Minimum Wage

[Clint45]

In some areas, the only places that are hiring pay minimum wage, and most of those jobs suck. Very few people last more than 6 months at fast food or Wal-Mart because they work everyone as hard as they can and never give them more than 28 hrs per week (often a lot less). Most of their workers (who don't get fired within the first few weeks) find a better job and quit, or take a second minimum wage job . . . but since schedules are never compatible they end up choosing the better one. Maybe 10% of their employees last over a year . . . and these people have very few options . . . many are retirees who can't get by on Social Security alone.

Doubling their pay is just stupid . . . they don't deserve that wage. What they DO deserve is full time hours and merit based raises every 6 months, even if it is only a quarter an hour. Some people are trying to support a family working a shitty minimum wage job because they have no other option, and are told they'll never get over 28 hrs a week, their schedule will constantly change, even the amount of hours they work can suddenly be sliced in half . . . so most of them end up applying for food stamps. If they were given 40 hour workweeks they would not need those food stamps.

[ZERO THEORY]

Minimum wage is part of the command economy, the government is the last entity that should determine how much someone should be paid for a task. The employer should make that determination and if no one will that the job at the offered rate the employer will have to increase the compensation.

Bingo.

I will also add that when I was 16, I worked at a Pizza Hut for 9 months. NOBODY in that place deserved $15 an hour. In fact, the only place(s) I've ever worked that were deserving of that kind of money were auto shops where the guys who weren't certified techs (and thusly didn't get flat rate jobs) still had to bust their asses to get light jobs in and out.

[Jeffrey Lebowski]

The union bosses get to bring in union dues without producing squat. They make a very comfortable living and send dues to politicians for quid pro quo legislation. It's a great racket.

This.

And I'd argue this is the real reason democrats and some republicans alike are so enamored with immigration. It isn't a permanent-majority thing for dems, it is a propping up of their SS ponzi that keeps ALL pols in office.

[Irving]

It is amazing to me that people think that because a CEO gets paid a lot, that the company has all this extra money laying around. Yet don't realize that union bosses are the ones sitting around collecting a percentage of everyone's dues while contributing zero to the work product.

Someone brought up unions, but I was unaware any fast food places were unionized.

[Zundfolge]

Someone brought up unions, but I was unaware any fast food places were unionized.

That's what the work stoppages were all about, not just doubling the minimum wage, but unionizing fast food.

[tmleadr03]

Bingo.

I will also add that when I was 16, I worked at a Pizza Hut for 9 months. NOBODY in that place deserved $15 an hour. In fact, the only place(s) I've ever worked that were deserving of that kind of money were auto shops where the guys who weren't certified techs (and thusly didn't get flat rate jobs) still had to bust their asses to get light jobs in and out.

I have worked in those autoshops too and I would be hard pressed to want to pay those guys 15 an hour for the damage I had to fix from their "work". It isn't a minimum wage job by any stretch of the imagination but it is no where close to being 15 bucks an hour. At most 10, with the realization that they need to learn and acquire tools to make more money.

But then I also have major issues with flat rate.

[tmleadr03]

That's what the work stoppages were all about, not just doubling the minimum wage, but unionizing fast food.

Well the quality is already on par with Detroit, now to get the prices there so they need a government bailout...

[kawiracer14]

This ^^^^^^^^^^^ Without TABOR We would be screwed. Checking "NO" is a minor inconvenience compared to the rape we would have been subjected to the last couple of years.

My comment was meant completely in jest.

[Jeffrey Lebowski]

It is amazing to me that people think that because a CEO gets paid a lot, that the company has all this extra money laying around.

It amazes me that society (not anyone in particular) is so bothered by CEO pay. This was a huge issue for those occupy dead-weighters and definitely for journalists.
These same people are OK with pop-stars, entertainers, athletes making WAY more than CEOs, but it is the CEOs who are evil.

We used to celebrate success in this country, now we demonize it. You have to pay for talent. Not everyone can run a huge company which has so many stakeholders, such as tons of employees, contractors, supply chain partners, tons of customers, possibly press, and certainly investors/shareholders to all answer to. This isn't a job anyone can do or that we should all get to "take turns" at. $0.02 Success with that much leverage and pressure should be highly rewarded. Just MHO, of course.

[Sawin]

I say fire the lot of them, let the franchise owners decide if they're willing to hire a unionized bunch, then let the operations manager of each restaurant determine the pay scale for their establishments....