Walmart fought hard to persuade DC residents to let it open stores in the district. But now the retail giant is threatening to walk away from three planned sites if the DC City Council passes a “living wage” bill that would require all major employers to pay workers a minimum of $12.50 an hour.
In less than 24 hours, the corporation is already seeing results: Some council members who voted for the living wage bill are now balking. Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie said he is “going to give this some thought” because he voted yes “without knowing Walmart was going to pull out.”
Walmart is accustomed to singlehandedly taking down worker rights legislation. Seven years ago, Walmart threatened to scrap its plans to open stores in Chicago after the city passed a similar living wage law. The mayor promptly vetoed the bill. In March, New York raised its minimum wage but gave tax subsidies to Walmart and other firms that hire seasonal workers. Unions claimed at the time that Walmart had influenced the deal behind the scenes.
Other large stores like Costco, Home Depot, Target, and Macy’s would also have to abide by the DC proposal. But the new $12.50 minimum would be an especially dramatic change for Walmart, which currently pays workers 28 percent less on average than other large retailers, even as it reaps profits of nearly $450 billion a year. In contrast, Costco will have no problem meeting DC’s requirement if it passes — the average Costco worker currently makes $21.96 an hour.
Walmart’s refusal to pay their employees a livable wage translates into a bigger burden for taxpayers. A Congressional report found that the workforce of a single Walmart store consume roughly a million dollars in public benefits every year, relying on “safety net” programs like Medicaid, food stamps, school lunch, and housing assistance to survive. Since Walmart is the largest private retailer in the nation, the full taxpayer cost of the store’s labor practices is exponentially higher.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/07/10/2276091/walmart-dc-living-wage-bill/
It pains me to say this, but Wal-Mart’s gotta win this one, Mr. Mayor. (Insert frowning smiley face.)
I want working people to make a decent living. I want to make a dent in the growing chasm between the poor and the rich. I want the destroyer of small-town businesses and purveyor of made-in-China smiley faces to offer some recompense for its sprawling, depressing stores, for its crushing effect on the American economy and its unequal treatment of female workers.
It would make a great Disney movie, wouldn’t it? The city that’s not even a state stopping the big, blue bully in its tracks.
But this bill isn’t going to be the way to do it, I’m afraid.
Mayor Gray: just veto this idiotic bill. The council is drunk on union money and can't see the forest for the trees. they would rather have people unemployed than make the same minimum wage that every other retailer and fast food joint in town pays. The bill is completely irrational and premised solely on a politically correct bias against Walmart. That is no basis for legislation and certainly no reason to deny people jobs and retail opportunities.
codywilson posted:does the minimum wage hurt the working class?
Yes because it is very low.
Many commenters have made the point that some Walmart employees make so little they still qualify for federal anti-poverty programs. I don’t see why they seem to revile Walmart for this, though.
The latest foolish attack on Walmart is happening, fittingly, in a committee hearing in Washington, D.C., a town that is reminding us all how it is even more obtuse on the local level than on the national. The salvo is called the Large Retailer Accountability Act (LRAA), but just think of it as yet another effort from the DGDP: the Department of Good Deeds Punishment.
For its sin of providing millions of working class Americans with good service, broad selection and low prices, Walmart might as well have painted a (Target-style) bullseye on itself among progressives. Walmart is at last preparing to enter the nation’s capital, with plans well underway for six stores in the District, two of them set to open this year.
Away from the tourist trail, the District still contains some blighted neighborhoods where crime and disorder discourage business and leave residents starved for corporate attention. Walmart has eagerly been reviving desolate corners of the city.
Lessons posted:the cool thing about these arguments is that people literally make them no matter how bad it is. it doesn't matter if it's walmart paying people $8.50 or sweatshop workers in malaysia earning <$1 a day, people will inevitably say, "well, uh better than nothin". if you go back far enough this was the official story on slavery in the antebellum south, though that doesn't come up as much anymore because the PC police are cracking down hard.
stop punishing job creators
If we cease our Cruises against the Christians, how shall we be furnished with the Commodities their Countries produce, and which are so necessary for us? If we forbear to make Slaves of their People, who in this hot Climate are to cultivate our Lands? Who are to perform the common Labours of our City, and in our Families? Must we not then be our own Slaves? And is there not more Compassion and more Favour due to us as Mussulmen, than to these Christian Dogs?
discipline posted:unions are literally the only way to negotiate a dignified wage and benefits for workers under capitalism
in america right now, sure, maybe, perhaps. however, france has both a higher median wage and minimum wage than the UK and a lower retirement age. and the best healthcare and childcare system in the world. it has a union density of about 7%, lower than the USA, and waayyy lower than the UK's 27%.
edit: and this has been consistently the case, too. in 1970 france had 21% density, the USA had 27%, and the UK had 43%.
Superabound posted:If we cease our Cruises against the Christians, how shall we be furnished with the Commodities their Countries produce, and which are so necessary for us? If we forbear to make Slaves of their People, who in this hot Climate are to cultivate our Lands? Who are to perform the common Labours of our City, and in our Families? Must we not then be our own Slaves? And is there not more Compassion and more Favour due to us as Mussulmen, than to these Christian Dogs?
franklin was a funny guy
discipline posted:jools posted:in america right now, sure, maybe, perhaps. however, france has both a higher median wage and minimum wage than the UK and a lower retirement age. and the best healthcare and childcare system in the world.
sounds like a lot of socialism to me *spits*
how did they get it without unions
discipline posted:babyfinland posted:wait can you really fart yourself to death
wait and see
im scared
discipline posted:costco is union ahahaha
sort of. none of the ones in my area are. tho some are there are a fair amount of non-union costcos
discipline posted:costco is union ahahaha
they're not really union, a friend of mine works there and says the company just polls the workers to find out what their concerns are, then drafts a labor agreement based on that. It's not a union, not employee owned, its just a private company with an owner that decided to treat people well
discipline posted:sorry jools I worked 13 hours today, 10 yesterday AND 13 sunday so I'm a little fried and not up for the conversation sorry :^(
don't get swallowed whole by that world
swampman posted:I cant believe anyone would seriously believe Walmarts threat not to open stores, god damnit, not if we have to paying the living wage god damnit! I would rather have no market share in DC than pay 12.50 an hour, I am walmort, I big idiot, ahuuu, bahuu huuuuuuu
Of course they would. The have confrontations like this all the time and if they bluffed and didn't follow through then no one would take their threats seriously in the future and they'd lose their leverage. The ability to influence local wage laws all over the country is almost certainly worth more to them than the DC stores.
Also, they operate on pretty thin margins, so a huge increase in wages could easily make their stores unprofitable, or at least not profitable enough to be worth sacrificing their credibility.