Bernie Sanders unveils Stop Walmart Act


WASHINGTON — Fresh off a campaign to get Amazon to raise its minimum wage, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is now shining his progressive spotlight on Walmart.


Calling Walmart the poster child for corporate greed, Sanders noted the company made $13 billion in profits last year and paid CEO Doug McMillon more than $22 million, or 1,188 times its typical worker, who earned $19,177.


“We have increased our starting wages by more than 50 percent in the last three years and currently have an average hourly total compensation of more than $17.50 an hour,” the company said in a statement.

“At the same time, we’ve also added new benefits like paid time off, advanced job training, paid family leave and college for $1 a day.”

The new legislation marks a change in Sanders’ tactics for pressuring companies to raise their wages.


A month later, Amazon announced it would raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour, starting Nov. 1. However, it also eliminated bonuses and stock awards for hourly workers.

In a call with reporters, the independent senator from Vermont reiterated his praise of Amazon, saying he believes every worker impacted by the change saw their overall compensation rise, with some employees seeing huge pay increases of up to 50 percent.

Sanders has also called out other profitable companies, including American Airlines and McDonald’s, for paying low wages.


Sanders and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who co-sponsored the Bezos and Walmart bills, are also looking to reintroduce legislation in January to raise the national minimum wage to $15 an hour, from the current $7.25 an hour.




In the current Congress, Democrats have introduced bills aimed at making overtime available to more workers, providing federal subsidies to make child care more affordable, strengthening unions, providing paid family and medical leave and piloting a guaranteed jobs program.

While many of the Democrats’ policy efforts next year are expected to wither in the Republican-controlled Senate, some elements might get through in legislation of interest to both parties, such as boosting infrastructure spending, said Ben Olinsky, senior vice president for policy and strategy at the left-leaning Center for American Progress.
