QUEENS, N.Y. (PAI)--First it was Los Angeles, then it was Chicago. And now it's the borough of Queens in New York City. The nation's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, has been forcibly thrown out of the nation's three largest cities due to its low wages, bad benefits and anti-worker policies.......

The latest ejection came Feb. 23, when the Vornado Realty Trust decided to develop a large shopping complex in the borough --but without a 132,000-square-foot Wal-Mart as its centerpiece.

Wal-Mart denied it had a deal with Vornado, but it was con-tradicted by community leaders and the chair of the New York City Council's Land Use Committee, which must approve such deals.

"We welcome Vornado's decision that Wal-Mart will not be part of its development in Queens," said Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, part of the United Food and Commercial Workers.

UFCW is leading a nationwide drive to unionize Wal-Mart--and to publicize its low wages, bad benefits, labor law-breaking and discrimination on the job.

"Any developer should hesitate to consider including Wal-Mart in any future plans. Wal-Mart's detrimental impact on communi-ties where they operate stores will continue to generate strong opposition wherever they attempt to open," Appelbaum added.

"Working families in New York simply cannot afford the high cost that comes with Wal-Mart's promise of low prices. Wal-Mart's low wages and benefits and their willingness to break labor laws not only hurt their own employees but put pressure on employers who play by the rules.

"We expect that this is not the last we've heard from Wal-Mart in this city and New Yorkers will be ready to protect our communities and stand up to this bully no matter how they try to sneak in next," Appelbaum warned. A Wal-Mart spokeswoman said the million-worker Arkansas-headquartered behemoth still seeks a site in New York City.

Last year, after publicity about its low-paying jobs, bad benefits and discrimination, voters in a lower-income majority-minority Los Angeles suburb voted against a zoning change that would have let Wal-Mart in.

Publicity about those same issues led the Chicago City Council to enact a "Big Box Living Wage Ordinance"--and Wal-Mart dropped plans for two supercenters in low-income areas there.

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