Senator Lindsey Graham (RS.C.) found herself on Thursday to the right even of the chief executive of a major corporation as the two debated a minimum wage of $ 15.
Costco CEO W. Craig Jelinek could not understand why Graham was arguing over the highest wage, 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 paid $ 15 an hour in 2019 and more than half of workers now earn $ 25 an hour.
The increase “is not altruism,” Jelinek said at a Senate Budget Committee hearing. “At Costco, we know that paying good salaries to employees … makes sense for our business and is an important competitive advantage for us. It helps us in the long run by 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 such an important 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 didn’t really care about big companies like Costco. But he was “concerned about the small business owner,” though apparently not the workers, “who are fighting because COVID has reduced their ability to make a living. Do you understand where I come from?”
Jelinek said yes.
“So if you have a restaurant or a hotel and no one can travel to the country and the seating capacity has been reduced … revenues have gone down … you can understand why an increase in the government’s mandate in terms of Would that cost be devastating? ”Graham asked.
Jelinek replied, “I can’t understand why it would be such a devastating blow. I think it’s a devastating blow to employees, ”he began, perhaps to make a point about the minimum wage, but Graham talked about it.
The senator reprimanded him for not seeing the business difficulty of “doubling the minimum wage. Don’t you understand?” He broke.
“I don’t know that he suggested doubling the minimum wage,” the Costco CEO replied.
When Graham asked him if he would support a $ 11 minimum wage, a proposal tabled by Sen. Joe Manchin (DW.Va.), Jelinek replied, “It’s better than $ 7.25.” Graham replied, “Fair enough.”
Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) Pointed to a study by the Government Accountability Office that revealed that millions of American workers were paying so poorly to companies like Walmart that need food stamps and Medicaid for Survival, which he characterized as a massive grant to corporate taxpayers.
Congress had prepared to pass legislation that seeks to gradually raise the federal minimum wage to $ 15 an hour by 2025, which was a campaign promise by President Joe Biden. The federal minimum has remained at $ 7.25 per hour since 2009, although many states already have higher minimum wages.
But the Senate lawmaker ruled Thursday that the Democrats’ strategy of approving the increase as part of the $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 aid package violates Senate rules. The decision was almost certainly a fatal blow to quickly give an increase to tens of millions of workers, at least as part of the relief bill.
Watch Graham try to explain to Jelinek the difficulties of employers, but not workers, in the video above.
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