You know you're a low-wage employer when you're bragging about raising base pay levels to $15 an hour ...
for your managers. And not even all of them:
Wal-Mart told The Associated Press late Monday that department managers of complex and service-oriented jobs in areas like produce, electronics and auto care, will start at $13 per hour and top out at $24.70 per hour, beginning next month. Starting next February, they will be paid at least $15 per hour. Previously, the pay range was from $10.30 to $20.09. Meanwhile, those managers of less-complicated departments like clothing, and consumer products like paper towels and luggage, will earn from $10.90 to $20.71 per hour. Previously, they earned from $9.90 to $19.31.
Yay?
Don't get me wrong, raises are good and this is progress, but seeing a giant, profitable company give some, but not all, department managers a raise to a living wage is not exactly the embodiment of economic justice. And like other window-dressingish raises given by Walmart, McDonald's, and the like in recent months, it owes a lot—much more than the companies would ever admit—to relentless worker organizing over the past three years.