WalMart’s efforts to open store in Chicago were ultimately successful but now we know why — the store buckled to union activists and agreed to pay inflated construction costs on the estimated $1 billion worth of construction during the next five years. Big labor bosses and their political cronies stopped construction until the Project Labor Agreement was signed. A PLA discriminates against non-union workers and requires all workers on the job to pay union dues and be hired in union halls. Such is the cost of progress in Chicago.