THE COUNCIL OF JOB KILLERS IN NEW YORK
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/council_of_job_killers_xh2uijRTHcMSiy0fiOvwdO
The City Council convenes today for a hearing on whether Walmart will fi nally be allowed to open an outlet within the five boroughs.
How’s that for arrogant: Chris Quinn’s Clown College presumes to sit in judgment of the largest, most customer-friendly retailer on the planet.
It is to laugh, really.
The transactional hacks in City Hall will be busy pouring cement shoes for city shoppers once again, under orders from their union-boss pals.
But before they bar Walmart from New York, the council might first want to run the query by some union rank-and-filers, who clearly need the store.
The Building and Construction Trades Council made a 5-year agreement Tuesday to build Walmarts in New York — assuming the City Council approves any.
And the construction union isn’t alone: A massive 74 percent of union members want Walmart in NYC, according to a poll conducted for Walmart by the Democratic pollster Douglas Schoen.
For good reason: A Walmart store means new jobs in a city that sorely needs them. And for everyone else, Walmart offers better products at lower prices: New Yorkers could save about 33 percent on groceries if the company came to town.
New Yorkers already travel far outside city limits in order to buy goods from the retail giant. So it’s absurd for the council to deny them a choice they want and need closer to home.
But we know why they persist: retail-union clout, pure and simple.
We know their demands: above-market-rate wages that scare off developers.
And we know their preference: no jobs, rather than a low-paying jobs.
Witness the Kingsbridge Armory, still a desert nearly 15 months after the council killed plans for a $310 million shopping mall there, based on the same union objections over wages.
But that scorched-earth policy burned The Bronx, and it would be a pity — a crime — for the City Council to do the same to Brooklyn, where Walmart hopes to open its New York flagship.
Brooklyn wants and needs such a boon today. The council needs to let it happen.
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