Back in October, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon announced future plans to boost the lowest of wages at the big box giant so that no worker is paid the federally mandated minimum of $7.25 an hour.
In an interview on Wednesday morning, he appeared to have set himself a deadline of early 2015 for this salary hike.
"We're going to make changes in a few months that will create a situation where no Walmart associate in the United States makes federal minimum wage," McMillon told '
McMillon, who at 48 is the youngest CEO of Walmart since founder Sam Walton, agreed with Rose's assertion that the perception of Walmart -- as a low-wage, dead-end employer, doubtlessly -- differs from the reality of the business he runs.
"In the world there is a debate over inequity, and sometimes we get caught up in that, and retail does in general," he said.
McMillon's announcement will come as welcome news to the Walmart associates who, along with their allies in the labor movement, have been protesting working conditions and wages at the world's largest private employer for the last three years.
This past Black Friday weekend, like the one before it, saw workers striking and walking off the job as part of a push for a $15 an hour pay hike at Walmart.
This year, workers took part in sit-ins during the days leading up to the annual sales bonanza, with the United Food and Commercial Workers union helping them organize. A two-hour sit-in at a Los Angeles area Walmart resulted in 23 arrests when the striking workers moved out into the streets and blocked traffic.
Doug McMillon's appearance on 'CBS This Morning' on Wednesday coincided with a senior personnel announcement at the retail chain -- an unusual move right in the middle of the all-important holiday shopping season.
Walmart announced longtime employee Judith McKenna's promotion to the role of COO, making her responsible for the company's 1.3 million workers in the U.S. Her predecessor Gisel Ruiz has been appointed head of the company's international HR division.
