You know, for a company that’s allegedly so hostile to workers, it’s amazing how much workers clamor to snag jobs at, and want to continue to work for, Wal-Mart.

After the Maryland state legislature slapped what to my mind must be an unconstitutional law aimed squarely at the retail giant, Wal-Mart’s now reconsidering its plans to put a warehouse on Maryland’s Eastern Shore:

Folks around here aren’t too sure about the politics of Wal-Mart up in Annapolis, but there is one thing that pretty much everybody in this Eastern Shore county seat can agree on: 800 jobs at a mammoth retail distribution warehouse would be a boon.

And another thing: $12 an hour is not chump change in Somerset County, Maryland’s poorest jurisdiction, which for decades has seen a steady decline in the traditional stalwarts of the local economy, farming and seafood.

[...]

Now, a week after the Maryland General Assembly overrode Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.’s veto of a bill requiring Wal-Mart to spend more on employee health care, residents are waiting for the other shoe to drop - wondering whether the controversy might push the world’s largest retailer to put its big distribution center someplace else.

“We have a labor force who work with their hands, and there is absolutely no question that Somerset County needs the jobs,” says Sharon Harris, who with her husband, Bill, runs a hardware store here and another in nearby Pocomoke City.

Wal-Mart officials have been talking for more than a year about building a 470,000-square-foot distribution center outside Princess Anne. But last spring, after the General Assembly passed the health care bill, the company said it might wait an additional two or three years before buying a 170-acre property a couple of miles south of town. The company has remained tight-lipped since Democrats overturned Ehrlich’s veto last week.

“Right now, we are weighing our options,” Wal-Mart spokesman Nate Hurst said after the vote. “This bill certainly sent a message to the business community, and companies like ours are taking a step back and wondering how business-friendly Maryland is.” Hurst would not say when the company would decide whether to go ahead with plans for the warehouse.

When Maryland’s politicians inevitably start whining about companies who take their business elsewhere, perhaps they’ll look back at their own dumb policies that pushed the businesses out in the first place. Perhaps. But I doubt it.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 21st, 2006 at 9:05 am by Radley Balko and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.