Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images
After the D.C. Council voted to uphold Mayor Vincent Gray’s veto of the living wage bill—which would have required large retailers, like Wal-Mart, to pay employees at least $12.50 an hour—several Councilmembers announced that they had their own plans for an alternative living wage bill.
Now, former Presidential candidate, typewriter aficionado, and self-appointed D.C. intersection tsar Ralph Nader wants to make sure they’ll make good on their promises, and would like to offer some advice, if they don’t mind.
In a letter addressed to Councilmembers Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7), Anita Bonds (D-At Large), Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4), David Catania (I-At Large), Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3), and Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6)—all Councilmembers who have expressed support for higher living wages—Nader quotes the recent Hart Research poll that shows that 71 percent of D.C. voters support the LRAA and that many of their constituents are “wondering whether you still strongly support the goal of higher wages.” Nader then politely says that he’s “writing to suggest three initiatives that could dispel such doubts and benefit your constituents.”
The three pieces of advice he outlines are that each Councilmember should “support a strong across-the-board living wage bill,” that would see the minimum wage increased to $10.50 an hour phased over only 60 days, that they should “lobby for a metropolitan area and a federal minimum wage,” and that they should “develop alternatives to bigbox retailers.”
In that last piece of advice, Nader says that “Walmart is not the only alternative to food deserts and unemployment in the District. We must ensure that there are alternatives to bigbox stores that provide good, affordable food and jobs without paying poverty wages.” And he suggests engaging in discussions with the National Cooperative Bank, which was created by Congress in 1978 to offer loans and technical assistance to start consumer cooperatives in low-income communities. Walmart has already opened hiring centers for the stores they’re planning to open.
