Minimum wage laws

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Minimum wage laws

2013-07-17 00:56:21

Macbeth: Banned; +2,444|5824

The bitter standoff between Wal-Mart and Washington, D.C. officials over the city's effort to impose a higher minimum wage on big-box retailers is fueling a wider debate about how far cities should go in trying to raise pay for low-wage workers — and whether larger companies should be required to pay more.

Wal-Mart, the nation's largest private employer, is fuming about a "living wage" bill approved by the D.C. Council that has an unusual twist — it would apply only to certain large retailers, forcing them to pay employees at least $12.50 an hour. That's nearly 50 percent higher than city's minimum wage of $8.25 an hour.

The measure is being cheered by unions and worker advocates who have long complained about Wal-Mart's wages and working conditions. Opponents call it an unfair tactic that will discourage companies from doing business in the city.

Wal-Mart has threatened, if the bill becomes law, to cancel plans for three of the six stores it hopes to build in some of the city's poorest neighborhoods that are sorely in need of economic development. The measure is now before District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray.

Some economists say targeting large retailers or other industries that can afford to increase wages may be an effective way to raise pay to even higher levels than a broad-based minimum wage. The district's bill applies to stores of 75,000 square feet or larger and annual corporate revenues of at least $1 billion.

"A large retailer can more easily absorb a pay hike than a corner store," said Arindrajit Dube, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a prominent supporter of raising the minimum wage. Large stores are "less likely to shut down or cut back on employment" in response to such an increase, he said.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/07/15/43 … rylink=cpy

I am okay with this bill. What do you think?

For reference: The U.S. min wage is $7.25 a hour. 4 million Americans are paid at or below min wage. They make up 5% of the 59% of hourly wage workers in the U.S.

2013-07-17 04:03:15

Jay: Bork! Bork! Bork!; +2,006|5596|London, England

Equal protection under the law. Law will be overturned easily.

"Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great! You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything! Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough."
-Frederick Bastiat

2013-07-17 04:11:44

Uzique The Lesser: Banned; +382|4493

paying someone below minimum wage should be illegal. it is exploitation. wal mart make their fortune off working people's income. why are they "fuming"? aren't they shitting where they eat? it's just greed. it's part of the rules of doing business in x-nation's markets: you accept their labour laws, their minimum wage, their health and safety, their economic regulations and, yes, their fucking tax requirements (if only!). western advanced nations have a high cost of living and like to promote at least the pretense of a high quality of life. pay the fucking minimum wage. trying to use some 'new store openings' to blackmail the process is laughable and despicable. poor neighbourhoods in need of "economic development" are precisely in need of jobs that will give their workers a decent wage-- not a large corporation pitching up to exploit some more people, because they've got no other choice. fuck walmart. my heart bleeds for their execs.

i don't know about large corporations having to pay a larger minimum wage... though that reasoning works quite well in scandinavian states. over there they enforce it so that the pay-gap between shelf-stacker and chief exec is not that big. it works a lot better.

Last edited by Uzique The Lesser (2013-07-17 04:12:54)

2013-07-17 04:35:35

Jay: Bork! Bork! Bork!; +2,006|5596|London, England

No uzi, Washington DC passed a law requiring Walmart to pay a special minimum wage reserved just for them and other big box stores. They've been singled out.

2013-07-17 04:38:33

Uzique The Lesser: Banned; +382|4493

i do agree with the principle, though, even though it is 'unfair' in a business-sense. large corporations should trickle down a little bit of their wealth. especially considering the effects that large stores like this have on local economies. walmart (like the uk's tesco) is gutting local community wealth redistribution (i.e. local stores and produce) and sucking it all upwards into a corporate structure. if they insist on paying their workers dead-minimum wage, i suppose that's their prerogative... but it's right for the government to ask what 'good' does it do.

2013-07-17 04:39:49

Macbeth: Banned; +2,444|5824

Jay wrote:
Equal protection under the law. Law will be overturned easily.

Got a source for this or are you pulling it out of your ass?

2013-07-17 04:50:11

Cybargs: Moderated; +2,285|6955

Uzique The Lesser wrote:
paying someone below minimum wage should be illegal. it is exploitation. wal mart make their fortune off working people's income. why are they "fuming"? aren't they shitting where they eat? it's just greed. it's part of the rules of doing business in x-nation's markets: you accept their labour laws, their minimum wage, their health and safety, their economic regulations and, yes, their fucking tax requirements (if only!). western advanced nations have a high cost of living and like to promote at least the pretense of a high quality of life. pay the fucking minimum wage. trying to use some 'new store openings' to blackmail the process is laughable and despicable. poor neighbourhoods in need of "economic development" are precisely in need of jobs that will give their workers a decent wage-- not a large corporation pitching up to exploit some more people, because they've got no other choice. fuck walmart. my heart bleeds for their execs.

i don't know about large corporations having to pay a larger minimum wage... though that reasoning works quite well in scandinavian states. over there they enforce it so that the pay-gap between shelf-stacker and chief exec is not that big. it works a lot better.

Walmart isn't paying below minimum wage. The DC law wants walmart to pay 50% more than the minimum wage compared to other retailers.

https://cache.www.gametracker.com/server_info/203.46.105.23:21300/b_350_20_692108_381007_FFFFFF_000000.png

2013-07-17 04:55:03

Jay: Bork! Bork! Bork!; +2,006|5596|London, England

It's revenge for fighting union organization efforts.

2013-07-17 04:59:15

Cybargs: Moderated; +2,285|6955

Jay wrote:
It's revenge for fighting union organization efforts.

they should secede and start a confederacy

2013-07-17 05:12:42

Jaekus: I'm the matchstick that you'll never lose; +957|5417|Sydney

Uzique The Lesser wrote:
i do agree with the principle, though, even though it is 'unfair' in a business-sense. large corporations should trickle down a little bit of their wealth. especially considering the effects that large stores like this have on local economies. walmart (like the uk's tesco) is gutting local community wealth redistribution (i.e. local stores and produce) and sucking it all upwards into a corporate structure. if they insist on paying their workers dead-minimum wage, i suppose that's their prerogative... but it's right for the government to ask what 'good' does it do.

B-b-but right wing governments always preach how the wealthy "trickle down" their wealth to every one else.

Oh yeah, that's a myth.

2013-07-17 05:15:49

Cybargs: Moderated; +2,285|6955

Jaekus wrote:
Uzique The Lesser wrote:
i do agree with the principle, though, even though it is 'unfair' in a business-sense. large corporations should trickle down a little bit of their wealth. especially considering the effects that large stores like this have on local economies. walmart (like the uk's tesco) is gutting local community wealth redistribution (i.e. local stores and produce) and sucking it all upwards into a corporate structure. if they insist on paying their workers dead-minimum wage, i suppose that's their prerogative... but it's right for the government to ask what 'good' does it do.
B-b-but right wing governments always preach how the wealthy "trickle down" their wealth to every one else.

Oh yeah, that's a myth.

i love how people like gina rhinehart complains about the minimum wage in this country

makes 600 dollars a second, bitches about a 15 dollar an hour min wage.

good on you for trickling down the wealth gina.

2013-07-17 05:18:19

Uzique The Lesser: Banned; +382|4493

large corporations that obliterate local micro-economies and markets and suck all the money up to offshore bank accounts or CEO bonuses should not be allowed to pay someone dead-minimum wage. if they are generating so much wealth, why wouldn't they pay their workers a little more? it is pure greed, and nothing else. scandinavian societies operate much better when their CEO's are barely paid more than the lowest worker. the wealth disparity in those countries is much lower, and everyone seems happier and more content - less anxiety about status and having a nice house/car. seems like they have it right.

i read a story somewhere about an american company that makes ice-cream or biscuits or something, and everyone is literally paid the same. total cooperative model. workers on the production line packing up this food (whatever it is; i can't remember) make something like $100+ an hour).

edit: found it. guess i read about it when moore was publicizing his movie.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvarado_Street_Bakery

Last edited by Uzique The Lesser (2013-07-17 05:20:46)

2013-07-17 05:22:30

Jaekus: I'm the matchstick that you'll never lose; +957|5417|Sydney

Cybargs wrote:
Jaekus wrote:
Uzique The Lesser wrote:
i do agree with the principle, though, even though it is 'unfair' in a business-sense. large corporations should trickle down a little bit of their wealth. especially considering the effects that large stores like this have on local economies. walmart (like the uk's tesco) is gutting local community wealth redistribution (i.e. local stores and produce) and sucking it all upwards into a corporate structure. if they insist on paying their workers dead-minimum wage, i suppose that's their prerogative... but it's right for the government to ask what 'good' does it do.
B-b-but right wing governments always preach how the wealthy "trickle down" their wealth to every one else.

Oh yeah, that's a myth.
i love how people like gina rhinehart complains about the minimum wage in this country

makes 600 dollars a second, bitches about a 15 dollar an hour min wage.

good on you for trickling down the wealth gina.

She made $18.7 BILLION in personal wealth in ONE YEAR (2012) and this year complains because she can't bring in foreign workers and pay them $3 an hour ($6,000 per year), and instead has to pay normal miners wages of $100,000+ per year. She's a repugnant human.

2013-07-17 05:24:38

Cybargs: Moderated; +2,285|6955

Jaekus wrote:
Cybargs wrote:
Jaekus wrote:

B-b-but right wing governments always preach how the wealthy "trickle down" their wealth to every one else.

Oh yeah, that's a myth.
i love how people like gina rhinehart complains about the minimum wage in this country

makes 600 dollars a second, bitches about a 15 dollar an hour min wage.

good on you for trickling down the wealth gina.
She made $18.7 BILLION in personal wealth in ONE YEAR (2012) and this year complains because she can't bring in foreign workers and pay them $3 an hour ($6,000 per year), and instead has to pay normal miners wages of $100,000+ per year. She's a repugnant human.

this country is funny. remember when the pokies industry went off their tits about the new restrictions coming in?

top lel

2013-07-17 05:26:27

Jaekus: I'm the matchstick that you'll never lose; +957|5417|Sydney

Uzique The Lesser wrote:
large corporations that obliterate local micro-economies and markets and suck all the money up to offshore bank accounts or CEO bonuses should not be allowed to pay someone dead-minimum wage. if they are generating so much wealth, why wouldn't they pay their workers a little more? it is pure greed, and nothing else. scandinavian societies operate much better when their CEO's are barely paid more than the lowest worker. the wealth disparity in those countries is much lower, and everyone seems happier and more content - less anxiety about status and having a nice house/car. seems like they have it right.

i read a story somewhere about an american company that makes ice-cream or biscuits or something, and everyone is literally paid the same. total cooperative model. workers on the production line packing up this food (whatever it is; i can't remember) make something like $100+ an hour).

edit: found it. guess i read about it when moore was publicizing his movie.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvarado_Street_Bakery

That reminds me of this story. Family coach company sells the business and surprises their workers with bonuses up to $100,000.

Small excerpt:

ELEANOR BELL: The corporation has been run by three generations of the Grenda family for over 66 years.

Ken Grenda's son, Scott, is the company's managing director. He says initially perplexed staff thought the bonus was a product of an accounting error.

SCOTT GRENDA: People were ringing banks and yeah there was all sorts of things, because our whole intention was to keep it quiet. We wanted this to be a surprise for the employees, so really our intention was to be something as a thank you gesture.

http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2012/s3420803.htm

2013-07-17 05:27:34

Jaekus: I'm the matchstick that you'll never lose; +957|5417|Sydney

Cybargs wrote:
Jaekus wrote:
Cybargs wrote:

i love how people like gina rhinehart complains about the minimum wage in this country

makes 600 dollars a second, bitches about a 15 dollar an hour min wage.

good on you for trickling down the wealth gina.
She made $18.7 BILLION in personal wealth in ONE YEAR (2012) and this year complains because she can't bring in foreign workers and pay them $3 an hour ($6,000 per year), and instead has to pay normal miners wages of $100,000+ per year. She's a repugnant human.
this country is funny. remember when the pokies industry went off their tits about the new restrictions coming in?

top lel

Highest margin of profit of any sector in the country and they complain when they're asked to give some back. They're still making millions and millions every day.

2013-07-17 05:28:14

Uzique The Lesser: Banned; +382|4493

companies that treat their lowest workers (i.e. those that shift all the actual units and do all the labour) with contempt of minimum wages are shit companies. must be a toxic environment to work in.

2013-07-17 05:31:31

Cybargs: Moderated; +2,285|6955

Uzique The Lesser wrote:
companies that treat their lowest workers (i.e. those that shift all the actual units and do all the labour) with contempt of minimum wages are shit companies. must be a toxic environment to work in.

kinda sad that most people working at walmart have no choice of employment really. its very telling of a society that people generally don't give much of a shit about treatment of employees since they still shop there. walmart does keep prices down a lot by outsourcing and paying min wages, yet their family is one of the richest in the world lawl.

i don't buy coffee from gloria jeans (cafe here in aus) coz they underpay people like crazy and do sneaky shit to fire people by slowly removing them from the roster. fuck business' like those.

2013-07-17 05:37:57

Uzique The Lesser: Banned; +382|4493

it's the paradox of choice - more exacerbated in america than any other country, because of its extremely lax approach to capitalism. if you give most people complete individual choice and freedom, they will seldom choose what is best for them. not in terms of entertainment/hobbies (a nation that spends on average 6 hours a day in front of the television); not in terms of consumption and what they do with their bodies (huge natural resources use per person, national obesity epidemic); and not in terms of long-term decision making or benefit (short-term deals and cost-cutting over all future longevity). walmart is a figure of this self-destructive 'freedom', in my opinion. everyone has the choice to shop between decently-priced local economies or local stores, or they have the choice to make some savings and go to walmart for a large weekly shop. they evidently normally choose the latter. the local economy collapses as everything gets outpriced by a walmart mega-store that increasingly seems to stock every product in existence under its warehouse-like roof (this is the same story in uk with tesco, again). the next thing you know, people are complaining the only local job opportunities they have in their hick-town is at the 10,000square metre walmart complex outside of town, in the sprawl. all the wealth leaves that community as people are no longer paying for their groceries from local families or stores, nor getting their clothes from local businesses.

i like france, in this regard. when you go to paris or a french city, every single few streets has their own pharmacy, tobacco shop, butcher, baker, confectionary shop, shoe-mender, café and bar, etc. the only places you'll find chain stores like a starbucks is in the metropolitan, international urban centres. everything is still kept in the local community. much better model - and much better quality produce, too.

2013-07-17 05:39:23

Cybargs: Moderated; +2,285|6955

everything is chain stores in america. everything. all restaurants are like arbys, tgi's all sorts of shit like that. rarely any individuality.

2013-07-17 05:47:10

Macbeth: Banned; +2,444|5824

Cybargs wrote:
everything is chain stores in america. everything. all restaurants are like arbys, tgi's all sorts of shit like that. rarely any individuality.

please stop talking about america topics as if you lived here

arbys is fast food btw

Last edited by Macbeth (2013-07-17 05:49:31)

2013-07-17 05:51:51

Uzique The Lesser: Banned; +382|4493

Macbeth wrote:
Cybargs wrote:
everything is chain stores in america. everything. all restaurants are like arbys, tgi's all sorts of shit like that. rarely any individuality.
please stop talking about america topics as if you lived here

arbys is fast food btw

have you been to europe? i have been to both america and europe several times. cybargs' characterisation is largely right. you have far more chain stores and corporate stores than individual, local enterprises. europe is the other way around (though quickly changing towards an american model, against protest).

2013-07-17 05:58:43

Cybargs: Moderated; +2,285|6955

Macbeth wrote:
Cybargs wrote:
everything is chain stores in america. everything. all restaurants are like arbys, tgi's all sorts of shit like that. rarely any individuality.
please stop talking about america topics as if you lived here

arbys is fast food btw

Been to enough places in the states to notice things.

er mah gerd you didnt live here you can't make observations.

Aussie is a mixed bunch. lots of non-franchised restaurants and cafes (starbucks failed hard here) but our grocery market is 80% owned by coles and woolworths. Kinda sucks though youre very limited to the choices at where you shop for food.

I try to buy from butchers as much as possible coz they get really really good meats usually.

2013-07-17 06:06:20

Macbeth: Banned; +2,444|5824

it isn't just observations. you keep trying to explain to people how things in america works as if you know what you are talking about. like the 2nd amendment stuff and how college admissions work. it is annoying since you are wrong more often than not.

2013-07-17 06:57:49

Extra Medium: THE UZI SLAYER; +79|4434|Oklahoma

Macbeth wrote:
it isn't just observations. you keep trying to explain to people how things in america works as if you know what you are talking about. like the 2nd amendment stuff and how college admissions work. it is annoying since you are wrong more often than not.

He is smarter than you, so I allow it.

Come to think of it, he's smarter than 99% of the people on this website.

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