For All Of You "Fight For $15" Minimum Wage Activists.....

Jan 1, the province of Ontario bumped min wage to $14 an hour, a 21% increase. With plans to increase to $15 next yr. Its not going well. One tim hortons franchisee estimates the cost to his bottom line in salary for his 35 emoloyees is just under $250,000 per year. Others have reduced workers hrs, reduced employer benefit contributions, stopped paid lunches and declared their locations "no tip" zones. 

That was the lefts plan all along. Get $15 an hour where workers are replaced by automation which puts the workers on welfare/food stamps thus creating a new Democratic voter. 

New McDonalds just opened in my town. You order on a kiosk and if you use a card to pay, there's no contact until your food comes. 

Businesses have been putting in automated checking systems for years. It's not a response to calls to up the min. wage. It's a clever way to f*ck workers and boost shareholder profit. Much like the fight against raising the min wage and the Trump tax bill. It has nothing to do with small businesses. Just making the rich richer. I make good money so I don't mind if my burger cost a little more so that the kid serving can get a few bucks more. Just like I don't mind paying more for goods made in America, unlike our Presidente.

I don't get why people are so against higher minimum wages. You people act like 15 bucks is a ton of money. Everyone deserves a living wage. Even if they are undereducated. Even if they a sh*t employees. Are they showing up on time? Are they performing the job?

Why even discuss percentages? The kid making $10 an hour gets a 20% raise to $12. The multi-millionaire paying a million in taxes gets a cut of 20% to 800K. Who made more REAL money? The minimum wage has been ignored for too many years and there is a lot of “catch up” to do. If it had been tied to a COLA the increments would have been so small no one would have felt it and it would not be an issue. Telling American workers they need to “compete” to bring jobs home is ridiculous. Are garment workers to match the 22 cents an hour they pay in Bangladesh? Competition with foreign sources is impossible if you try to lay all the burden on the American worker. 

Many Corporate Restaurants are cutting key positions = 

$15 is a little high for servers.  So you start paying full time servers 30k per yr, what would a business have to pay support staff, secretaries and the like? They at least have a skill set that should be reflected in their compensation. 

The recent increase on ontario is going to result in a net loss for the very people it was intended to help. Its not corporate greed its just business. I know a few people in the restaurant biz in nova scotia, they cant pay servers 30k per yr, just not feasible. 

Servers min wage went up from 10.10 to 12.20 on jan 1, with plans to raise it to 13.05 jan 1, 2019. A 30% incrase in wages in a yrs time. Small business owners cant take a hit like that.  

The servers do alright on tips, I was a server for a few yrs, made min wage and took home on avg 1k per week in tips. My pay was about 600 for two weeks. 

You pay the bottom end 15 per hr, what the h do you pay someone with a skill set?  How can a business owner justify opening during a stat holiday 15 hrly becomes 45 hrly during paid holidays. $340 for a days work slinging coffee?

 

Agree again Hockey... The moron that supports these ridiculous minimum wages don't think about the people that worked to get ahead. Lets say you work at a place for 3 years and are $2-$3 above minimum wage. Overnight your inexperienced co worker makes the same money you do. Don't this person deserve a raise too? Liberalism is a mental disorder, "If it feels good, it must be good", Oprah gives a speech and they're orgasmic (again). Remember what happened the last time someone gave a great speech - 8 years of an absentee unqualified empty suit spending $10T that the economy creeped along and the creation of ISIS.

Again, and maybe it's because i'm from California, but it amazes me how people talk about $15 like it's some kind of mint. "You wanna pay an entry level $15! What about all those people who worked their way up to $15?" 15 bucks is a living wage. Even in states with lower cost of living. So called conservatives are so keyed into their parties line that they start to believe the b*llshit. "You can't have higher wages because it kills small businesses! Boo Hoo!" These politicians do not care about small businesses. They do not care about the working class. Fighting raising the minimum wage is about saving money for huge corporations. Cutting health care is about saving money for huge corporations. The tax bill is about saving money for huge corporations and the super rich. No one is asking for hand outs for these people. They deserve a living wage. The growth of wages has not been commensurate with the growth of the economy and the growth of these corporations for decades. And yet profits continue to break records. Profits that don't trickle down. That don't grow the economy, that don't lead to higher wages. I for one don't mind paying a little more for my coffee so that the person pouring it gets a decent wage. I don't mind paying more for goods made in America. Meanwhile we have a President who tricked people into thinking he cares about the working class while using chinese steel in his construction projects, manufacturing goods overseas, hiring foreign workers, ect. It's a joke.

Any time the wages paid to workers is  controlled by the Govt and raises are  determined by Progressives in their self-congradulatory splendor then these are just inflationary without a raise in output and are nothing more then a Tax on Employment.

Living wage or no living wage, the rate of wsge growth has not been commensurate with the rate of growth of the economy for quite a while. Meanwhile corporations are raking in record profits. That money does not lead to more jobs. It does not stimulate the economy. Everyone's job should pay them more. I just don't mind starting with those who are lowest paid. Even if they are idiots who should be attempting to pull themselves up rather than languishing in low paying jobs. Someone has to pour salt on the french fries and bag the groceries.

It is sometimes simply a matter of perspective I guess.  The median income adjusted for inflation is at a record high.  The upper parts are higher.  The lower brackets are lower.  But the upper brackets are actually falling and the lower ones are rising much quicker now.  Which should make the Liberals real happy.  It tends to seem like the lower end is coming up and the upper end is coming down.  But it is hard to bring the lower ones up to a living wage. Because you are artificially inflating it.  It is just not meant for folks to be well off working a poor job.  

Raider and the others are exactly right.   Artificially raising the wage rate will have very little benefit and will basically just place inflationary pressure on prices.  If the minimum skilled workers wages are raised then the employer has to raise wages for the other employees and increase prices on customers.   It's also laughable to compare a15 an hour standard in cali and ny to fly over areas.   There are better ways to address any increase in the gap between rich and poor (i.e. Don't know the specific metrics u r using Raider)

Doom and gloom predictions about minimum wage on job losses and inflation aren't always supported by evidence.  National employment law project found no correlation between minimum wage increases and lower employment because of increased productivity and consumer spending in the long term.  

Impact of minimum wage legislation is overrated.  Only 1% of workers earn minimum wage according to Bureau of labor statistics.  For decades, wages have failed to keep up with inflation.  Wage increases are usually small and gradually spread over years to allow business to adapt in cities with strong economy and far higher average wage.  For example, Seattle continues to thrive.

Contrary to sterotype of teenager living at home, 70% of minimum age workers are over 19 years of age.   According to Economic policy institute, over 600 American economists urge government to raise minimum wage because it would help boost US economy.

However unfair to punish only industries with low wage workers. Better alternatives that benefit a broader population in poverty include tax credits, wage subsidies and collective bargaining.