To Walmart:

I recently read that Gap plans to raise its wage to $10 by the end of next year. Yet, Walmart, the country’s largest retailer, has failed to act while many of its 1.3 million workers are barely scraping by. We all know Walmart can do better, but is choosing not to. That’s why I call on you to pay Walmart workers a minimum of $25,000 a year so they are not forced to rely on government assistance.

Tell Walmart it can’t claim to be neutral on raising the minimum wage when despite its massive profits last year, it chooses to pay its employees so little that many are forced to rely on tax-payer programs. It’s time to take responsibility and start providing decent jobs.

Background:

For more than two years, workers at Walmart have been bravely standing up for change at the retail Goliath. The company has sought to silence these workers by targeting and firing many of those who speak out. Workers have bravely gone on strike to protest this retaliation and Walmart is now facing prosecution by the National Labor Relations Board for this illegal intimidation.

While workers have made significant progress at the store-level in many locations, Walmart corporate continues to focus on shiny PR ads about opportunity in the company, rather than creating quality job. By the company’s own admission, most workers make less than $25,000 a year. Most deal with erratic work schedules and inadequate hours on top of low pay.

Worst of all, Walmart can afford to do better, but it chooses not to.

Despite its $17 billion in profits last year, it chooses to pay its employees so little that many are forced to rely on tax-payer programs. In fact, last November Fortune demonstrated how Walmart could afford to raise workers’s wages by 50% without hurting the business. Similarly, Demos concluded that Walmart could afford to give workers a “substantial raise.”

Click here to sign the petition.