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Workers in $15 minimum wage areas asking for less hours to retain welfare
2015 Jul 23, 6:35am 1,006 views 2 comments
by zzyzzx follow (9)
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marcus
2015 Jul 23, 12:23pm
Excellent argument. You gotta appreciate the logic here.
1) Wages are way too low to support peoples living costs. So workers get public aid to supplement their income (also known as covert welfare (socialist aid) for the employers)
2) People fight for higher wages, and when the first step is taken to bring working peoples wages in line with wages of 50 years ago, the right wing argument is that some workers, presumably on the border of qualifying for aid, ask for fewer hours.
So let me see if I've got this straight. Employers that benefit from the supposedly commie pinko public aid that enables them to radically underpay workers, are now complaining that things are moving in the direction of less public aid going to workers, because of higher pay to workers. What is their reasoning ? Citing examples of workers that are better off with lower hours given the $15/hour pay.
To anyone smart enough to see both sides of this, it looks like employers are complaining about the fact that their welfare is being cut back.
Fox "News" strikes again.
that enables them to radically underpay workers
They are famous for that, they offload their labor costs on their customer via the "custom" of tips. If they were to pay the employees more out of their own pocket, they would probably yell that prices would go up. Somehow in england, austria, portugal and spain the prices for comparable things are lower in restaurants compared to here despite the fact that tipping is not all that common and even the VAT is baked in.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/07/22/seattle-sees-fallout-from-15-minimum-wage-as-other-cities-follow-suit/
Some workers are asking their bosses for fewer hours as their wages rise – in a bid to keep overall income down so they don't lose public subsidies for things like food, child care and rent.
Full Life Care, a home nursing nonprofit, told KIRO-TV in Seattle that several workers want to work less.
“If they cut down their hours to stay on those subsidies because the $15 per hour minimum wage didn't actually help get them out of poverty, all you've done is put a burden on the business and given false hope to a lot of people,” said Jason Rantz, host of the Jason Rantz show on 97.3 KIRO-FM.
the state's welfare caseload has dropped very little since the higher wage phase began in Seattle in April. In March 130,851 people were enrolled in the Basic Food program. In April, the caseload dropped to 130,376.
At the same time, prices appear to be going up on just about everything.
Some restaurants have tacked on a 15 percent surcharge to cover the higher wages. And some managers are no longer encouraging customers to tip, leading to a redistribution of income. Workers in the back of the kitchen, such as dishwashers and cooks, are getting paid more, but servers who rely on tips are seeing a pay cut.
Some long-time Seattle restaurants have closed altogether,
Comix Experience, a small book store in downtown San Francisco, has begun selling graphic novel club subscriptions in order to meet payroll. The owner, Brian Hibbs, admits members are not getting all that much for their $25 per month dues, but their “donation” is keeping him in business.
“I was looking at potentially having to close the store down and then how would I make my living?” Hibbs asked.
To date, he's sold 228 subscriptions. He says he needs 334 to reach his goal of the $80,000 income required to cover higher labor costs. He doesn't blame San Francisco voters for approving the $15 minimum wage, but he doesn't think they had all the information needed to make a good decision.