On Wednesday, the Washington, DC, City Council passed the Large Retail Accountability Act (LRAA), a bill that will require large retail corporations—specifically businesses with more than $1 billion in sales and retail locations of at least 75,000 square feet—to pay their workers a minimum wage of $12.50 per hour. But the mayor of D.C. wanted to veto it since Walmart threatened to stop the construction of 3 planned stores in the District. It’s hard to view Walmart’s threat to scuttle the three stores, made literally the day before the Council vote, as anything but outright bullying by the largest and one of the most profitable corporations in the world. Walmart has alleged that the bill unfairly singles them out, although a few other retailers—Macy’s, Costco and Home Depot—would also be affected by the bill. But Walmart does deserve special scrutiny because of their unique track record in driving out smaller retail businesses, depressing wages, and siphoning off public tax dollars. - See more at: epi.org/blog/every-day-lowwages/#sthash.LXVLjmnR.dpuf
Posted on: Sat, 31 Aug 2013 22:39:46 +0000
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