>

Never forget that US minimum wage, adjusted for inflation (edit: and productivity), should be like $22 or $26 an hour. Why doesn’t Walmart believe in paying its workers a living wage?
Walmart's problem isn't just the wages, it's their manipulation of hours. They give just enough hours at inconsistent times to limit an employee from getting a second job, while not providing enough hours to make an employee eligible for health insurance. Until there's more regulation on this issue, or consumer accountability, then all walmart has to do is reduce employees by another one or two hours to make this wage increase functionally mean nothing. >

They also get rid of positions altogether basically every 6 months. When I worked there they were chronically under staffed and most of the staff they do have are useless, or at least act like it, and I can't really blame them. >

Why would you bust your ass for Walmart? Like even if you need the job, there is zero incentive. >

This is good news in that it represents a step in the right direction, but it isn't enough.

In my Inaugural, I laid down the simple proposition that nobody is going to starve in this country. It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country. By "business" I mean the whole of commerce as well as the whole of industry; by workers I mean all workers, the white collar class as well as the men in overalls; and by living wages, I mean more than a bare subsistence level-I mean the wages of decent living. 

FDR >


but it isn't enough

got my first job in a lumber yard in '88 at $12hr (my 2 bed apt was $400, smokes were $1 a pack, and gas was $.99 per gal) and when i quit a few years later i was making $21hr
it's not nearly enough and it's insane that young people are expected to get anywhere making what i did 35 years ago >

$12 in '88 is $29.69 after inflation. People making $14 now are getting the equivalent of less than $6 in '88. >

Minimum wage was introduced in 1938 at $0.25/hour, or about $5.12 adjusted for inflation.
$14/hour is more than anyone on minimum wage in the US has ever made (adjusted for inflation), which peaked out in 1970 at about $12/hour. 
At this point, the federal minimum wage is mainly there to prevent exploitation. I don't know of any major company that pays that little. >

You would be surprised. A lot of companies get away with paying only minimum wage and if you are a server then you make even less than that and are expected to supplement the rest with their tips. It doesn’t make for a happy employee. Remember that when you don’t tip your server due to bad service. >

In 2020, people making minimum wage accounted for 1.5% of all hourly workers.
Also, if a server's wages plus tips does not meet the federal minimum wage, the employer must pay the difference. >

Okay, but that says that 1.5% are making $7.25 an hour or less. Further reading shows that 32% make less than $15 an hour. Compare that with what would be considered the average living wage in the U.S at $24 an hour. Looks pretty bleak for the younger folks. >

If Costco can afford to start at $17 an hour, Walmart should be able to start at least that. >

It’s fine to quibble about the difference in structure and business model, but the larger and more important point is that Walmart’s net income last year was $13.67 Billion, yet an enormous number of their employees rely on government assistance programs just to survive.
Sure, they’re structured very differently from CostCo.
They can still afford to pay their store-level workforce considerably more. >

The Walton family fortune is broken down as such:
Jim Walton, $66.9 billion[13]
Alice Walton, $66 billion[14]
S. Robson Walton, $65.7 billion[15]
Lukas Walton, $16.7 billion[16]
Ann Walton Kroenke, $9.1 billion[17]
Nancy Walton Laurie, $8.2 billion[18]
Christy Walton, $8 billion[19]

sorry don't have any more spare billions to share with employees.... >

What are these figures in brackets please? >

It looks like they copied it from somewhere the numbers would be links to sources on the original page
Probably wikipedia. >

Or maybe it's the number of the Walton clan from No 1 to the youngest heir as I see it's chronological >

Next time one of you goes into Walmart and some dead eyed employee gives you the bare minimum help or flat out ignores you I want you to remember this.  
Walmart doesn't give a shit about those people so why should they care about Walmart. >

I’m pretty sure I’ve been to Walmart like 6 times in 3 years.    5 of those were during COVID searching for TP.   
I went like a month ago to buy a hunting license while I was visiting my in laws.   
80% of me doesn’t understand why people still shop there.   The other 20% of me realizes that I’m better off than a portion of society and willing to pay more for a better grocery store with better food and that treats their employees (somewhat) better.  
Where my in laws live there is Walmart and Tops.   Those are the only grocery stores.  And I’ll admit that it’s convenient to get your tires replaced while you buy paint and groceries….    But go support local businesses.  Even locally franchises businesses. >

Correct on all accounts.  I honestly can't remember the last time I shopped at Walmart. Not only do they treat their employees awful but they also contract companies to make worse versions of things they already make to cut costs. Why would I buy a pair of shoes there when I can get the same exact pair somewhere else they'll last me way longer? >

And Aldi in MD was paying new cashiers $15 and higher years before the pandemic. This isn't enough. >

After 10 years at Walmart and multiple position changes I was making 13.27 an hour… >

Hooly shit, why did you stay there and not go anywhere else?
I feel spoiled in tech, I see people stick around maybe 2 to 3 years just so they can finally get a raise. >

It was easy. I am always nervous about leaving a job. Not really sure. I stuck it out 10 years and the next job is took had better hours and better starting pay than I was getting at Walmart >

"Raise will keep them calm enough that they won't unionize." >

Heh, that's cute. If workers try to unionize, corporate shutters the store. It's the New American Way. >

To the best of my knowledge there is only one department of walmart workers that successfully unionized without stores being shuttered. It was the meat processors (in store butchers). What Walmart did instead? That department was removed nationwide and the they moved to frozen meat pre processed at the packing plants. 
It's been over a decade since I worked at Walmart, but on your first day of orientation they show you a video. It's not a welcome to Walmart one either. 
It's a union busting video. >

"Walmart raises their minimum wage from below a livable wage to still below a livable wage." >

I'd rather stand outside Walmart for an hour for free than stand inside Walmart for an hour for $2. Just saying. >

When thousands of your employees are on welfare, you aren't paying them enough. The government has spent millions of dollars subsidizing Walmart's business because they don't pay their workers enough. >

Which doesn’t matter, because they’ll just cut hours or fire more people again. 
This isn’t altruism, this is competing with rising wages for all other equivalent positions, including fast food and other big box stores. >

Don't worry, all their managers will tell the employees that they're expected to do more now that they're being paid more. >

Target pays $15 a hour and health insurance better then Walmart. I work in medical billing >

This might be worth celebrating ten years ago, but in 2023 it is an insult. >

Crazy how inflation hasn’t affected the cost of labor much at all. >

It has a lot actually. Fed min wage is still like 7 an hour and that's what a LOT of these places used to pay to most of their employees. >

Walmart giving out 16% wage increases while hospitals have to shut down because we can't get over 3%
aMeRiCa iS The BesT >

Holy shit! Walmart better be careful! Those $2 could totally bankrupt them!!! >

Good lord. That's what I made as a young person 20 years ago! I made that much working for a furniture store. I made that much as a medical office worker. These were starting wages back then. Wages have basically not risen in 20 years! >

What the fuck are people supposed to do with a lousy 14 bucks? >

Two packs pall malls and some Tic Tacs >

You could save $0.50 if you get menthols >

That's about the poverty line for a family of 4 in the US in 2021.
Work full time, live in poverty. The Wal-Mart way. >

60kish a year is the poverty line? >

Where did you get 60k from? That more than double 40hrs/week at $14/hr. >

Two earners in a family of four? 29k each a year. >

Minimum wage was designed to support a family, not one person. >

So cashiers should be making 60k a year? >

Sure why not if that's what it takes to have a well balanced life where you can take care of necessities. >

About halfway to a decent wage. >

Still insufficient, Thats not a living wage. >

Oh shite, they're about to go broke because of that whole $2.00. >

It’s no totally insignificant with 1 million store employees. It’s a few billion a year. >

Yes, this will certainly put Walmart, who people lovingly refer to as "Wally-World" into bankruptcy.  💯👀🙏 >

I mean that’s cute and all, but companies exist to make profit. You do understand how that works right? It’s not a charity. 
They made a move that cost them billions a year. If it was double this amount people like you would still complain so, I guess it is what it is. >

Well. At least 2 people will get a raise. >

Not enough. Especially for the shit Walmart employees are put through. Then there's the fact that it makes obscene amounts of money per year and are introducing self checkouts. They have enough to pay those they actually employ. >

Add to this that many workers work pretty close to full time but are pulled back to whatever is just below the threshold to be full time...(30 hrs?).   
It's just a full on war between employees and employers....a constant battle where employers pull out every trick to reduce pay, hours benefits etc. They will hire two PT workers to avoid benefits. They will hire 1099 to avoid taxes and benefits. They will use third party staffing to avoid taxes and benefits. It never ends and will result in violence if they are not careful.   
On top of that any miniscule raise is eaten by some guys stupid new tax policy, getting rid of SALT and property tax deductions, sneaking in limits to out of pocket expenses or they all get together to cause inflation (see egg prices, oil, gas, groceries, coffee), they go around and buy up all the rental properties, do nothing towards upkeep and raise rents....all to keep everyone poor hungry and afraid to quit. their job