The Problem With Living Wage Bills Aimed at Walmart

Washington, D.C. mayor Vincent Gray finally vetoed this morning a "living wage" bill passed earlier this summer by the city council aimed squarely at Walmart. The bill would have effectively required a higher minimum wage ($12.50 an hour) for employees of the big-box store than nearly everyone else who works in retail in the city can expect ($8.25). The idea had been to extract some benefits from the company not known for its great labor practices as it tries to expand for the first time into the nation's capital.

The tactic has now suffered multiple defeats. A similar version of this same legislation was passed in Chicago in 2006. But it was vetoed there, too, by then-Mayor Richard Daley, also following pressure from the store. If the legislation was going to take hold anywhere, overwhelmingly liberal Washington was probably it. Now, unless the city council overrides the mayor's veto (an unlikely event requiring at least one council member to change his or her mind), the strategy looks effectively dead.