Wal-Mart calls for minimum wage hike

CNN/Money ^ | 10/25/5

[Crackingham]

Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott said he's urging Congress to consider raising the minimum wage so that Wal-Mart customers don't have to struggle paycheck to paycheck. Scott told Wal-Mart directors and executives in a speech Monday that he believes "it is time for Congress to take a look at the minimum wage and other legislation that can help working families."

"The U.S. minimum wage of $5.15 an hour has not been raised in nearly a decade and we believe it is out of date with the times," Scott said. "We can see first-hand at Wal-Mart how many of our customers are struggling to get by. Our customers simply don't have the money to buy basic necessities between pay checks."

Given increasing gas prices and other economic pressures on Wal-Mart customers, Scott went on to say that Wal-Mart shoppers will further be challenged to "support themselves and their families."

"While it is unusual for us to take a public position on a public policy issue of this kind, we simply believe it is time for Congress to take a responsible look at the minimum wage and other legislation that may help working families," he said.

Tracy Sefl, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart Watch, a group that's been highly critical of the retailer, said Scott's comments on raising minimum wage were "laughable and out of left field."

"I find it disingenuous and laughable that Lee Scott makes these remarks while the company hires lobbyist such as Lee Culpepper who oppose raising the minimum wage," Sefl said.

"We would be the first to applaud real change. But when a comment on raising minimum wage is dashed off and it flies in the face of Wal-Mart's own corporate stance, that's laughable," she added.

[theDentist]

Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott said he's urging Congress to consider raising the minimum wage so that Wal-Mart customers don't have to struggle paycheck to paycheck.

So raise your own minimum wage pay on your own and leave Congress out of it!

[KarlInOhio]

I think this is mislabeled. Are you sure it's not from Scrappleface?

Wal-Mart calls for minimum wage hike

KarlInOhio calls for federal government to identify power to set minimum wage in the Constitution.

Offers bloodhounds and a magnifying glass to help them find it. And don't lift it up to the light and use it to cast shadows to try to find it there.

[jb6]

Walmart is only pissed off it's loosing out to the Dollar Tree stores and such.

[mnehring]

... my wife and children love spending all our money on useless crap from Walmart. "What's this?" "It's useless crap, dear." "Do we need it?" "No dear, we don't need it" "Throw it in the cart" Amen brother!

That's better than my wife.. Honey, if I bought a Louis Vitton purse, it would cost $2,000; this purse is only $50..see if you buy this for me you are saving $1,950...
I'm not kidding, this is her logic she uses all the time (sadly, I give in..)

[kentj]

It is just simple math the last time the min wage went up so did WM sales, and Family Dollar, Dollar General and a raft of discounters it's no secret - there is a buffer of time before the actual min wage actually hits the economy and huge profits can be banked - now will Burger King, Mcdonalds, landscape companies hundreds and thousands of other small business have the same windfall - NOPE

[Kidan]

arrruuuggghhh..... The ignorance of basic economics out there just makes me scream.. If you raise the minimum wage to 10.00 per hour, that is still minimum; prices and wages will be base-lined against that. (ie, after the initial short term impact, there will be a net ZERO gain in spending power..)

Actually there would be a negative impact on spending power. Consider, a person currently makes three times the minimum wage of 5.15. If we raised that to 10, that same employee now makes less than .5 times the minimum wage. That is a huge blow to those who have spent the time and energy to better themselves.

[KarinG1]

What Sandy said. They can raise wages without being legally required to do so. We aren't addressing a maximum wage law. This really makes no sense.

[Zathras]

Proof that you don't need to be a Rocket Scientist to be a CEO

[Gabz]

If groups such as WalMart Watch are against it - it must be good.

With that said, I still can't figure out where WM is coming from on this. Where I live WM starting hourly wage is far higher than minimum wage and higher than most other retail places in the area.

[PoppyRocks]

And if you live in a community where there are no jobs better than Walmart or McDonalds offer, people should do what?

[zerosix]

No one is preventing WalMart from raising their own minimum wage, they can do that without unilaterally insisting on every other corporation following suit.

That way WalMart will attract better employees, who, after leaving current employment to take better paying jobs at WalMart, other companies will have to consider matching wages or risk losing good employees - it's called free enterprise.

[Old Seadog]

"There's a minimum wage?"

[TheDon]

I'd raise the minimum wage to $0.

[Ethrane]

It makes PERFECT sense for Walmart to call for the government to raise the minimum wage, since ALL employers would have to do so.

Walmart retains their profit margins in an environment where the playing field of wage increases is universally applied by government decree...and the typical 'poor' Walmart shopper has more to spend.

[mnehring]

Very good point, while, from a pure economics standpoint, one would assume that other wages would be leveled against the new baseline, how many employers would actually work in xx% increase to their employees to level their salary against the new minimum base..

[xcamel]

I didn't even imply "Wal Mart Employee".

"They" is anyone making minimum wage.

I frankly don't think there should be any such thing as a minimum wage, or a union wage, or pay scales. People are worth what they are worth, and it's not what you make in life that counts... it's what you earn

[Trust but Verify]

Now there are a couple of winning ideas. I might even shop at such a store!

[spinestein]

[It seems to me that Wal-Mart should raise its own minimum wage (maybe $8.50), and then many other employers will follow the W-M lead.]



Sure, they could pay their shelf stockers and register jockeys $8.50 an hour when the typical fair market price of such work is $6.50 an hour, but then the people who are now making $8.50 will want $10.50 and the ones who are now making $10.50 will demand $12.50 and so on, all the way up the wage chain.

The next thing that will happen is that since everybody will have so much more money to spend, prices will go up proportionally and the inflation rate goes up until prices catch up to where the wages went and then everything will be back to where it started...except people's savings won't be worth as much.

It would probably be easier for congress to just pass a law decreeing an immediate decrease of the value of everyone's savings by 10%, because the result will be the same.

[Gabz]

It seems to me that Wal-Mart should raise its own minimum wage (maybe $8.50), ......

Where I live the starting hourly wage at WM is $9.00

The popular W-M should also hire more workers to staff their many vacant registers to speed up customer service.

Sounds like a management problem, it is rare I have to wait any length of time at checkout in the local WM, if all front registers are open and busy, they start sending customers to the registers in the garden/seasonal section, or to automotive.

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Tell wal-mart to lower the prices !