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October 4, 2006
Target Coming To E. Harlem But Wages Lag
Resident Publications
By Mike McPhate
Forest City Ratner cast aside plans to include Costco in its East River Plaza project in favor of Target, an anchor store in the developer's Atlantic Terminal and Queens Place malls. What are the implications for local wages?
Many of those jobs became less enticing though, when it was announced last month that a Target store would take the place of Costco, long slated to co-anchor the complex with a Home Depot. While labor experts call Costco one of the country’s most generous employers, starting employees at $10 per hour, Target pays as little as $6.25 per hour in some parts of the country, according to workers.
“[Target] screws workers over,” said Bernie Hesse, a union leader who has tried to organize the store’s employees in St. Paul, MN. “We hear all the time about the low pay, the abuse, and poor management people.”
Target, which keeps details of its wages and benefits tightly guarded, did not return several calls seeking comment.
The plaza’s developer, Forest City Ratner, which is co-developing the site with Blumenfeld Development Group, said Target’s record of local hiring played a role in the decision to favor the store. “Target and Forest City have worked together at [Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn and at Queens Place in Queens] to make local hiring a priority,” said executive Bruce Bender in a statement.
A spokesperson declined to discuss whether the developer addressed Target’s labor practices when evaluating its bid.
“Big box” store opponents—who decry poor wages, the evisceration of small business, and so-called “sweat shop” labor—have trained their energies in recent years mostly on Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer. But Target’s employment practices are very similar, said Patty Edwards, a retail analyst with the Seattle-based consulting firm Wentworth, Hauser & Violich.
For more info on Target's corporate practices check out http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=13508.
Posted by lumi at October 4, 2006 7:15 AM