D.C. Council votes to Force Walmart to pay "living wage"--50% over minimum wage.

Gotta ask, what the hell is a "living wage"?

A living wage for one, is not for another.

Raise the minimum wage? Fine. Do you raise it for the workers who've been there longer than some new employee just starting?

I make just under $17/hr., if Washington St. were to follow DC, which they probably will, and raise the minimum again, does that mean I get a raise, too? I've not seen a raise in four years...yet my cost of living hasn't remained static in that time.

Minimum wage is for starting out. You earn more the longer you stay at a job. Even at Wal-mart...

That's the incentive to stay at a job.

50% bump in Washington State would drive many business' into bankruptcy. A kid with no experiance would be making almost $14/hour starting... Really? How many mom and pop stores, which so many of you champion can afford that, I wonder?

Those pols are delusional.

reply to post by Hefficide


A SuperCenter with average of 300 "associates" working 2000 hr/each is 600,000 hr at $4.50/hr over minimum wage is $2.7 million/year. So if by moving the store location by 2-3 miles they would save that much, do I think they would do it?? Yup. I would. Might get better clientele anyway.

Originally posted by jiggerj

Walmart made a PROFIT of FIFTEEN BILLION last year. Are you saying the owners couldn't survive on just 14 billion for that year and used one billion so that the workers didn't have to be paid at poverty level? This is exactly where the system has been failing us since the day we claimed our independence.

Spot on Jiggerj
Its the same over here (UK). They tell us they cant afford to pay more than minimum, and if they did they'd have to leave. Well I say good riddance to them. Lets get those smaller businesses up and running again.
Lots of small businesses = competition, and that means better prices and better quality food.

reply to post by VoidHawk


If it's so easy to make those kind of (obscene?) profits, why don;t you guys get into business and show them how well you can do while still providing "Living wages' to low skilled workers?

reply to post by VoidHawk


If it's so easy to make those kind of (obscene?) profits, why don;t you guys get into business and show them how well you can do while still providing "Living wages' to low skilled workers?

reply to post by VoidHawk

ts the same over here (UK). They tell us they cant afford to pay more than minimum, and if they did they'd have to leave. Well I say good riddance to them. Lets get those smaller businesses up and running again. Lots of small businesses = competition, and that means better prices and better quality food.

There's a big difference between using an economic system to suit one's own purpose, and abusing a system to suck everything out of it and away from everyone else. I would call people like the Waltons traitorous criminals and kick them out of the country.

Originally posted by MuzzleBreak
reply to post by VoidHawk

 

If it's so easy to make those kind of (obscene?) profits, why don;t you guys get into business and show them how well you can do while still providing "Living wages' to low skilled workers?

Mom and Pop operation here....3 manufacturing and service LLCs

I do exactly that in my businesses. I start my inexperienced people off at 10.00hr. Min. wage here is 7.50hr. I also give healthy bonus'es for Xmas and above and beyond job performance.

The benefits I receive in loyalty and hard work, more than makes up for the difference.

Pretend to Pay people and they Pretend to work. Economics 101....

btw...I don't hire Mooks!

Originally posted by MuzzleBreak
My high-deductible hosp/surg insurance runs $9K/yr.

Cool for you if you can and choose to do it. I don't subscribe to such things. I can't see wasting 9k a year for many years for something that might or might not ever happen. I look at it this way - when it's my time, I'll be dead. I'm happy with that. Even if I had the money I wouldn't do it. I don't wanna make those doctor crooks and insurance mongers any richer.

reply to post by JohnPhoenix


Those doctor crooks that fix your heart attack so you don't die or end up with chronic heart failure,
Those doctor crooks that replace your broken hip or knee with space age materials so that you can walk again? Those doctor crooks that diagnose and treat you when you're dieing from a contagious illness?
--or diagnose and treat your cancer, your diabetes, your blocked up prostate, your kidney stones, your appendicitis, the abscess on your hind-end, your gout, etc. etc.???

For some folks, "money is no object." At least that's what they frequently tell me. They're the ones that never intend to pay, anyway.

Originally posted by olaru12

Originally posted by MuzzleBreak
reply to post by VoidHawk

 

If it's so easy to make those kind of (obscene?) profits, why don;t you guys get into business and show them how well you can do while still providing "Living wages' to low skilled workers?

Mom and Pop operation here....3 manufacturing and service LLCs

I do exactly that in my businesses. I start my inexperienced people off at 10.00hr. Min. wage here is 7.50hr. I also give healthy bonus'es for Xmas and above and beyond job performance.

The benefits I receive in loyalty and hard work, more than makes up for the difference.

Pretend to Pay people and they Pretend to work. Economics 101....

btw...I don't hire Mooks!

edit on 30-7-2013 by olaru12 because: (no reason given)

Many manufacturing and service jobs require a lot more experience and intelligence/effort than does retail stocking or checkout.

reply to post by olaru12


That goes toward my thoughts, you get what you pay for.

However, I do not agree that anyone should force a company to pay higher than minimum wage. A company will do whatever they will do and if you don't like their business practices, do not work for them and/or do not do business with them.

I hear a lot of people complain about walmart however, these same people flock to the new walmart which opened in their town to spend their hard earned money thereby supporting these same business practices they espouse hatred of.

If a walmart opened up and no one applied and no one went there to shop, they would close down and the message would be sent. We do not accept this.

But that never happens.....

reply to post by MuzzleBreak


I wonder what you really know about society, let alone human beings...

reply to post by buster2010


Should any jobs be allowed that don't pay a "liveable wage"?

reply to post by darkbake


I don't like Walmart, and I don't shop there for the record.


Most people do choose to shop there though, over independent businesses.

Do you guys feel like you know better than the people that do choose to shop at Walmart? Do you want to limit peoples choices?

I understand the arguments people have against Walmart, I've known several people who have worked there, and they don't necessarily treat their employees well.

Having said that, however, I don't get why people are allowing their dislike of Walmart to justify this legislative move. Two wrongs don't make a right.If they want to raise the minimum wage across the board. Good on them, I'm all for it. But why only target large retail, why should the guy mucking out stalls in walmart get paid 50% more then the guy mucking out stalls in mc'donalds? And why only non-unionized large retail? If you have two people, one is a cashier at union retailer x, the other a cashier at walmart. They both make minimum wage. The cashier at union retailer x brings home less money then the walmart cashier, because they have to pay union dues. The logic just escapes me, but honestly, the more I look at the world today, the more the logic escapes me.

Originally posted by MuzzleBreak

Originally posted by olaru12

Originally posted by MuzzleBreak
reply to post by VoidHawk

 

If it's so easy to make those kind of (obscene?) profits, why don;t you guys get into business and show them how well you can do while still providing "Living wages' to low skilled workers?

Mom and Pop operation here....3 manufacturing and service LLCs

I do exactly that in my businesses. I start my inexperienced people off at 10.00hr. Min. wage here is 7.50hr. I also give healthy bonus'es for Xmas and above and beyond job performance.

The benefits I receive in loyalty and hard work, more than makes up for the difference.

Pretend to Pay people and they Pretend to work. Economics 101....

btw...I don't hire Mooks!

edit on 30-7-2013 by olaru12 because: (no reason given)

Many manufacturing and service jobs require a lot more experience and intelligence/effort than does retail stocking or checkout.

Absolutely. I have just sold my gun shop and I was paying the clerk $10.00 hour to run the store part time. I also pitched bonuses to those who work hard. The previous clerk I gave a going away party and a $250 bonus check for all his hard work. If I had to pay someone more, you can bet it would effect my bottom line and I would be forced to raise pricing and services to pay for the increase. Most of you figure a few dollars of wage is the answer, but you forget any benefits and taxes take a chunk as well as any kind of shrink-not too mention infrastructure upkeep. Yes, walmart makes a bunch of money, so what? Businesses are in business to make money. I know as a trucker for Walmart you can make about $55k per year to start, but this is a completely different job than a unskilled retail employee. Want more money per hour or a salary, go out and get a paying skill set or education. If you can not make a living wage, why does it fall on Government to make sure you are getting your fair shake. Why not strive for more than just a few more bucks?

Walmart will most likely, finish one or two of the stores they were building and rent out the units to another company for an anchor space. Then Walmart will build stores in the outlying areas and pay the wages they want and maybe less.

reply to post by MuzzleBreak


All Walmarts should pay 50% over minimum wage as a premium. Walmart screws it's employees by denying them fulltime employment which would entitle them to fulltime benefits packages. If we don't start taking back our nation from the corporations, the U.S. will eventually be divided up between them and then we will have corporate states instead of united states.

reply to post by Darkblade71

Why would I want to buy something more expensive and just as unreliable that says made in America when I can buy cheap stuff at Walmart, use it for a year or so and throw it in the dumpster and get something new. A trip to Walmart is practically one stop shopping for everything. If they sold cars and pickups they would be perfect.

Originally posted by lonewolf19792000
reply to post by MuzzleBreak

 

All Walmarts should pay 50% over minimum wage as a premium. Walmart screws it's employees by denying them fulltime employment which would entitle them to fulltime benefits packages. If we don't start taking back our nation from the corporations, the U.S. will eventually be divided up between them and then we will have corporate states instead of united states.

Get used to that being screwed on full time employment. That is the new face of America and the new way of the world. Simple as that. As many people here can attest to, because I've seen them talk about it on other threads, business all over is cutting to the magic 29 hours. Students and contract instructors alike at my college were also raising Cain about this happening widely and I suppose everyone but Walmart, since they didn't have much full time to start with.

Everyone wants equality. Well.. We have it now. It simply drops to the lowest common denominator to find balance, not the highest. Nice benefits in full time on liberal paper planning have become no benefits at 29 hours and NOT an hour more or else. Why keep blaming Walmart for basically just being ahead of what's become a national trend at this point?

The tragedy and foolishness of it all would be funny if not so damaging and outright crippling to so much of America. A report out today and across headlines indicated unemployment in real terms was up across almost every major city in the United States and D..C. is over 8%. Not the time to be stomping on the toes of those who are hiring ANYONE ..part time or not, IMO.

Seeing many elitist views about people who work min wage jobs in this thread and I find it disgusting.
We are all cogs in the wheel, someone has to do jobs that are minimum wage and Iam sorry but to those who think they are easy jobs F*** you.
My current and my new job are minimum wage I look after the elderly at the moment, your Grandads and grandmas who you do not look after yourself, I wipe bums, take care of their personal needs and do things frankly many elitist scumbags would find beneath them, I grieve when they die all for 6 quid an hour.
My next job which I start on monday will be just over min wage by 15p per hour will be looking after people with learning disabilities with challenging behavior, I will be attacked physically in this job and It will be emotionally hard to do.
A living wage is a wage where we can afford food, afford rent and not get in debt with the bank.
Many companies in London are signing up to the living wage scheme because they know a happy workforce which isn't worrying about money all the time will ring in sick less and be more productive in their work.
Someone has to do these jobs and when elitist twats in this board try and put me down for working a job you would not do, it grinds my gears.