Fast food workers plan Thursday strike f

[Win]

This would be a de facto wage increase across the board.

You won't be able to hire counter clerks for nine or ten dollars when burger flippers are pulling fifteen.

The inflationary effect on the economy will be tremendous, even by government measurement standards.

Who was using Australia as some sort of example of the beneficial effect of a high minimum wage? Check what a Pontiac G8 sold for in America, and what the same Holden Commodore sold for in it's home market.

 

[SHOZ]

The reference to Australia is if they can pay $15 an hour and still make a profit then they can in the US too. The cost of living has nothing to do with it. In fact if the cost of living was used a a factor then McDonald's cost would be even higher than with just the higher wages.

Higher cost of living would be an even greater burden.

 

[hattaresguy]

Making $15 the new floor will just cause inflation so in a couple of years making $15 than will be 7.25 today.

Same thing would happen if you gave every US citizen a million bucks.

Having said that minimum wage probably should be inflation adjusted every few years.

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Making $15 the new floor will just cause inflation so in a couple of years making $15 than will be 7.25 today.

Same thing would happen if you gave every US citizen a million bucks.

Having said that minimum wage probably should be inflation adjusted every few years.

I think you are overestimating the total cost that minimum wage labor adds to most items though. Are any of your subs going to throw down their tools to go work at McD's? Perhaps they may have to pay the grunt labor a little more, but what percentage of grunt labor is in an average job price? 5-10%?
Wages for a gas station attendant are probably 1-2% of the pump price? It all adds up, but a few % inflation on balance, is probably less harm than the benefit of getting 10's of millions of people able to afford to take decent care of themselves and their families.
I don't think jumping right to $15 would ideal, but significant increase now with more increases coming would be a good start.

 

[Tempest]

It seems to be a universal truth that people who support the minimum wage totally divorce productivity from compensation.

People are paid for productivity. If their productivity isn't worth $15 dollars an hour to the person paying the wage, they shouldn't be forced to.

The minimum wage is actually a government ban on employing low productivity people. Yes, that is what it actually is. It is not helping them, it is pricing them out of the job market.

And that is exactly how you build a permanent underclass.

Switzerland has no minimum wage, and just rejected what would be the world's highest. They have 3.2% unemployment.


What makes an arbitrary, third party government official, more qualified to establish a wage than the vested interests of the employer and the employee?

 

[Mr Nice]

I'm still surprised CNC manufacturing only paid $14 an hour.

 

[Jarlaxle]

No kidding...my neighbor does that, and they STARTED him at $20.50!

 

[hattaresguy]

Originally Posted By: IndyIan
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Making $15 the new floor will just cause inflation so in a couple of years making $15 than will be 7.25 today.

Same thing would happen if you gave every US citizen a million bucks.

Having said that minimum wage probably should be inflation adjusted every few years.

I think you are overestimating the total cost that minimum wage labor adds to most items though. Are any of your subs going to throw down their tools to go work at McD's? Perhaps they may have to pay the grunt labor a little more, but what percentage of grunt labor is in an average job price? 5-10%?
Wages for a gas station attendant are probably 1-2% of the pump price? It all adds up, but a few % inflation on balance, is probably less harm than the benefit of getting 10's of millions of people able to afford to take decent care of themselves and their families.
I don't think jumping right to $15 would ideal, but significant increase now with more increases coming would be a good start.


Around here most labor is already around $15 an hour, so its kind of a mute point.

 

[Mr Nice]

Still, $20.50 is little money for 'cutting' such expensive slabs of metal.

One booboo = $$$$ down the drain.

 

[hattaresguy]

Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
I'm still surprised CNC manufacturing only paid $14 an hour.



Wages very greatly depending on geographic location and local cost of living.

Around here its not terrible hard for people in the manufacturing field to break into the low $100k range. Most employees at the big manufacturing companies are able to do it with OT.

 

[Clevy]

Originally Posted By: Clubber_Lang
Originally Posted By: javacontour
The only war going on is the war on rational thought.


+1000. People need to turn off the boobtube and think for themselves.




As a business owner and employer of anywhere from 30-50 men on any given day I see every single day how the youth of today,coddled by their parents,turn up their noses on an honest days pay,because it's "too hard" or "doesn't pay enough".
Do tell me exactly how much should a labourer with no experience,and no guys actually worth. Because over the years I've found it doesn't matter if you pay a green guy 12 bucks an hour to start or 18 an hour to start they will work the exact same,so to believe a fresh guy off the street with no experience is going to work harder if you pay him more is a dream and a joke.
I start labour out at 15 an hour. That's a living wage based on our minimum 100 hour bi-weekly payroll.
No one is getting rich and it gives a man incentive to learn and thereby make more money.
I want to keep good men happy and employed. It's just that simple.
It's sad that the average age on my site is 32 years old. I have no guys under 24 at all.
That entire generation feels this kind of work is beneath them,so they whine to their moms and dads that life's hard and can they borrow the car and have some money.
Total load of carp and exactly why they are this way.
My dad threw me out at 18. He said that's it. I'm a man. Go and do what men do.
So I did. I wandered and sold dope and was a total loser.
Then I it came to me what he meant by being a man.
By 21 I owned a construction company in Detroit. My own crew,paying my men myself,with no ones help.
Trial by fire. Some men need to see that low so they realize they never want to see it again.
Other men don't need to live in a trench or ditch to realize they don't want to live there.
I was the kind of man who needed to be cold,alone and broke. Only then did understand the value of a dollar,how hard it was to earn that dollar and what it took to keep those dollars coming in,otherwise it was back to being cold,hungry and broke.

 

[antiqueshell]

Originally Posted By: Tempest


Switzerland has no minimum wage, and just rejected what would be the world's highest. They have 3.2% unemployment.



It isn't because they don't need one, it is because
most highly homogeneous nations tend to want to support their own and that includes paying good wages (fair) because the business man knows that he is helping to increase the quality of life for himself as well as the rest of the community, you can find this is Germany, Austria, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark..ect

Sadly because the USA today is nothing more than a widely diverse
"polyglot", and no longer resembles a nation it all boils down to different tribal groups and factions fighting amongst themselves for scraps...we can already see how ugly it has gotten it isn't going to get any better. The "gib me" culture is because certain groups don't want to be a part of mainstream society (work and contribute) and they are going to give themselves things off of others sweat and hard work. That is the truth.

 

[simple_gifts]

Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
I'm still surprised CNC manufacturing only paid $14 an hour.



The shop I worked @ 15 years ago paid set up guys $17-$20/hr; so yes, it is very different based on geography. CNC operator and CNC set up are totally different skill sets, the latter being much higher skill than the former. Most of our operators were from SE Asia and were paid a fraction of what US citizens were paid

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: antiqueshell
The "gib me" culture is because certain groups don't want to be a part of mainstream society (work and contribute) and they are going to give themselves things off of others sweat and hard work.


We aren't talking about people sitting home on welfare/ fake disability, watching Oprah, which is a problem. These are folks going in for an honest days work, not feeling they're getting an honest day's pay, and going through channels to fix it. As free citizens we can petition to resolve our grievances, to anyone who'll listen. There's been labor strife since huge factories in the 1850s... it only calmed down in the 1950s-90s because of incredible natural resource wealth in this country but it's simmering again.

I understand picking on low wage earners for being undocumented aliens, or high school dropouts, or doing something "wrong" and deserving a lower spot on our caste system. I bet you don't have to look too far though to find someone whose only mistake was being short on "luck". I guess I'm happy that the news outlets are paying attention to this issue instead of Islamic terrorism or twerking or Joan Rivers. It's a debate we need to face.

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: Tempest
It seems to be a universal truth that people who support the minimum wage totally divorce productivity from compensation.

People are paid for productivity. If their productivity isn't worth $15 dollars an hour to the person paying the wage, they shouldn't be forced to.

I think the different levels of pay for the same CNC jobs here show that pay isn't solely based on productivity. It really based on what's the lowest amount the employer can pay and still get a person that will do the job.
Probably the average Mexican or Chinese laborer is as productive as the average American laborer, but they get paid far less and often the Chinese product is sold for nearly the same price as the American equivalent.

 

[Win]

I didn't realize the news outlets were on this - I guess I've been too busy working.

What the heck, I give up. Make minimum wage $15/hour. Or make it $25/hour, doesn't really make any difference. The same people that have the money now, will ultimately wind up with all the new money.

It just won't be worth as much as it was before all the inflation.

Double the food stamp allotment while we're at it. You really think it helps poor people? It just inflates the price of food, and transfers wealth from working taxpayers to the pocket of retailers, wholesalers, and producers.

 

[dlundblad]

I did get off track a bit talking about people who DONT want to work.. This thread isn't about that.

Maybe I am being shallow? A burger flipper is an entry level job which should earn base pay. The person can either be content with where they are at (and complain about their pay) or better themselves whether it be moving up the ladder or go to school.

What do shift managers earn at fast food place? I am willing to bet it is more than MW. I am also willing to bet people don't want this job because they don't want responsibility. I work with a few people at my grocery store job like this. Been there for 30+ yrs and are still cashiers. People they worked with back in the day are now department heads, store managers etc.

I work with a lot of people at my factory job that complain about their poor pay. They a.) didn't further their education and b.) are content with where they are at and aren't searching for a better job. Job searching requires a lot of time and effort.

As said, if the MW pushers put the same effort into finding a better job as they are pushing for higher pay, they would already be making $15 per hr.

 

[SHOZ]

If inflation was not an issue then the current low entry level poverty wages would be OK. But if inflation is considered then the minimum wage would be over $20 and hour.

Have your wages increased with inflation?

 

[dlundblad]

Originally Posted By: SHOZ
If inflation was not an issue then the current low entry level poverty wages would be OK. But if inflation is considered then the minimum wage would be over $20 and hour.

Have your wages increased with inflation?


As I have mentioned, the USD is losing its value. Do we know why? Nope. Economists don't even know.. Increasing MW will only raise prices and cause everything to equal out at the end. Same pay to cost ratio: different numbers.

 

[SHOZ]

We most certainly know why inflation is happening. It's targeted by the FED at 2% per year. Without inflation then the bogus fractional banking system will collapse.

Raising MW will raise others wages. That is part of inflation. But the other way out is to not have anyone wages increase.

Maybe we should pick bankers as the ones to have stagnate wages?