Wal-Mart Poised for Henry Ford Moment Amid Minimum Wage Debate

[Purveyor]

In 1914, Henry Ford announced he was more than doubling the average wage of Ford Motor Co. (F) factory workers to $5 a day, in part so they could afford a Model T. His act took the world by surprise, spurred auto sales and helped create an American middle class.

One hundred years later, U.S. companies including Gap Inc. (GPS) and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) are caught up in the debate over raising pay -- this time an increase in the federal minimum wage. President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats want to raise it to $10.10 an hour from $7.25, saying doing so will bolster the economy and reduce income inequality. House Republicans and industry groups oppose the plan, deeming it a job killer.

“When Henry Ford announced the 5-dollar-day, the response was that it would diminish the auto industry and bankrupt his company,” Harley Shaiken, a labor economist at the University of California, Berkeley, said in an interview. “Instead it jump-started purchasing power, reduced turnover and increased the profitability of Ford Motor Co. There’s a lesson we can still learn from that.”

A boost in the minimum wage to $10.10 would add $200 million -- or less than 1 percent -- to Wal-Mart’s annual labor bill, the University of California Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education estimates.

If Wal-Mart passed along the estimated $200 million in extra labor cost to consumers, it would equal about a penny per $16 item, said Ken Jacobs, the Labor Center’s chairman. Meanwhile, the rise may boost purchases among the chain’s core shoppers, many of whom could see their earnings climb, he said.

more...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-21/wal-mart-poised-for-henry-ford-moment-amid-minimum-wage-debate.html

[Aristus]

1. This will fall on the deaf ears of those rich idiots who insist that if they are denied

even one penny of what they insist is theirs, their American Dream is being trampled upon.

The kind of brain-dead fucksticks who would rather have one dollar now, then one million dollars next quarter...

[cyberswede]

2. I hope this little nugget gets the exposure it needs

If Wal-Mart passed along the estimated $200 million in extra labor cost to consumers, it would equal about a penny per $16 item, said Ken Jacobs, the Labor Center’s chairman.

Thanks for posting.

[packman]

3. Pardon me

While I look out my window for the flying pigs. Wal-mart will only do this if it profits Wal-mart. You can bet if they increase the min. wage they will demand that employees pick up something else in return.
At one time, don't know if they still do it since the shit hit the fan when exposed, Wal-mart made it's senior "greeters" take out life insurance policies that made the store the beneficiary of the policy.