CHICAGO | Forty-ninth Ward Alderman Joe Moore said the purpose of today's emergency City Council session with the mayor of Santa Fe and a supervisor from San Francisco is to "get the facts out" about the "big box" ordinance.

It will not be to respond to threats of a mayoral veto and the changing sentiment among aldermen who originally supported the bill.

Moore, the chief sponsor of the living wage ordinance, and 6th Alderman Freddrenna Lyle called for the ad-hoc meeting earlier this week, inviting Mayor David Coss of Santa Fe and Supervisor Tom Ammiano of San Francisco to explain the economic benefits of a living wage.

Both cities have enacted wage laws and serve as examples, according to Moore, that the big box ordinance can work in Chicago despite threats by large retailers that they will pull out of the city.

The Chicago ordinance passed in a 35-14 vote last month. It calls for large retailers to pay a higher minimum wage -- $10 an hour and $3 in benefits -- by 2010. Critics, including Mayor Richard M. Daley and the retailers, claim the law is unfairly targets businesses because of their size and will drive much needed jobs from the city.

When the Santa Fe living wage law was passed two years ago, the measure also sparked heated public debates and threats by major retailers to pull out, Coss said.

"We had the same kind of threats in my city, and 9,000 people in Santa Fe got a pay raise," he said. "We were told it would mean economic ruin and that the sky was falling. Two years later, our economy is fine."

Several "big box" retailers with construction plans for Chicago -- including Target, Lowe's, and Wal-Mart -- have recently shelved the blueprints and hinted that they might cancel their plans entirely if the ordinance takes effect. Moore pointed out that in Santa Fe and San Francisco, however, the stores never actually stopped construction.

"Stores continue to open in those cities, and Wal-Mart is opening a new super Wal-Mart in Santa Fe even though they have a living wage ordinance going up to $10.50 an hour in 2008, 50 cents higher than ours will be in 2010," Moore said.