Big Box Living Wage Ordinance Passes in Chicago; ACORN and a Community-Faith-Labor Coalition Secure Living Wage Law
From U.S. Newswire Releases:
On July 26th, the Chicago City Council approved an ordinance that will require Big Box retailers to pay workers a living wage.
The ordinance will require a $10 minimum hourly wage and $3 an hour in fringe benefits, with annual indexing for inflation, for big box retail stores that are at least 90,000 feet and have gross annual sales of $1 billion.
"When you work for the people doing God's work - fighting to give working families a fair chance to succeed - you're going to win," said ACORN community leader Toni Foulkes after learning about the victory.
The ordinance passed despite opposition and an expensive media and public relations campaign waged by Wal-Mart, other major retailers, and Mayor Daley.
The Brennan Center at NYU helped write the ordinance, and Chicago ACORN and the Grassroots Collaborative initiated a broad-based campaign to win approval of the law.
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