Senator Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) took his fight for a $15 minimum wage directly to Walmart this week by delivering remarks during a shareholders meeting in which he called for ending corporate greed and implored the company to spread its wealth to better the lives of its workers.
The Democratic 2020 primary candidate has been a longtime advocate of a living wage that rises with inflation and he opposes workers making so little that they are forced to rely on government aid to survive.
Walmart workers currently make $11 an hour, but that pales in comparison to the billions of dollars in profits the company makes, and the Walton heirs are some of the richest people in the nation, yet their employees still have to rely on federal aid to make ends meet.
Earlier this week, Sanders slammed Walmart’s greed.
“The greed at Walmart and throughout corporate America is destroying the social and economic fabric of America, and it needs to stop,” he declared.
And then he took the fight into Walmart itself by attending a shareholders meeting where he made his case for them to raise wages to $15 an hour.
“Despite the incredible wealth of its owner, Walmart pays many of its employees starvation wages, wages that are so low that many of these employees are forced to rely on government programs like food stamps, Medicaid and public housing in order to survive,” Bernie said. “Walmart can afford to pay its employees a living wage of at least $15 an hour, and that is not a radical idea.”
Indeed, Walmart certainly can pay their employees more than they are currently making and still make a hefty profit. But the company rejected Bernie’s call anyway, instead asking Congress to raise the minimum wage knowing that Senate Republicans won’t let it pass in the Senate, nor would President Donald Trump sign it. In fact, Republicans are busy labeling everything Sanders stands for as “socialism” in an attempt to divide Americans ahead of 2020.
Sanders, however, is not giving up and plans to attend a rally with McDonald’s workers and will lead a march in the effort to secure better wages and better lives for workers across the country.
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