Minnesota Needs a Living Wage Today

Written by Kim Crumb

Recent events in Washington, D.C. have revealed the true face of Walmart and the need for a living wage law in Minnesota. Just last week the city government of Washington, D.C. tried to pass “living wage” bill of $12/hour, and Walmart threatened to leave that marketplace. Thinking of what it might be like to work for WalMart, you might be tempted to think something like “too bad for them.”   Sorry, as a taxpayer, it's “too bad for you” too.  In fact, Walmart has become the number one driver behind the growing use of food stamps in the United States with "as many as 80 percent of workers in Wal-Mart stores using food stamps."Walmart's employees receive $2.66 billion in government help every year, or an astonishing $420,000 per store.  Did you know your community is subsidizing each and every WalMart by nearly a half-million dollars per year?

Why does this occur? Walmart earns over $446 billion per year, making it the third highest revenue corporation on the globe and has a profit of over $15 billion per year. In 2011 their CEO Mike Duke received an $18.1 million compensation package. The Walton family controls over 48 percent of the corporation through stock, and they do even better. Together, members of the Walton family are worth in excess of $102 billion – which makes them one of the richest families in the world.  Indeed those heirs have more wealth than the bottom 48 million USA households have put together, that's nearly 50% of America. With a $15B profit, WalMart can well afford those $2.66 Billion in costs, that are currently being shifted to you, the taxpayer.   Doesn't this make WalMart the ultimate “we're entitled” welfare queen... as they dump billions in costs onto taxpayers, meaning me and you?

For the first time in Walmart's 50 year history, workers at some stores are going on strike.  They are understandably out of patience with this selfish corporation, one that has long been charged with wage theft by refusing to pay proper overtime and employing illegal paycheck deductions, and has fired employees without cause to prevent unionization. We should be too. Walmart should no longer be allowed to turn its back on the American worker and push its labor costs onto the American taxpayer, hurting the prosperity of our entire country. Living wage laws are necessary, and we should all call our law makers and insist upon their passage. The Minnesota legislature’s failure to raise the minimum wage during the last session must not continue to the next.