Interesting

MarketWatch

CAPITOL REPORT

Bernie Sanders rolls out ‘Stop WALMART Act’ that would block stock buybacks until retailer raises pay

By Victor Reklaitis

Published: Nov 15, 2018 4:21 pm ET

Legislation aims to prohibit big employers from repurchasing shares until they adopt a $15-an-hour minimum wage

Sen. Bernie Sanders is taking aim at Walmart.

After his Stop BEZOS Act appeared to help spur Amazon to raise pay for its workers, Sen. Bernie Sanders launched a similar effort Thursday that targets Walmart.

The Stop WALMART Act — introduced by both the Vermont independent and Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat — would block big employers from buying back stock unless they pay all employees $15 an hour. Companies also would have to ensure that their CEO’s compensation is capped at no more than 150 times the median pay of all workers, as well as allow their employees to earn up to seven days of paid sick leave.

The full name for the legislation is the Stop Welfare for Any Large Monopoly Amassing Revenue from Taxpayers Act. It defines big employers as those with more than 500 workers.

“The time is long overdue for the Walton family to pay its workers a living wage,” Sanders said in a statement, referring to the family that owns about half of the retail giant. “If large, profitable corporations like Amazon AMZN+1.28% and Disney DIS-0.01% can pay all of their workers a minimum wage of at least $15 an hour, so can Walmart WMT-1.96% .”

Share repurchases are widely viewed as one of the stock market’s key drivers in recent years. Sanders and Khanna have argued that Walmart should be spending money on pay hikes, rather than on buybacks that “enrich its executives and shareholders.”

The legislation has little chance of getting the support of the Republican-controlled Senate. But it could fare better in the House in January, following last week’s midterm elections in which the Democrats won back control of that chamber.

Sanders and Khanna rolled out the Stop BEZOS Act in early September. That legislation was aimed at taxing corporations for the federal benefits their employees received.

A month later, Amazon.com Inc.CEO Jeff Bezos raised the minimum wage for all the e-commerce heavyweight’s U.S. workers to $15 an hour. Sanders praised the move and said it would be “a shot heard around the world.”

See original version of this story

MOST POPULAR

MARKETS

CNBC’s Jim Cramer says stock market is in ‘a very serious correction’ — and there’s nowhere to hide

MARKETS

Stay bearish because the ‘Big Low’ for stocks hasn’t arrived yet, says Bank of America

MARKETS

U.S. oil prices sink 7% to lowest settlement of the year as Brent enters bear market

PERSONAL FINANCE

Tips from a guy who managed to live in Manhattan on a $40,000 salary and still max out his 401(k) contributions

MarketWatch

By using this site you agree to the Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, and Cookie Policy.

Trump gave huge tax breaks to companies like Walmart and others intending for the companies to pay their employees more. But that is not happening. Instead they are investing it in their own stock to make themselves look better. This 11 an hour raise was not hurting the company. They are closing up locations because they are making big changes and plan on closing more along with cutting positions. This has been in the works for a few years. They can absolutely afford to pay their workers more, they just don't want to. They may make it seem like they have to cut back because of higher wages, but that's not true. It's all for their stock holders. Bernie is on the right path. He is trying to push what Trump intended.

Thread regarding Sam's Club layoffs

4 replies (most recent on top)

Post a reply