Yahoo – AFP,
Jeremy Tordjman, 5 April 2015
Washington (AFP) - After turning a deaf ear to pressure for years, US businesses are digging into their pockets to improve the lot of the lowest-paid workers, but also their own images.
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A worker
stands with a sign at a construction site in Washington, DC, on April 3,
2015
(AFP Photo/Nicholas Kamm)
|
Washington (AFP) - After turning a deaf ear to pressure for years, US businesses are digging into their pockets to improve the lot of the lowest-paid workers, but also their own images.
Faced with
a mounting campaign to address a growing gap between the rich and the poor, and
complaints that low wages leave workers dependent on state handouts, some of the
largest US employers have announced sweeping wage increases in recent weeks.
After
department store Walmart and clothing chain The Gap said they would raise
worker pay, this week fast food giant McDonald's announced a hike for 90,000 of
its workers.
The wave of
companies showing a greater appreciation for their workforce has even spread to
the tech industry. Microsoft announced it would require its contractors to
extend paid leave to thousands of people that regularly work for the company
but are not Microsoft staff.
The
companies have made sure the public takes note. McDonald's took a full-page
advertisement out in the New York Times heralding its generosity.
"We're
announcing a first step in rewarding the team members who work so hard for our
brand every day," it said.
Wal-Mart
Stores chief executive Doug McMillon told workers that the world's largest
retailer would "continue to provide that ladder that any of you can
climb."
Political
and market pressure
But the
moves, which sought to raise hourly wages above the official minimums --
McDonald's promised it would pay an average $10 an hour by the end of 2016 --
still fell short of a national campaign calling for a $15 an hour standard.
 |
Faced with
a mounting campaign to address a growing gap between the rich and
the poor, and
complaints that low wages leave workers dependent on state handouts,
some of
the largest US employers have announced sweeping wage increases
(AFP
Photo/Frederic J. Brown)
|
That raised
questions about whether the moves are simply a publicity effort for the firms.
The US
labor union federation, the AFL-CIO, which has been fighting for higher wages
for retail and food chain workers, dismissed the question.
"It's
not essential to figure out whether or not they did it for good reasons. The
key issue here is that it rewards months of mobilization," deputy policy
director Kelly Ross said.
The
companies could also be responding to fundamental economics. The US economy has
been growing steadily and companies have added some 3.4 million jobs in the
past year alone, tightening the jobs market somewhat.
"It is
a public relations move by the companies, but it comes in a macro-economic
context that is pushing up low wages," Ioana Marinescu, a labor rights
expert at University of Chicago, told AFP.
Michael
Strain of the American Enterprise Institute in Washington agreed.
"As
the labor market become more competitive, the firms have to increase wages to
attract the workers they want," he said.
At the same
time, a debate has mounted over why only the wealthiest Americans have seen
income gains while wages and salaries for the lowest 80 percent have stagnated
or declined.
Worker
groups want the government to address it by forcing up the official minimum
wage.
But the
political gridlock in Washington leaves the focus on companies. For several
years President Barack Obama has pressed Congress without success to increase
the federal minimum wage, stuck at $7.25 an hour since 2009.
 |
The US
economy has been growing steadily and companies have added some
3.4 million
jobs in the past year alone, tightening the jobs market somewhat
(AFP
Photo/Nicholas Kamm)
|
Nor has he
been able to get enough Congressional support for other benefits common
elsewhere, like a minimum paid maternity leave.
"Congress
is clearly broken and won't change anything with respect to the labor
market," said Jacob Kirkegaard, a researcher at the Peterson Institute for
International Economics.
He told AFP
that companies announcing wage increases get more than a public relations
boost.
"If
you pay more than the average, you'll have a higher retention rate so you won't
have to constantly spend money on training new hires."
Some
analysts express worry of the risk that the large firms raising wages will make
business harder for small companies with less financial power.
"There's
an uneven playing field," Kirkegaard said.
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