It's no secret that Wal-Mart has been making inroads at City Hall. But in those South Side neighborhoods targeted by the company for new stores, there's still of skepticism over the mega-retailer's intentions. Today, the newly-formed Good Jobs Chicago coalition -- made up of clergy and community organizations -- showed up at City Hall to let aldermen know that three years after Mayor Daley vetoed the big box living wage ordinance, they still want to see Wal-Mart raise its wages and benefits before elected officials support any expansion.

This time around, organizers are looking for a legally-binding community benefits agreement from city officials that requires Wal-Mart to pay fair wages, make health care affordable, extend workers the right to organize, and sell locally-grown food. "It's the role of government to ensure its citizens that you should not have to work a 40-hour week and still be living in poverty and then have to rely on the government for food stamps and Medicaid," St. Sabina's Rev. Michael Pfleger said. Watch:

Representatives of Southside Organizing for Unity and Liberation (SOUL) pointed out today that, while they agree with Ald. Howard Brookins Jr. (21st Ward) that jobs are sorely needed in their communities, they take issue with the notion that any jobs -- particularly those with poverty wages --  will suffice. "At $8 an hour, that's $210 a week," Rev. Booker Vance said of the minimum wage handed out by many big box retailers. "Multiply that by four and that's not even enough to make rent on the South Side of Chicago. And that's not including food." Ironically, Brookins -- Wal-Mart's chief advocate in the City Council -- has refused to take the recommended 17 furlough days from his $110,000 a year (part-time) job, recently telling a CBS reporter, "Unless they suspend my child support payments, I can't afford it."

Wal-Mart workers, of course, make only a small fraction of that aldermanic salary. And many of those employees can't afford the basics, such as adequately feeding their families, the Illinois Hunger Coalition's Diane Doherty tells us. "Too many of our people who are working are hungry," she says. And that's only tipped more working people into government programs, such as food stamps, where the numbers continue to surge.

"We don't want these jobs to be a race to the bottom," Action Now director Denise Dixon said today. "'We tell any employer that wants to bring jobs into our community, 'Come on. But bring good jobs with you.' "