The devil will be in the details. They likely reduced hours to compensate, which they already do to avoid “pitfalls” like paying for healthcare.

Wal-Mart’s pockets are deep enough that they could have started paying living wages and made an example of it. Sales probably would have gone up, too. But they didn’t do that. Raising wages to a new poverty wage is helpful, but we shouldn’t confuse it with any real change in status quo.