News Summary

Clark County Commissioners have joined Dayton in passing a resolution supporting a union group's efforts against Wal-Mart's business practices.

In Tuesday's split vote — Democrats Roger Tackett and Dave Hartley voted for the resolution and Republican John Detrick voted against it — the commission adopted the legislation created by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. The Dayton City Commission adopted the resolution in December.

About two dozen union representatives attended Tuesday's meeting. UFCWU representatives said Dayton was the first and Clark County was the second legislative body in the state to pass the resolution.

Ronald Mosby, senior manager for Wal-Mart stores, said the company did not know about the resolution or the meeting until Tuesday evening.

Clark County Commission president Roger Tackett said he was not aware of the commission passing any similar resolutions against a business in the past. He said he would like to see Wal-Mart address a number of issues, such as more affordable health care coverage for its employees, better wages and an alleged wage and promotion disparity between male and female employees.

"Whatever we can do to support the employees in our county, we should do that," Tackett said. Wal-Mart operates two stores in Springfield, employing about 500.

The resolution asked Wal-Mart to "change for the better," but it did not give specific wage or level of insurance requests.

"Any municipality that would consider such a resolution without approaching us to discuss that, that is a concern," Mosby said. "We were not asked to come and discuss the issue before they made a vote."

Mosby said it would have been important for the commission to research whether the union's allegations were factual.

He said the avearage Ohio employee wage is $10.40 per hour and that more than 90 percent of employees have insurance coverage, either through Wal-Mart or another agency.

Detrick said he credited the union for successfully advocating for better benefits, but he said he could not justify adopting the resolution against an employer that Clark County residents have supported both in the voting box and with their patronage.

"Clark County residents voted 75 percent to 25 percent to rezone for Wal-Mart," he said of a pre-construction referendum. He said residents continue to vote with their feet — keeping both the Bechtle Avenue and Tuttle Road stores busy.

Detrick also objected to the fact that not all portions of the resolution applied to Clark County, nor did the resolution provide proof of some claims, such as that Wal-Mart prevents employees from taking lunch breaks.

Staff Writer Natalie Morales contributed to this story.