Walmart Employees Receive Raises And Bonuses

Several of the nation’s largest corporations announced they would be giving employees a bonus as a result of federal tax reform. Walmart, who employs tens of thousands of Louisianans, recently announced they are increasing bottom salaries from $9 to $11 an hour, and authorizing up to a $1,000 in bonuses for employees.

Zachary Walmart manager Cornelius Lombard says workers appreciated the gesture.

“When I announced the pay raise and the bonus, it was met with applause and cheers.”

Lombard says the bonuses are the results of a hugely profitable run for the retail giant.

“As a company we had thirteen straight quarters of positive comps, and felt that awarding the associates for that was essential to our continued success.”

Walmart has come under fire in recent years for paying workers poverty level wages. Making Change at Walmart spokesperson Amy Ritter says Walmart’s thousand dollar bonus headline was fairly misleading.

“The truth behind that is that most folks will probably receive about 400 dollars.”

Ritter says the tax cut should provide the company with another 1.85 billion a year.

Ritter says even with the pay increase, hundreds of thousands of Walmart workers will still be below the poverty line. She says the costs for impoverished workers falls back on the taxpayer…

“There’s over a thousand children in the state of Louisiana whose parents work at Walmart and can’t make ends meet and whose children have to go on taxpayer funded healthcare programs.”

Walmart posts yearly profits of roughly 14 billion dollars, Ritter says the one to two dollar pay increases will cost the company about 200 to 300 million a year.

Categories: National News