Bernie Sanders slams Walmart in speech at shareholder meeting - New York Post

US Sen. Bernie Sanders traveled to Arkansas on Wednesday to blast Walmart for paying “starvation wages.”

In a three-minute speech at the retail giant’s annual meeting, the presidential hopeful urged shareholders to press Walmart to nominate a low-wage worker to its board of directors — and to start paying its workers $15 an hour.

Sanders compared Walmart’s $11-an-hour pay for workers to the company’s CEO Doug McMillon who earned $24 million last year — thanks to 2018 profits of close to $10 billion.

“Surely with all of that, Walmart can afford to pay its employees a living wage of at least $15 an hour. And that is not a radical idea, because many of Walmart’s competitors, like Amazon, Costco and Target, have already moved in that direction,” Sanders said, concluding to tepid applause.

Looking to preempt Sanders, CEO McMillon in remarks earlier at the meeting urged the US government to raise the minimum wage nationwide.

“$7.25 is too low,” McMillon said. “It’s time for Congress to put a thoughtful plan in place to increase the minimum wage.”

Kristi Branstetter, a rep for worker group United for Respect, shot back that McMillon “is trying to avoid responsibility for raising wages at Walmart” while Target and Amazon have already publicly committed to $15 an hour.

Walmart said Sanders’ proposal was defeated, getting less than 0.01 percent of the shareholder vote.

Sanders’ proposal wasn’t submitted in time to be added to the proxy documents mailed to all shareholders in advance of the meeting, which is what most shareholders use to mail in their votes. The only shareholders who will be given a chance to vote on the proposal, which was presented from the floor of the meeting by Sanders, are those who attended the event.

“Walmart pays many of its employees starvation wages — wages that are so low that many of these employees are forced to rely on government programs like food stamps, Medicaid and public housing in order to survive,” the Vermont senator said from his seat at the John Q. Hammons Convention Center in Rogers, Arkansas.

“Frankly the American people are sick and tired of subsidizing the greed of some of the largest and most profitable corporations in this country,” the presidential candidate added. “They are also outraged by the grotesque level and inequality of income in America, as demonstrated by the CEO of Walmart making 1,000 times more than the average Walmart employee.”

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