More than 31,000 Arizona Wal-Mart employees get pay raise
Mar 10, 2016, 6:30 AM
Wal-Mart cashier Sandra Brown, second left, greets customers at its store in Horn Lake, Miss., Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016. The store officially opened early Wednesday morning following a brief ceremony featuring comments from Wal-Mart and city officials. (Stan Carroll/The Commercial Appeal via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
(Stan Carroll/The Commercial Appeal via AP)
Thousands of Wal-Mart associates in Arizona will get raises Thursday, as part of what Arizona’s largest retail employer calls its $2.7 billion, 2-year ‘investment’ in its workforce.
“It was real exciting, I wasn’t expecting it,” said Dave, a Wal-Mart employee for 20 years. “My wife and family are pretty happy about it.”
In all, 1.2 million associates will get raises in what Wal-Mart is calling the largest single day pay raise ever. That works out to 31,000 associates in Arizona, with almost 18,000 of those in the Phoenix area.
Alex has been with the company for a year and a half.
“Let’s just say I’m going to save for my vacation, my honeymoon, my wedding and whatever debt I have going on,” she said.
That is probably not all going to be on this check, but it’s a start, she said.
Arizona Wal-Mart employees will also be splitting nearly 6-million dollars in bonuses Thursday, based on the quarterly performance of their store.
Roxanne has also been working at Wal-Mart for 20-years.
“I started out as an hourly associate still in high school,” she said. “I feel good about the raise; I was actually maxed out for a while because we had ‘caps’.”
The ‘caps’ meant Roxanne couldn’t make more than she was already earning, and now she can.
Wal-Mart operates 126 stores in Arizona.
