Organized labor is still in a tizzy over Mayor Richard Daley's veto of that aforementioned ordinance, which would've forced only big-box retailers such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot to pay their hourly workers more. Alderman who voted to sustain Daley's veto (Daley won re-election last month) have been targeted for defeat by local unions.
More on this subject from today's Chicago Sun-Times:
Organized labor sent a "message of intimidation" to the City Council by pumping more than $1 million into just five aldermanic races -- with some challengers receiving 100 percent of their campaign contributions from unions, a business group charged Tuesday.
Bernard Loyd, a board member for the Metropolitan Planning Council, reviewed the campaign finance reports of union-backed challengers in a few wards.
It showed that organized labor contributed $1.02 million to challengers in five wards and that the beneficiaries relied almost exclusively on union money. They were 3rd Ward challenger Pat Dowell ($147,000 or two-thirds of all contributions); 12th Ward candidate Carina Sanchez ($171,000 or 96 percent); 15th Ward candidate Toni Foulkes ($250,000 or 100 percent); 16th Ward challenger Joann Thompson ($248,000 or 100 percent); and 21st Ward challenger Leroy Jones Jr. ($210,000 or 96 percent).
Those same candidates also received the benefit of extensive campaign management, polling, message development, opposition research and hundreds of precinct workers, he said.
Yes, business groups have funded some incumbent alderman, but I find it quite unlikely they've provided the type of support mentioned in the above paragraph.
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Home Depot 
Labor 
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Elections 
Unions 
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