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Having saturated suburbs with its big box stores, the world’s largest and most notorious retailer, Walmart, has begun invading urban America.

And, in the city of Washington DC, Walmart is facing a pushback – not just from the streets, but from City Hall. DC Council members want to require large non-union retailers like Walmart to pay their workers a few dollars per hour above minimum wage.

But Walmart, who’s employees rely heavily on government welfare, says it cannot afford to, and has threatened to cancel plans for stores already in the works.

In a Washington Post Op-Ed this week Walmart Exec Alex Barron insists that his company will provide DC with “good jobs,” and is urging DC Mayor Vincent Gray to veto the measure if it is passed.

GUEST: Rebekah Peeples Massengill, lecturer in the Princeton Writing Program at Princeton University, and author of the book, Wal-mart Wars: Moral Populism in the Twenty-First Century

Click here for more about Wal-mart Wars.