Wal-Mart Watch: Chicago postpones a vote on letting Wal-Mart in. And then there's this: Wal-Mart's uniquely powerful role in the American retail economy and its reputation for vigorously fighting unions, has attracted increasing attention from labor leaders. One of them, John Wilhelm, a member of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. Executive Council, said on a visit to Chicago this week that he had asked John Sweeney, the A.F.L.-C.I.O. president, to make Wal-Mart the central focus of the American labor movement. "After the 2004 elections are over, we should make this our main project," Mr. Wilhelm said. "No one union can organize Wal-Mart. We need to face this in a comprehensive way." I was excited when I first heard about the letter Wilhelm sent Sweeney a couple months back, because taking on Wal-Mart after the election was the right idea then, and it's the right idea now. As long as Wal-Mart can expand, control wage standards, and lead the race to the bottom, it will continue to limit the efficacy and scope of the work of the labor movement. For this reason, and for many more ( a small sampling of which have made it into the LWB Wal-Mart Watch), these workers need a union.