Senator Lindsey Graham (RS.C.) on Thursday found himself to the right of even the chief executive of a major corporation while the two discussed a $ 15 minimum wage.
Costco CEO W. Craig Jelinek could not understand why Graham was arguing about the higher salary – perhaps because Costco is preparing to raise its own minimum wage to $ 16 an hour starting next week. The company, which employs 180,000 workers, was paying $ 15 an hour in 2019, and more than half of the workers are now earning $ 25 an hour.
The increase “is not altruism,” Jelinek said at a hearing on the Senate Budget Committee. “At Costco, we know that paying good wages to employees … makes sense for our business and constitutes a significant competitive advantage for us. This helps us in the long run, minimizing turnover and maximizing employee productivity. “
He added: “We are certainly not perfect, but we try to take care of our employees because they play a very significant role in our success.”
But Graham tried to tell Jelinek that now is “not the time” to institute a higher minimum wage because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The senator said he was not really concerned about big companies like Costco. But he was “concerned about the small business owner” – although apparently not the workers – “who are struggling because COVID has reduced its ability to earn a living. Do you understand where I’m coming from? ” he asked.
Jelinek said yes.
“So, if you run a restaurant or hotel and nobody can travel in the country and the seating capacity has been reduced … revenues are low … you can understand why a bigger government mandate in terms of cost would be a disaster blow? “Graham asked.
Jelinek replied: “I cannot understand why it would be a devastating blow. I think it is a devastating blow to employees, ”he began, perhaps to make an observation about the minimum wage, but Graham talked about it.
The senator scolded him for not seeing the business difficulties of “doubling the minimum wage. Don’t you understand that? “he lost his mind.
“I don’t know if I was suggesting doubling the minimum wage,” replied the Costco CEO.
When asked by Graham whether he would support a minimum wage of $ 11, a proposal made by Senator Joe Manchin (DW.Va.), Jelinek replied, “It’s better than $ 7.25”. Graham replied, “Very fair.”
Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) Pointed to a study by the Government Accountability Office revealing that millions of American workers are underpaid at companies like Walmart that need food stamps and Medicaid to survive, that he characterized as a massive taxpayer subsidy for businesses.
Congress was preparing to vote on legislation that aims to gradually raise the federal minimum wage to $ 15 an hour by 2025 – which was a campaign promise from President Joe Biden. The federal minimum has been stagnating at $ 7.25 an hour since 2009, although many states already have higher minimum wages.
But the Senate congressman decided on Thursday that the Democrats’ strategy to approve the increase as part of their $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 aid package violates Senate rules. The decision was almost certainly a fatal blow to quickly give tens of millions of workers a raise, at least as part of the relief bill.
Watch Graham try to explain to Jelinek about the difficulties of business owners – but not workers – in the video above.
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