Do you agree with the City Council’s plan to make Wal-Mart and other large retailers pay $10 an hour in wages, even if it results in those stores laying off employees?

DELORES McCAIN ASKS:

Terry Bryant
“Yes, I do believe Wal-Mart should offer $10 per hour due to the fact of the high cost of the economy right now. People need childcare, [and] the cost of living is extremely high. I really do believe Wal-Mart should be paying their employees $10 per hour or even more.”

Frank Lewis
“No, I do not agree with the City Council ordinance of $10 per hour, but I would go along with something a little less in order to keep jobs in the neighborhoods. As for layoffs, if you lower the salary, there shouldn’t be a layoff.”

Kelley Moseley
“As far as layoffs; layoffs are never a good thing, especially in a community that needs more jobs. So I definitely don’t agree with any layoffs at all. The $10 wages, we can always use increases, especially if the work is good and of quality. We need to be more competitive. Everything is going up. People have to eat – they have families. Costs are going up so wages should definitely meet those costs and [we should] have a livable wage.”

K. D. Von Hunter
“Absolutely not. I don’t agree with the City Council’s plan to make anyone pay a certain amount of money in wages because that’s the union’s job – Wal-Mart is non-union. I’ve worked with unions before, and…the city does not know the working conditions of Wal-Mart – they don’t know the structure [or] their paying structure. That is why so many companies leave Chicago and go to the suburbs because they try to force them to do certain things without understanding. Wal-Mart has never been a company that pays big money to none of their employees because they started in the south where these wages are appropriate for them. So it would be appropriate for Wal-Mart to say, or for the employees to go to the management and say, ‘we need more money for the work that we do.’ But for the City Council to try and do that; that is like asking everybody to raise the wages at McDonalds. First of all, it’s a socio-economical problem. Only certain people work at McDonalds. You don’t see senator’s children working at McDonalds or Wal-Mart. It’s the people who live in that neighborhood. It’s an opportunity for these people to work and to go on.”

Ali Shams
“Yes, with the cost of living the way it is. In order to live a decent life anywhere, you need a wage that will be enough to support your family.