CityLife:

Are Southsiders Willing to Take Just Any Wal-Mart Job?

By Dhyia Thompson

I noticed Henry* at the Austin Wal-Mart, store located on Chicago’s west side, as Iwatched staff members pull him in different directions to either joke around or seekwork-related advice. It appeared that he was well respected and admired by theyounger associates, so I felt compelled to approach him to ask a simple question,“Do you enjoy working for Wal-Mart?” And unlike the other 6 associates I previouslyasked - who all robotically shouted “Yes”; Henry, a man in his late 50s, paused for awhile, chuckled to himself and said “Yes”.Henry is just one out the 1.4 million associates Wal-Mart employs in the U.S. -making it the largest private U.S. employer. Last fiscal year, Wal-Mart earned $401billion in sales; which is larger than the GNP for even a small industrializedcountries. e retail giant has historically developed stores in rural and subur

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bancommunities, however recently Wal-Mart has shielded its growth plans toaggressively pursue large urban markets and have successfully opened 2 urbanstores in Los Angeles and Chicago. While, they’ve achieved some success, other cities, such as New York, Detroit andD.C. won’t even entertain Wal-Mart’s proposals to develop a store concept withintheir city limits. There are two major reasons why Wal-Mart has experiencedmassive opposition: jobs & wages and community retail development. Thisopposition is currently happening right here on the Southside and the controversy isheavily centered on jobs and wages.Wal-Mart laid quietly dormant until October when the IOC gave Chicago a swiftpunch in the gut announcing Rio as their host city for the 2016 Olympics; but theyfound the bad news to be an opportune time to reignite their interest in developingon the south side. Their next proposed location is for a 190,000 sq. ft. urbansupercenter, which includes a full grocer, in the economically challengedcommunity of Chatham on 83rd and Stewart. The site is a mere 7 miles from ourBronzeville community and to understand the scaling would be to imagine a retaildestination that could hold 75-100 Agriculture’s and Z & H’s; however without thebenefit of diversity in services and products that small businesses tend to offercommunities. So what’s the big deal, right? In Chicago we’re suffering through tough economictimes: people need money and people want to save money. Well, the Wal-Mart

store debate boils down to this: jobs versus quality jobs - it’s just that simple.Alderman Brookins, 21st ward, is advocating for the Wal-Mart in City Council, wherehis ordinance is currently sitting in the Finance Committee. According to a blogposting he made on Huffington Post, he merely states, “the store will create at least400 new jobs and stimulate economic development.” He wants jobs, but it doesn’tseem to be transparent to south side residents what Brookins is proposing withregard to benefits for these Wal-Mart jobs. On the other hand, Amisha Patel, a representative from the Good Jobs ChicagoCampaign, was very clear on what the group defines as a quality job - jobs thatprovide workers with living wages and affordable health insurance. Good JobsChicago is a coalition of residents, business owners, Pastors, and organizationsfighting for quality jobs from big box retailers, such as Wal-Mart. the group feelsthere is much room for improvement from big box retailers, as Amisha states,“existing low wages is not economic development... we need good jobs so that workers can pay the rent, clothing, etc...and not beplaced in a position to choose between two [necessary] things.”Henry began working for Wal-Mart in 2007 at $8.40/hour. His disenchantment withthe company developed because Ald. Mitts of Austin and Wal-Mart promisedworkers that by 2007 all employees would earn at least $10/hour and receivequarterly bonuses. Over the 2+years that Henry has been employed at Wal-Mart,he’s only received $1 in salary raises; bringing him just 60 cents shy of the $10/hourpromised. He’s also only received 3 out of the 12 possible bonuses; his last bonus of $83 was paid last Spring. Henry and I sat down over coffee to discuss his monthly expenses in order toillustrate the difficulty that a full-time Wal-Mart employee has with covering basicliving expenses. Similar to the other Wal-Mart associates I spoke with, Henrysubsidizes his and his child’s healthcare through government programs -- his wife isuninsured and relies on free clinics. Henry takes home $1,170/month, which includes disability insurance and taxdeductions, however his monthly living expenses are $1,613; leaving him $443 overbudget. He supplements his income by working another job that pushes his totalwork week to 70 hours/week, excluding his 3 hour/day public transportationcommute. When asked does he have time for fun, he responded as if the conceptseemed foreign, explaining that he lives a “simple life of church, home and work.”He continued, “Basically the way the schedule is, you don’t have that much [timefor family], because your off days are not back to back...so you get off one day, youtake care of errands, but by [then] it’s time to go to bed to go to work the nextday.”In response to Wal-Mart’s failed public commitments to Henry and all the “Henrys”working at Wal-Mart, Amisha states, “part of the challenge [is Wal-Mart] makes lotsof claims that sound great, but in reality it’s quite different...Costco on the northside has quality living wage jobs, why can’t Southsiders get those same living wage jobs too.”