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Health & Fitness

An Open Letter to Congressman Hultgren: "Does It Bother You That Most Wal-Mart Employees Rely on Medicaid, Subsidized Housing and SNAP Benefits?"

Dear Congressman Hultgren:

Early in December a couple of years ago, a local suburban Wal-Mart had an unusual “display” just inside the front door near the customer service desk.  Instead of a neatly stacked shelf of colorful boxes, several very large and long, unmarked shipping cartons were semi-stacked on a grimy floor.  Nearby were two life-size mechanical Santas lying prone, either knocked over by an active child or dropped in haste by a busy clerk struggling to multi task.  Perfect.  Santa was dead at Wal-Mart.

This snapshot would be funny if it didn’t remind us that considerable physical labor is the norm for the average Wal-Mart Associate as well as a work environment that is often dirty, noisy, and chaotic.  All for an average of less than $24,000 a year which translates to poverty-level for a family of four. 

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Wal-Mart, the largest private employer in the U.S., earns over $15 billion per year in pure profit.  Its CEO, Mike Duke, enjoys a salary and benefits equal to $23.15 million. But, in spite of its immense profitability, Wal-Mart claims it cannot afford to raise the wages of its employees because it would necessitate reducing staff or raising the price of goods.  After all, aren’t everyday low prices of goods, squeezed from suppliers and manufactured in Asian sweatshops, Wal-Mart’s mission?  

On the other hand, Costco, the second largest retailer in the U.S., pays its employees a living wage.  Employees here average $45,000/yr. And, Costco was able to achieve this without raising prices or layoffs.  In fact, the company’s performance continues to beat Wall Street’s expectations and its membership and revenue are seeing impressive growth.  

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You might have heard some commercials lately extolling Wal-Mart’s generous benefits. While Wal-Mart does offer healthcare benefits to full-time employees, it tilts the balance in favor of hiring part-timers, sometimes through a temp agency (where the employee must re-apply every 180 days), in order to avoid paying healthcare benefits.  The employees with healthcare still pay a premium, (on average around $75/mo.) but the deductibles and co-pays, especially for those with families, are unaffordable on a yearly wage of around $24,000.  As one Wal-Mart employee, a mother, stated in the 2005 documentary Wal-Mart: the High Price of Low Cost, “Which do I choose?  Food or medicine?”

Rep Hultgren, in March of this year, you were not among the 149 House Reps to cosponsor H.R. 1010, the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013, the first attempt to raise minimum wage since 2009.  This would raise the wage from $7.25 – 10.10 per hour over a two-year period, guarantying full-time workers a paltry $21,000/yr starting wage.  Although all cosponsors were Democrats, we wonder  how the issue of a living wage for struggling middle class families, many of whom are in your district, can be a partisan one?

Rep Hultgren, according to your website, you are a fiscal hawk. You’ve said that you “favor gaining control of and cutting federal spending.  American families have to live within their means.  The federal government should as well.” 

Well, Rep Hultgren, you must not know about Aubretia Edick, a Wal-Mart employee interviewed for a national news story in May, 2013.  While earning $10.00/hr at Wal-Mart, she also receives public assistance, food stamps, Section 8 housing and state-funded health care. 

Rep Hultgren, do you also not know that one Wal-Mart supercenter employing 300 workers costs us taxpayers at least $904,000 annually? This data, based on a study of Wisconsin Wal-Mart’s, used Medicaid data to determine that “Wal-Mart had more workers enrolled in the state’s public health care program in the last quarter of last year than any other employer, with 3,216 enrolled, including dependents.  It is also well-known that the corporation even has a headquarter resource office, created specifically to help employees navigate their way through the federal public assistance system.” And, by now, we’ve all seen the news stories about how Wal-Mart holds food drives for their own employees!

And let’s not forget that raising the minimum wage would put more money in the economy since Wal-Mart employees spend  their extra earnings … probably at Wal-Mart!  This would help offset the drop-in-the-bucket dent in Wal-Mart’s profits as a result of making lives better for its employees.

Chances are, Rep. Hultgren,  unlike millions of us middle class and lower middle class Americans, shopping at Wal-Mart is not a part of your weekly routine.  So since Congress will be in session only eight days this month, you might consider visiting a Wal-Mart or doing some reading about people who are less fortunate than you.  

Even better, demonstrate some leadership and courage, cross the aisle and endorse The Fair Minimum Wage Act!

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