clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Mayor Gray Vetoes Living Wage Bill; Wal-Mart Sighs in Relief

New, 1 comment
By Valerie Paschall
1 comment / new

Mayor Vince Gray has vetoed the Large Retailer Accountability Act that City Council had approved earlier this summer, paving the way for the five planned Wal-Marts to remain in D.C. The Large Retailer Accountability Act, also known as the Living Wage Bill, would have required large retailers in buildings greater than 75,000 square feet to pay their employees a living wage of $12.50 an hour instead of the current minimum wage of $8.25. Gray said that passing the bill would have accounted for the loss of 4,000 jobs in the next few years and that he would rather push forward with legislation that raised the minimum wage for all D.C. residents.

When City Council approved the bill, Wal-Mart had threatened to pull out of three of its planned six locations. They stated that the terms of the bill discriminated against their company personally, but the Large Retailer Accountability Act had also gotten flack from companies like the long sought after Wegman's, who said they might not come to D.C. if such a law was approved. Wal-Mart would have abandoned the sites at Skyland Town Center, New York Avenue and Capitol Gateway if the bill had not been vetoed. The site at Skyland was one of the initial conditions that Mayor Gray had placed on Wal-Mart if they wanted to come to D.C. at all. Those were the three areas where construction had not yet started on the buildings but also the three areas where the community was the most underserved and would have benefitted from both the resources and the jobs. The deal for the New York Avenue Wal-Mart actually fell apart on Friday for other reasons.

Gray recognized the bill's good intentions but called it, "a woefully inadequate and flawed vehicle for achieving the goal we all share." He stated that the bill would affect more retailers than just Wal-Mart who had stated intentions to stay out of D.C. if the bill became law. He also pointed out that there was nothing in the legislature ensuring that these higher paying jobs would necessarily go to District residents. In short, Gray said that in these underserved parts of D.C., "it will kill economic development in these communities for a generation."


· Mayor Gray, Citing Job-Killing Effects, Vetoes Large Retailer Bill and Calls for Reasonable Increase in Minimum Wage for All [Office of the Mayor]
· All Wal-Mart Coverage [CDC]

Loading comments...