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URBAN SUPERTARGET DRAWS UNION CRITICISM

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Union officials here are waging a campaign against a planned SuperTarget store that the company said it plans to open in the city's crowded Midway neighborhood.It will be the first urban SuperTarget in the Twin Cities."SuperTargets will drive wages [in area supermarkets] down," said Bernie Hesse, director of organizing for United Food and Commercial Workers Local 789. The Minneapolis-based

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Union officials here are waging a campaign against a planned SuperTarget store that the company said it plans to open in the city's crowded Midway neighborhood.

It will be the first urban SuperTarget in the Twin Cities.

"SuperTargets will drive wages [in area supermarkets] down," said Bernie Hesse, director of organizing for United Food and Commercial Workers Local 789. The Minneapolis-based retailer is openly opposed to unions.

The new 174,000-square-foot SuperTarget, which will sell groceries in addition to discount merchandise, will compete with area supermarkets such as Cub Foods and Rainbow, which are largely unionized. No opening date has been set.

Hesse said a non-union SuperTarget moving to the area would force other retailers to lower wages in order to stay competitive. Target also does not offer health care for every employee, Hesse said, which shifts many related costs to the community and the state, much like Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores has been accused of doing.

"We're always working on Wal-Mart," Hesse said. "We'll be working on Wal-Mart until the end of time, or until they collapse."

The union is also working to discourage the community from supporting Target.

Target did not return phone calls from SN.

TAGS: Walmart