To: Vincent Gray, Mayor, D.C. Council, and Walmart
Hey Walmart: Stop trying to bully the DC government
Walmart: Your attempt to threaten the D.C. Council and prevent D.C. workers from earning a living wage is wrong. Stop trying to intimidate our elected officials. If you don't want to pay workers the fair wage they deserve, we don't want you in D.C. in the first place.
Why is this important?
Walmart is considering opening three stores in Washington, D.C., but now the Washington Post is reporting that Walmart execs are telling the D.C. Council they will abandon plans for all three stores if the Council passes a living wage so that workers get a fair salary of $12.50 an hour. (Here's the Post story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/wal-mart-says-it-will-pull-out-of-dc-plans-should-city-mandate-living-wage/2013/07/09/4fa7e710-e8d0-11e2-a301-ea5a8116d211_story.html)
$12.50 an hour is only $26,000 a year for a full-time worker -- barely enough to be called a living wage in a city as expensive Washington D.C., but apparently Walmart thinks even that paltry wage is too high. To each their own, I guess, but now Walmart is now trying to throw its weight around and intimidate D.C. Council members in order to prevent the living wage from passing for any workers in the city. That's outrageous, and the Council shouldn't allow fair wages for workers to be held hostage by Walmart. If Walmart doesn't want to pay workers a fair wage, then they should take their stores elsewhere.
$12.50 an hour is only $26,000 a year for a full-time worker -- barely enough to be called a living wage in a city as expensive Washington D.C., but apparently Walmart thinks even that paltry wage is too high. To each their own, I guess, but now Walmart is now trying to throw its weight around and intimidate D.C. Council members in order to prevent the living wage from passing for any workers in the city. That's outrageous, and the Council shouldn't allow fair wages for workers to be held hostage by Walmart. If Walmart doesn't want to pay workers a fair wage, then they should take their stores elsewhere.