Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) went toe to toe with mega retailer Amazon over its minimum wage, and the politician prevailed! The online giant raised its minimum wage up to $15 an hour.
But Sanders is resting in his laurels. He isn’t finished with mega-retailers over their wages. Sanders is joining forces with California representative Ro Khanna to introduce legislation called the “Stop Walmart Act.” The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that the duo is providing a bill to compel Walmart to boost their minimum wage to $15 an hour as well.
“Most Walmart retail workers are working for horrendously low wages with minimal benefits,” Sanders told the Washington Post. “The wealthiest family in America must pay its workers a living wage, and the Stop Walmart Act will do just that. Amazon did the right thing by raising their minimum wage to $15 an hour. Walmart can and must do the same.”
The bill proposed by Sanders and Khanna will attempt to ban corporations like Walmart from buying back stock unless they raise wages to a minimum of $15 an hour. Markets Insider reported that share buybacks compromised “a solid backbone of the stock market’s continued growth.”
The bill also requires that such companies provide benefits like a week of sick leave and take steps to limit CEO compensation.
In a statement to the Washington Post, a Walmart representative said “the company has already raised starting wages by more than 50 percent in the last three years.”
The retailer’s minimum wage was raised to $11 an hour back in January. That’s still lower than the hourly wage offered by competitors like IKEA, Target, and Costco.
Business Insider previously reported that the median annual pay of Walmart workers — both full- and part-time — amounted to $19,177 in 2017.
Do you think that Sanders will prevail again against this retail giant? We look forward to seeing your comments.
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