A broad alliance of labor leaders, City Council members, and small-business advocates launched a campaign at City Hall yesterday to block the first Wal-Mart proposed for New York City. Much to the ire of many at the hearing, however, the retail giant stayed home.

It’s just under a month since the world’s largest retailer announced its intention to open a store in Rego Park, Queens. The night before yesterday’s hearing of the council’s economic development committee on the economic implications of “big box” stores, a Wal-Mart representative sent a letter to Council Member James Sanders Jr., explaining she would be unable to attend “due to a scheduling conflict.”

“Wal-Mart is eager to make New York City its next retail frontier,” the company’s community affairs manager-East region, Mia Masten, wrote. “While we haven’t finalized any agreements for sites within the five boroughs, there are several store sites that we are now considering.” Ms. Masten also wrote, “We believe that Wal-Mart would be an extraordinary asset to the local community.” Each new store, she maintained, could create 300 to 350 jobs, generate more than $5 million in property and sales tax revenue for the city and state, and provide consumers with high-quality products at low prices.

The members of the opposition alliance, such as the president of the Central Labor Council, state Assemblyman Brian McLaughlin; the president of the United Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, and City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, painted a stark, contrasting picture, highlighting labor violations, environmental havoc, and the devastation to small businesses that they said Wal-Mart has caused in other cities.

“The fact is for every Wal-Mart store that opens, jobs are lost to the community, the tax base shrinks, the number of workers with health benefits declines, and the number of workers eligible for welfare increases,” Mr. McLaughlin said.

The regional vice president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Bill Danio, suggested New York follow the lead of Los Angeles in commissioning a study of the potential impact of big-box stores on the city. The result was a city ordinance that raised the barrier to entry for big-box retailers.

At the hearing, labor leaders urged a moratorium on new applications from big-box stores until a similar study is done and a new land-use and economic development policy is crafted. But it is likely to be an uphill battle against Wal-Mart, with Mayor Bloomberg having welcomed the retailer’s interest in the city.

“The public votes with their feet and they like big stores,” the mayor said, noting New York is losing business to suburbs with big-box stores. “It is a competitive world out there, and competition is what gets the people who live in this city better-quality products, better services at lower prices, and it creates the kind of jobs we need.”