Workers at nearly 1,700 Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) stores have signed a petition calling on the company to raise minimum pay to $15 an hour and to provide consistent hours and full-time work. The petition is set to be delivered to the New York City residence of Alice Walton and to the Walton Family Foundation’s office in Washington, D.C.
The workers have said that if the Walton family fails to respond, workers will organize protests at Walmart stores on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and the traditional beginning of the annual holiday shopping season. The OUR Walmart group, with support from the United Food and Commercial Workers union, has demonstrated outside Walmart stores for the past two years.
Two years ago the workers were seeking annual pay of $25,000, but in the wake of the adoption of higher minimum wage measures in several U.S. cities, it appears that the effort has now shifted to a call for a minimum wage of $15 an hour. Along with the pay raise, workers want fixed work schedules and full-time jobs.
At a rate of $15 an hour, a full-time job pays $31,200 a year; an annual full-time salary of $25,000 works out to $12 an hour.
Walmart claims that its average wage is $12.92 an hour and that just 6,000 of the company’s 1.3 million U.S. employees are paid the federal minimum wage of $7.25. Walmart also claims that 60% of its workforce is already full time.
Given Walmart’s recent lowering of expectations, it nearly defies belief that the company would raise its workers’ pay. The company has taken a lot of heat for inadequately stocked shelves, and one of its new promises is to beef up its staff to keep its shelves full. Those new workers are likely to be part-time and not likely to be paid $12.92, much less $15 an hour.
Walmart’s stock traded down about 1.9% Thursday afternoon, at $73.81 in a 52-week range of $71.69 to $81.37.
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