Walmart and the Chicago Federation of Labor this morning announced an agreement that will likely allow Walmart to build a controversial store in the Pullman neighborhood.
Heavy opposition from organized labor and its supporters on the City Council's Zoning Committee had previously stalled the store.
But the retailer and the CFL were able to come to terms on wages, which will rise to more than $9 an hour for second-year store workers.
The deal is key to Walmart's plan, announced earlier this week, to build several dozen new stores in Chicago. As I noted at the time, organized labor opposition would have made that a bloody battle to be fought during years' worth of City Council meetings.
Presumably today's accord will smooth that path, although there's still plenty of opposition to Walmart, and opening even one big-box store in Chicago is a bureaucratic nightmare that I wouldn't want anything to do with. It'll be interesting to watch how Walmart fares with a few dozen.