On July 10th the D.C. Council approved the monumental Large Retailer Accountability Act, which would require that retailers that generate corporate sales in excess of $10 billion and occupy a retail space over 75,000 sq. ft. pay their employees a minimum of $12.50 an hour. If passed, the measure will be a landmark victory for low-wage workers. The act awaits approval by Mayor Vincent Gray.
WalMart, the United States’ largest private employer, will be among the major retailers most affected by this act. In response to the Council’s decision last July, the retail giant dissolved plans for the construction of three of the six stores it was planning to build in the District and threated to scrap the three remaining projects if Gray approves it.
Mayor Gray must call WalMart on its bluff and set a precedent of prioritizing the needs of workers over the bottom line of corporate giants.
Companies such as WalMart that have heinous track records of employee welfare cannot be allowed to intimidate legislators. According to a 2007 report from the University of California, Irvine, WalMart destroys three local jobs for every two it creates. In a paper published by University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Professor Arindrajit Dube, wages at WalMart were 17.4 percent lower than those of similar corporations. Just last Thursday, employees from 15 cities protested against the behemoth corporation for its low wages and firing of WalMart protesters.
In the United States 3.6 million workers make $7.25 an hour or less. In other words, three percent of men and six percent of women in the United States live on minimum wage. Supporters of WalMart argue that two of the chain stores would bring an economic boom to the impoverished Anacostia area. Low-paying jobs will not bring growth to the District, but rather perpetuate trends of low growth and poverty.
Similar bills in both New York and Chicago have been struck down due to WalMart’s lobbying. Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York even went as far as to compare the act to a communist directive, which, besides being hyperbolic, demonstrates the disconnect between governments and their constituents.
Both WalMart and Mayor Gray need to consider the reality of surviving in D.C. on minimum wage. The purchasing power of the minimum wage has continuously declined for over a generation and, considering that WalMart is one of the most profitable companies in the world, it should be willing to increase its wages. By signing the LRAA, Mayor Gray will prove that the District will not be bullied by big business and his top priority is what it should be, the citizens of D.C.
“By signing the LRAA, Mayor Gray will prove that the District will not be bullied by big business and his top priority is what it should be, the citizens of D.C.”
Necessarily, an increase in wages will drive up costs and hence prices. Since there are more consumers than hypothetical Wal-Mart workers, it’s difficult to see how increasing prices to consumers is showing that the top priority is DC citizens.