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Published:Friday, September 5, 2008
YOUNGSTOWN —The city signed a deal today to provide water to a proposed Wal-Mart in Liberty in exchange for the retail store superpower’s agreeing to steps that will make it easier for Youngstown residents to be hired at the facility.
Wal-Mart officials were hesitant to sign a contract with Youngstown for water services because it required the company to make a best effort to hire city residents for at least 25 percent of its positions at the proposed Liberty location.
The deal signed has Wal-Mart agreeing to recruit Youngstown residents through a hiring center it will open within the city limits about five to six weeks before the Liberty store opens sometime next year. However, the agreement does not require Wal-Mart to hire any Youngstown residents.
The company also agreed to help with job-training for city residents for the store and to work together to what Mayor Jay Williams called “future investment opportunities” in the city.
For the complete story, read Saturday’s Vindicator or vindy.com
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Very good.
The city stil got what the wanted,to provide the water and emplyees. figures.
Why did Mayor Jay take so long to reach this non-agreement? Walmart won this one because they would have hired a bunch of Youngstown employees anyway from one of their hiring centers. They got their water and no quota for city hires. It's the way Walmart does business. This just shows why Mayor Jay needs to be thrown out of office the next time he comes up for election.
The thing I find most funny about the whole deal is "job-training for city residents for the store". How much training does it take to work at Walmart? Tells us a lot about city residents' education levels, doesn't it.
I'm pleased that an agreement was worked out, and I note that while a 'hiring center' (whatever that turns out to be) will be located in the city, Wal Mart is under no obligation to hire anybody based solely upon where they live. They are obligated to 'train' those Youngstowners they do hire, though. I'd expect anyone hired to get some training - how to operate the cash registers, what store procedures are, and so on. Hopefully they won't have to 'train' people on such concepts as showing up for work, on time and ready to work, or actually making the effort to let someone know when they're NOT able to make it to work.
I hope Mayor Jay is learning and remembering what cooperation and mutual benefit feels like. If he'd approached the suburbs with a compromising attitude, such as he evidently showed Wal Mart, instead of issuing his arrogant, threatening ultimatims, who knows what might have been accomplished?
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