Wage Wars: Wal-Mart Wins Some in Montgomery County, Loses Out in DC

By Patch Editor Whitney Teal

While Wal-Mart may be king in more rural and suburban areas, the discount retailer is relatively small potatoes in the Washington, DC, region. In the suburbs, there is a smattering of locations—only one of which is inside the Capital Beltway—but there are no Wal-Mart stores in the District.

Opponents of the retailer’s push into Montgomery County and DC often cite Wal-Mart’s low wages and no-union policy as unsavory business practices not wanted in those areas.

Both jurisdictions have passed legislation aimed at the retailer in recent months.

A majority of the DC Council voted Wednesday to approve a living wage bill that requires big companies to pay 50 percent more than the city minimum wage, The Washington Post reported. Before the vote, Wal-Mart said it will pull plans for three DC stores and re-evaluate three additional stores already under construction if the law was passed.

“We’re at a point where we don’t need retailers. Retailers need us,” said Councilman Vincent Orange (D-At large), according to The Post.

Click here to read more from The Post.

The DC vote comes two months after the Montgomery County Council voted to fast-track a master plan amendment allowing Wal-Mart to build a store on an abandoned lot in Aspen Hill, The Gazette reported. Council members on the losing side of the 5-4 vote wanted to wait for a more comprehensive review of the community before voting.

“I think that this fight’s not over,” Matthew Hanson, campaign coordinator for Raise Maryland, an organization lobbying for a higher minimum wage, told the newspaper. “We’re going to continue to organize and mobilize and if we don’t want to see another Wal-Mart open up, depress wages and put more folks out of work, [then] we have to keep up the fight.”

Labor activists protested plans for the store at a rally at the Montgomery County Council building in May.

Meanwhile, some Aspen Hill business owners have said they wouldn’t mind having a Wal-Mart as a neighbor.

Click here to read more from The Gazette.

A bill that would have forced big-box retailers to give back to local communities fizzled two years ago in the Montgomery County Council.