The question going into Tuesday's Washington, D.C., city council meeting was whether the council would
give big box workers a living wage or bow to Walmart's threats, and now we have the answer: The council bowed to Walmart's threats. Or else just didn't have a two-thirds majority in favor of workers at the biggest big box stores earning $12.50 an hour even if Walmart hadn't threatened to pull its planned job-killing, wage-depressing stores from the city.
In fact, in July, the bill passed by eight votes to five, just one short of a veto-proof majority. Tuesday, the veto override failed with just seven votes to pass the bill and six votes against, with Anita Bonds changing her vote in the wrong direction.
The coming weeks would be a really good time for any council members who voted against the Large Retailer Accountability Act and have mayoral ambitions to push some bills that would help the District's low-wage workers. Tommy Wells fits that profile, and has suggested raising the city's minimum wage to $10.25 an hour. Actually getting that passed would be a great start; extending paid sick leave to tipped workers would be another good step. The ball's in their court: Were the council members telling the truth when they said that they really wanted to help workers, but believed this specific bill was the wrong way to do that, or will they fail to take action on other measures to turn low-wage jobs into something you can live on?