AFL-CIO: All Workers Deserve a Living Wage

The Washington, D.C., City Council stood up for working families by passing the Large Retailer Accountability Act (LRAA), which requires retailers with more than $1 billion in annual sales and with stores of more than 75,000 square feet to pay workers a living wage package of $12.50 an hour. The LRAA would lift thousands of working families in Washington, D.C., out of poverty and support decent wages across the retail industry. The mayor now must sign the LRAA in order for it to become law.

This legislation was approved despite Walmart's threat to cancel the opening of three planned D.C. stores unless the council backed down. Nationwide, Walmart pays workers very low wages and cuts their hours, so much that many employees qualify for food stamps, Medicaid and other government assistance.

A new report by the Democratic staff of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce, which analyzed government assistance and Medicaid data, found that "a single 300-person Walmart Supercenter store in Wisconsin likely costs taxpayers at least $904,542 per year and could cost taxpayers up to $1,744,590 per year. That's about $5,815 per employee."

The California legislature also is looking to crack down on Walmart's determination to get the taxpayers to pick up its compensation costs, with a proposed bill that will "levy a fine of up to $6,000 on employers like Wal-Mart for every full-time employee that ends up on the state's Medi-Cal program – the California incarnation of Medicaid," Forbes.com reported.

The AFL-CIO Executive Council commended the effort to help lift thousands of working families in Washington, D.C., out of poverty, and to push the retail industry nationwide to pay decent wages to workers.

"Large and extremely profitable corporations from outside the District attempted to bribe local officials with promises of jobs, while threatening to cancel the planned opening of stores in Washington if the City Council voted for the LRAA. The City Council's vote was a brave repudiation of these shoddy threats.

"While Washington, D.C., like communities across America, needs more jobs and retail establishments, it wants good jobs that lift up the community and build a future for all residents.

"A broad coalition of faith, community and labor organizations came together in a multi-year grassroots campaign to win the passage of the LRAA, creating a model for allies and colleagues nationwide who are facing similar promises and threats from companies looking to pressure local communities in a troubled economy.

"The AFL-CIO joins the growing number of organizations, faith leaders and District residents calling on D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray to continue setting the standard for corporate accountability and responsibility by standing with Washington, D.C.'s working families and signing the Large Retailer Accountability Act."