Obama
slams Staples, big companies on healthcare: 'Shame on
them': BuzzFeed
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[February 11, 2015]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.
President Barack Obama singled out office supply giant Staples Inc as
undercutting his healthcare reform law and said large corporations
should not use the health insurance issue as an excuse for cutting
wages, the news website BuzzFeed reported.
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"It's one thing when you've got a mom-and-pop store who can't afford
to provide paid sick leave or health insurance or minimum wage to
workers … but when I hear large corporations that make billions of
dollars in profits trying to blame our interest in providing health
insurance as an excuse for cutting back workers’ wages, shame on
them,” Obama said in an interview with BuzzFeed.
The Affordable Care Act requires companies with more than 50
employees to pay for health insurance for people who work 30 hours a
week or more. Reuters has reported that some businesses are keeping
staffing numbers below 50 or cutting the work week to less than 30
hours to avoid providing employee health insurance.
Staples, the No. 1 U.S. office supplies retailer, has told its
employees not to work more than 25 hours per week, according to a
Buzzfeed report on Monday.
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Staples CEO Ronald Sargent brought home $10.8 million in total
compensation in 2013. The company reported net profit of $620.1
million in net profit through Feb. 1, 2014.
"There is no reason for an employer who is not currently providing
health care to their workers to discourage them from either getting
health insurance on the job or being able to avail themselves of the
Affordable Care Act,” Obama said in the interview Tuesday.
"I haven’t looked at Staples stock lately or what the compensation
of the CEO is, but I suspect that they could well afford to treat
their workers favorably and give them some basic financial security,
and if they can't, then they should be willing to allow those
workers to get the Affordable Care Act without cutting wages," Obama
said.
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Staples representatives were not immediately available for comment
on Tuesday.
Nearly 7.5 million people have signed up for 2015 Obamacare health
plans through HealthCare.gov with demand increasing as the Feb. 15
enrollment deadline approaches, according to government figures.
Staples and No. 2 office retailer Office Depot Inc announced last
week a $6.3 billion plan to join forces to compete against big box
stores and online rivals.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu, Sruthi Ramakrishnan, Martin Howell;
Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by W Simon)
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