The Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce supports Wal-Mart’s efforts to build a supercenter store at 83rd Street and Stewart Avenue as well as at other locations throughout the city. As corporations continue to downsize and outsource jobs overseas, Wal-Mart’s commitment to create jobs while providing city residents access to badly needed food and other products at low prices should be applauded and fully supported.
The debate over whether Wal-Mart should be allowed to build additional stores in Chicago has gone on long enough and has been most recently reduced to efforts to cater to the interests of a handful of groups and individuals, while the needs of unemployed Chicagoans continue to be ignored. This is almost shameful, especially when we consider that many other retailers who operate in our city have never been challenged on their employment and wage practices.
One important item that is almost completely lost in much of the senseless rhetoric against Wal-Mart is the outstanding positive impact that Wal-Mart has supporting other businesses to create jobs, including Hispanic-owned small businesses. In 2009 alone, Wal-Mart spent almost $20 Billion buying merchandise and services from 2,772 suppliers in the state of Illinois, supporting more than 165,000 jobs in our state. Part of Wal-Mart’s spending with suppliers in Illinois goes to Hispanic businesses that have become part of the Wal-Mart supply chain over the last several years. Wal-Mart’s commitment to local and minority suppliers is unparalleled in the industry and its efforts to increase the level of participation of Hispanic, minority and local suppliers should be supported.
—Omar Duque, president and CEO, Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
