"D.C. Picks Fight With Walmart Over Higher Wages for Low-Income Workers" PBS Newshour 7/17/2013
Excerpt
JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour): It looks like any other routine construction site, but the work at this location in Washington, D.C., is at the center of a major fight over wages that is capturing national attention. When completed, the building is set to become the first Wal-Mart in the nation's capital, one of six stores it says it plans to eventually open in D.C.
But now a battle over a living wage could derail that plan. Last week, the D.C. City Council approved legislation that would require select employers to pay an hourly rate that's almost 50 percent higher than the city's current minimum wage.
If signed into law, the measure, called the Large Retailer Accountability Act, would force businesses to pay workers at least $12.50 an hour.
The bill applies to stores with operating space of 75,000 square feet or greater and with annual corporate revenues of at least $1 billion. Unionized stores like the area grocery chain Giant would be exempt. Wal-Mart officials have said plans for three of the six D.C. locations would be dropped if the bill is signed, and could jeopardize the other three currently under construction.
Just before last week's vote, Wal-Mart's regional general manager criticized the bill in a piece in The Washington Post. "From day one," he wrote, "we have said this legislation is arbitrary and discriminatory and that it discourages investment in Washington."
The fight in D.C. is the latest in a growing number of battles and smaller demonstrations around the country to call for higher wages for lower-income workers. Just last week, employees at Smithsonian museums who work for contracted franchises like McDonald's went on a one-day strike over pay.
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