Bernie Sanders tells Walmart shareholders company is paying workers 'starvation wages'

CEO Doug McMillon’s $23.6m pay package 1,076 times more than average worker

Bernie Sanders has accused Walmart of paying its workers “starvation wages” – delivering his broadside in a dramatic intervention at a meeting of the company’s shareholders.

Speaking in Arkansas, Mr Sanders, 76, who is among more than 20 Democrats seeking the party’s presidential nomination, said Walmart was fuelling inequality.

He said the company – more than half of which is still owned by members of the Walton family, the richest family in the world – paid its workers so little they were forced to rely on programmes such as food stamps, Medicaid and public housing “in order to survive”.

Presenting a shareholder proposal, suggested by Walmart employee Kat Davis, to pay a minimum of $15 an hour and give hourly employees a seat on its board, Mr Sanders said: “The American people are so tired of subsidising the greed of some of the largest corporations in the United States.”

The Walton family, whose ancestors Bud and Sam Walton founded the company in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas, have wealth estimated at $174.9bn. The company is the largest supermarket chain in the world by revenues.

Walmart has raised its minimum wage twice since 2016 to $11 an hour. But it remains lower than the $15 an hour Amazon pays employees. Retailers Target Corp and Costco also pay higher rates than Walmart.

Chief Executive Officer Doug McMillon said Walmart had raised wages in the United States by 50 per cent in the past four years and continued to increase wages on a market-by-market basis to hire and retain talent.

“We are not perfect, but together we are learning, we are listening and changing,” he said.

Walmart has said it pays an average of $17.50 an hour to its hourly employees, including benefits.

The proposal presented by Mr Sanders was unlikely to pass; the Walton family owns a majority of shares and the retailer had asked shareholders to vote against it.

Mr Sanders said Mr McMillon, the chief executive, was “making a thousand times more than the average Walmart employee”. He said the ratio of Mr ​McMillon’s $23.6m pay package last year compared to that of the median associate was 1,076 to 1.

“Walmart is the largest private employer in America and is owned by the Walton family, the wealthiest family in the United States, worth approximately $175bn,” Mr Sanders said.

“And yet, despite the incredible wealth of its owners, Walmart pays many of its employees starvation wages.”

Last year, Mr Sanders introduced legislation intended to tax big companies the full amount of welfare claimed by their workers because of the low-wages they received.

Titled the Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies (Stop BEZOS) Act, Mr Sanders took direct aim at companies such as Amazon and its owner Jeff Bezos. While Mr Bezos’ wealth stood at $168bn, the Vermont senator said, many of his employees were forced to use food stamps.