I disagree with the premise of the article—that somehow, if gas stations could cut their wages, they could compete with self-service effectively.
When the norm is for the driver to pump their own gas, for free (and even get a discount on their gas for doing so), unless you have slave labor, there's no competing with that. A lot of gas pumpers are going to soon be out of work, and let's face it, pumping gas is not a marketable skill that will look good on any of their resumes.
They've just created a whole class of welfare recipients.