Costco cares more about the American workforce than Republicans do.A few years ago, Costco answered the call to help struggling workers by raising the wages of their own employees to $12 an hour, nearly a full $5 increase above the federal minimum wage that House and Senate Republicans refuse to raise for the rest of the American people.The results swiftly proved that rewarding your employees and increasing their morale is a good business decision that propels a company forward and turns it into a more competitive one.As other corporations like Walmart saw sales sink, the quarterly income of Costco soared ahead.And now Costco is betting on their employees again by raising their wages by another dollar per hour.Costco announced the wage hike on Thursday in a move that could affect a large number of the 117,000 employees who work for the company.The move not only appears to be Costco s way of rewarding their employees, it appears to also be an answer to Walmart s grudging decision to raise wages for their own workers earlier this year.By raising wages for their own employees, Costco is competing with Walmart to draw new applicants as well as retain current workers.But Costco, unlike Walmart, has always treated their employees with dignity and respect.According to the Huffington Post,Costco has a reputation for being one of the better low-wage employers. It pays slightly more than its competitors (even before the wage increase), closes its doors for major holidays like Thanksgiving and Independence Day and provides health benefits to most of its employees, even those who make an hourly wage.Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress continue to refuse to raise the federal minimum wage to help all American workers across the nation, which has resulted in states and cities raising wages on their own to address the struggle minimum wage workers have faced for decades.Most recently, the state of Oregon passed the highest minimum wage in the nation. In the next few years, Oregonians can expect to make up to $14.50 per hour, which is double the federal minimum wage.Now if only Republicans would stop obeying orders from their corporate masters, perhaps the rest of the American people could get the raise they need to take better care of their families without having to struggle near as much. Alas, it will probably require replacing them with Democrats to make it happen.Featured image from Wikimedia