June 27, 2010

As the prospect of a second Wal-Mart in Chicago has been hotly debated for the last six years, the unions opposed to Wal-Mart have held true to a tight script.

"We're about good jobs," Chicago Federation of Labor President Dennis Gannon liked to say. "We're not about poverty jobs."

We've bemoaned labor's resistance. Chicagoans, particularly in struggling neighborhoods, want the jobs, merchandise and groceries Wal-Mart can provide.

We are aware of Wal-Mart's failings, but think these neighborhoods are better off with Wal-Mart than without.

But now that a breakthrough finally has come, we appreciate the union resistance for what it really was -- mostly a strategy.

And we have to give organized labor their due. They didn't walk away empty-handed.

On Monday, Wal-Mart agreed to a starting salary in Chicago of 50 cents above the state minimum wage, $8.75 an hour. Though labor still balked, they ultimately relented and the City Council Zoning Committee on Thursday approved Chicago's second Wal-Mart, in Pullman, setting the stage for full City Council approval this week.

The unions were right to pressure Wal-Mart to do more than the bare minimum, a strategy used on Wal-Mart elsewhere that has paid off with better health care and improved working conditions.

We still think the unions played too hard to get -- Chicago should be on its fifth Wal-Mart by now. But they stood on principle.