After the fight to prevent the Bronx Armory from becoming a center for low-paying jobs, city activists began a new battle with business owners at the Queens Center Mall; they are asking for higher salaries and health benefits for more than 3,000 workers.

City council members, the distributors' union, wholesalers, employees of department stores, and the RWDSU (Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union) all support this campaign. Activists are requesting the Macerich Company to pay higher wages to more than 3,000 employees that work at the famous mall, which received $48 million in tax support over the past five years.

The campaign's primary demands are to raise the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour for employees and to give them health benefits. City Council Member Daniel Dromm of District 25 supports the campaign and said that a company that receives help to pay its taxes should have more concern for the community in which it operates. "They should pay adequate wages and assume responsibility for the interests of the community that surrounds them."

Representatives of the RWDSU said they are starting this campaign with the hope that employees of both wholesale and retail department stores will gain access to better opportunities by earning decent salaries and receiving benefits – rights that every worker should aspire to.