Louisville Council Raises Minimum Wage to $9 an Hour

Supporters of the minimum wage increase at the Louisville Metro Council meeting.

Louisville last week became the first city in the South to raise its minimum wage, settling on $9 an hour after much debate and compromise. The 16-9 vote by the Louisville Metro Council was along party lines, with all Democrats voting in favor of the increase and Republicans opposing.

The original ordinance, and the one advocated by the Louisville Minimum Wage Coalition, called for a $10.10 an hour minimum wage. But Mayor Greg Fischer threatened a veto, claiming such an increase would result in job loss, a claim not supported by the evidence.

Minimum wage workers in Jefferson County will see a raise to $9 an hour during a period of three years. After 2017, the minimum wage will be indexed to inflation.

Supporters of the ordinance packed the Metro Council chambers. Amid the supporters were many AFSCME members, including Joshua Wysor, a horticultural park worker for Jefferson County who said he had personal reasons for wanting to come to Metro Council and an increased minimum wage.

“When I was in college, I worked a lot of different jobs that paid minimum wage. I worked as a deli clerk, a waiter, among other jobs. I didn’t even get to $10 an hour until a family friend pulled some strings. I would make it up to a higher wage, but every time I had to switch jobs it seemed I would go back down to $8 an hour again. If that can happen to me as an educated, articulate person, what will happen to folks who are not as fortunate as I am?”

While Wysor thinks raising the wage is an important step in the right direction, he knows this ordinance is the just the first step. Louisville needs a comprehensive agenda for working families.

“This is really just a Hail Mary for the working poor,” Wysor said. “We won’t be a world-class city until we follow other cities like Portland, Oregon, which adopted truly living wages.”

Christie is ‘tired of hearing about the minimum wage’

Poor Chris Christie. The embattled Republican governor realizes there are millions of Americans struggling to get by, working for a minimum wage that hasn’t budged in far too long, and he’s tired – not of so many working for so little, but rather, or hearing about these workers’ plight.

In a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce this week, the New Jersey governor told the business lobby:

“I gotta tell you the truth: I’m tired of hearing about the minimum wage. I really am. 

“I don’t think there’s a mother or father sitting around a kitchen table in America tonight who are saying, ‘You know, honey, if our son or daughter could just make a higher minimum wage, my God, all of our dreams would be realized.’”

I see. Some leaders get tired of seeing people struggle. Other leaders get tired of hearing about those who are struggling, and just wish the complaints would go away. In Chris Christie’s world, the purchasing power of $7.25 an hour may continue to drop, and millions of hard-working Americans are effectively working for poverty wages, but he just wishes they’d stop bothering him.

For context, it’s probably worth noting that the governor of New Jersey makes $175,000 a year – the fourth highest salary of any state chief executive in the nation.

Also note the part of his comments related to children: as if the minimum wage is primarily for young people.

Whether Christie is tired of hearing the truth or not, the fact remains that the vast majority of Americans who work for the minimum wage are over the age of 20. About half of them work full time.

It’s not about creating economic conditions in which “all of their dreams would be realized”; it’s about creating economic opportunities for those who are struggling to keep their heads above water and combatting systemic poverty.

Of course, there’s a reason this might be a sensitive subject for the Garden State governor.

Christie vetoed a bill in 2013 that raised the state’s minimum wage to $8.50 an hour, which was “too much, too soon,” in his words. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. New Jersey voters later approved a ballot initiative raising the state’s minimum wage to $8.25 an hour. That rate took effect in January.

No wonder Christie is tired of hearing about this: he’s on the wrong side and being reminded of this is apparently annoying.

But if the governor finds it irritating to hear about Americans working for poverty wages, he should perhaps try to imagine how irritating it is for those who actually get paid $7.25 an hour.

Walker: Minimum Wage Serves No Purpose

“Well, I’m not going to repeal it, but I don’t think it serves a purpose,” Gov. Scott Walker said of the minimum wage during a meeting with the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel editorial board.

After avoiding the question in his first debate with Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke, Gov. Scott Walker finally offered an answer during a live broadcast of his sit-down with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

“What is your position on the minimum wage?” asked columnist Dan Bice. “Should we have it?”

“Well, I’m not going to repeal it, but I don’t think it serves a purpose,” Walker responded.

While the facts paint a clear picture that raising the minimum wage would boost earnings for 16 million people and bring 900,000 Americans out of poverty, Walker once again stands against middle-class values and on the wrong side of history.

According to a poll conducted by the Marquette University Law School, 59 percent of Wisconsinites support increasing the minimum wage.

Walker’s latest flub comes only days after his first debate with challenger Mary Burke during which, when asked about Wisconsin’s lack of job growth compared to the rest of the Midwest, Walker responded that the state “doesn’t have a jobs problem, we have a work problem.”

Agree to disagree, Governor. You might think sitting last in the Midwest for job growth is acceptable, but to the people of Wisconsin, last in the Midwest and 35th in the nation isn’t cutting it.

Chipotle Workers Quit, Shut Down Store, Because That Job Sucks

EXPAND

A Chipotle restaurant in State College, PA, near Penn State University, has closed unexpectedly, because the workers were like, "fuck this job."

The sign pictured above (via the Daily Collegian) was taped on the door of the Chipotle today. If you don't want to take the time to read it all let me summarize its main points for you in blog aggregation fashion: "Fuck this job, this job sucks, this job doesn't pay shit" (the sign in question is actually far more eloquent than this).

Pretty cool wildcat walkout overall and I am being serious about that. Shout out to some fed up Chipotle workers who keep it hardcore.

The Chipotle has reportedly reopened and is once again serving them burritos. To support low-paid employees of Chipotle and other fast food outlets, you can join the movement for improved fast food wages, or just sit around talking about supporting it while you eat your Chipotle burrito ("The American Special").

How One Small Business is Debunking Nearly Every Lie Republicans Tell About Raising the Minimum Wage

Every single time a push to raise the minimum wage gets going, the American people are subjected to the same old propaganda from Republicans. It’s bad for job creation, hurts small businesses, stifles growth, causes businesses to actually cut jobs – you know, the usual nonsense that never happens.

And the way I look at it is if a business can’t afford to pay its employees a decent wage (at least enough to survive on) then they’re probably not a sustainable business to start with – or so poorly run that they can’t prioritize spending properly.

Well, a local Minnesota business is essentially debunking nearly every talking point Republicans use against raising the minimum wage.

Before Minnesota passed a law raising the minimum wage to $9.50 by 2016, Punch Pizza decided to make the bold move to raise their minimum wage to $10 per hour. This represented a $2.5 million investment over a decade for the company.

Co-owner of Punch Pizza John Puckett is also two weeks from opening store number nine in the state, just six months after he made that $2.5 million investment by raising employee wages.

“We are hiring 50 new people and it’s a million dollar investment. We’ve seen a big jump in sales and I think part of that is because people feel connected to the investment we are making,” Puckett said.

“Most importantly, we have a stack of applications at each store for people who want to work at Punch Pizza,” Puckett said.

Also just applying a little common sense I would say that when more people are wanting to work for a particular company because that business offers better wages, that company then has the ability to hire better employees.

Puckett might also consider the fact that employees who are well paid tend to be more productive. They work harder, they’re more reliable, call in sick less and are usually more loyal.

And all of that tends to result in happier customers – which usually translates into an increase in revenue and repeat business.

So here we have a small business deciding to raise its wages, leading to more loyal and happier employees. This has also brought about an increase in sales, which has resulted in the ability for the company to expand and grow.

There goes that whole right-wing rhetoric about “raising the minimum wage punishes small businesses, hurts growth and eliminates jobs.”

But, as with most things, the typical conservative belief on an issue is based more off of whatever Fox News tells them to believe rather than actual facts or reality.

Iowa’s Ernst sees federal minimum-wage law as ‘ridiculous’

Just last week, National Journal ran a piece noting that some Republican officials have started to “worry” about Joni Ernst, their party’s U.S. Senate candidate in Iowa. Her record of extremist positions and far-right comments “could sink Ernst’s campaign,” the piece noted.

Take the minimum wage, for example.

Ernst raised eyebrows last week when the very conservative state senator said a $7.25 minimum wage is “a great starter wage for many high school students.” Ernst was apparently unaware of the fact that most Americans who work for the minimum wage are adults.

Yesterday, Ernst went further, arguing the federal minimum should be $0 and states should set their own.

”The minimum wage is a safety net. For the federal government to set the minimum wage for all 50 states is ridiculous,” Ernst said Monday.

“The standard of living in Iowa is different than it is in New York or California or Texas. One size does not fit all,” she said.

Ernst may not realize this, but the minimum wage varies by state. The federal government establishes a floor which states may not drop below, but Congress does not “set the minimum wage for all 50 states.”

Iowa may not have raised its minimum above $7.25, but plenty of other states have. Washington established one minimum standard, but states with higher living costs are welcome to raise their minimum wage to whatever they want.

It’s not clear what part of this Ernst considers “ridiculous.”

And speaking of Ernst, the Washington Post recently ran a piece noting that some Ernst critics are comparing the far-right Iowan to Sarah Palin. Jay Newton-Small isn’t buying the comparison.

All primary candidates say things they inevitably regret in the General Election and Ernst is no exception. Since the General Election has begun, videos of Ernst talking about Agenda 21, a Glenn Beck conspiracy theory about the United Nations’ superseding U.S. laws, statesnullifying federal laws and impeaching Obama have surfaced. Ernst has sincebackpedaled from all of these statements, saying the impeachment talk, in particular, was taken out of context, arguing that she was answering a hypothetical question.

This strikes me as a very generous interpretation of recent developments. Ernst positioned herself as one of the most far-right statewide candidates in the country this year, but now that she’s positioning herself for the general election in a swing state, Ernst has “backpedaled” for some (but not all) of her extremist positions.

Newton-Small suggests the public should accept this backpedaling at face value – if Ernst claims she no longer stands by some of her radical comments, perhaps she’s being sincere about her positions and merely said extremist things before in order to appeal to the Iowa GOP’s right-wing base for the primary.

Or, alternatively, Ernst was being sincere before about her extremist positions and is simply backpedaling now to appeal to the Iowa mainstream for the general election.

That’s the tricky thing about watching candidates who shift their posture – it’s hard to say for sure which is the real deal.

The fact remains that Ernst has said she would ban abortions and many forms of birth control; she would privatize Social Security; she would back an anti-gay amendment to the Constitution; she’s open to impeaching President Obama for unknown reasons; and she believes there’s secret information that Saddam Hussein really did have weapons of mass destruction.

Ernst has also suggest states can nullify federal laws they don’t like; the war in Iraq shouldn’t have ended; people on Medicaid “have no personal responsibility for their health”; and now the federal minimum wage is “ridiculous.”

Under the circumstances, it seem Republican leaders have reason to “worry.”

McDonald’s Is Feeling The Heat, Y’all! How About We Kick It Up A Notch?

Over the last year, we have posted several things about McDonald's — how it treats and pays its workers, some of its rather bizarre PR and social media schemes that totally backfired, and more. It turns out the company is feeling the pressure. In a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing, it admitted that “the long-term trend toward higher wages and social expenses ... which may intensify with increasing public focus on matters of income inequality” may affect future profits (you know, the ones paying its last CEO almost $9 million ... do you want fries with that?).

It also listed “the impact of campaigns by labor organizations and activists, including through the use of social media and other mobile communications and applications.”

And it's not just McDonald's. Here are a few more recent victories:

• A group of health care workers in L.A. is getting a raise to $15/hour.
• Workers at and near SeaTac Airport in Washington state won a referendum vote to raise the minimum wage to $15/hour, as well as some paid sick time.
• NYC airport workers are moving up to $10.10/hour.
• The Gap is raising starting wages to $10 by next year.
• Seattle McDonald's owners and operators say they're discussing raising minimum wages at their restaurants and are not fighting wage hikes.

What does it mean?

We're winning, that's what. With every click, every share, and every picket sign outside a fast-food joint, we're changing things. As a rep from one of the organizations involved, Low Pay Is Not OK, told us recently: "When we're taking on some of the largest corporations in the world, we need a huge megaphone to amplify these fast-food and low-wage workers' demands for $15 an hour and the right to form a union without interference. Upworthy has played a crucial role in spreading workers' stories as well as some of our videos and graphics that show how McDonald's is out of touch with its workers. Today is proof of the impact we're having together."

Here are some of the things we've posted that generated a lot of interest and attention.

• The young lady who stood up to the president of McDonald's at a shareholder meeting. (Via Fight for 15.)
• The McDonald's help line that told an employee to go on food stamps. (Via Low Pay Is Not OK.)
• The McDonald's "living on next to nothing" budget calculator. (Via Low Pay Is Not OK.)
• One Michigan fast-food restaurant that is paying employees double the minimum wage. (The restaurant is Moo Cluck Moo.)
• A young lady who is active in the struggle talks to Stephen Colbert. (Hat tip toFast Food Forward.)

Subway Owner Invents Evil Scheme to Screw Workers Out of Pay!

You know what hard-working minimum wage employees need? No, it’s not unions to protect them from shady business practices and protect their rights–that’d be silly. They need to be paid less money–and a Subway franchise in Washington D.C. is leading the charge.

Erwin Moya, an employee of the Subway franchise, filed a lawsuit in federal court on Wednesday alleging that his employer systematically shortchanged him for two years ending in June. Moya’s employer created fictional employees in order to keep Moya below 40 hours a week officially while still working him 70 hours on average.

“To hide Plaintiff’s very high number of hours worked per week, Defendant regularly paid Plaintiff about half of his wages under his name and about half under a fictional employee name, typically, Ever Ventura,” the complaint states.

“Sometimes during Plaintiff’s employ, Defendant took it one step further to attempt to hide [minimum wage and overtime] violations by paying Plaintiff under the payroll of another Subway owned by Defendant or its agents or owners,” the complaint continues.

On top of that, Moya was paid $7.25 per hour–less than the minimum wage that was in effect in D.C. while he was employed. As if that wasn’t enough, he was also shorted 45 hours’ worth of pay shortly before his employment ended.

The lawsuit can be found here.

Susana Martinez Makes List of Nation’s Most Corrupt Governors

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) released its list of the Worst Governors in America today. New Mexico’s Susana Martinez, fresh off of vetoing a minimum wage increase without explaining why, makes the list.

CREW explains her inclusion:

(1) using state resources for political purposes; (2) investigations into the awarding of a state contract to a large campaign donor; (3) using private e-mail for public business; (4) improperly withholding public records; and (5) improperly interfering with the labor relations board.

Here are some highlights:

In December 2011, The Downs at Albuquerque won a 25-year state lease worth over a billion dollars. In the previous year and a half, donors connected to the Downs contributed $75,000 to Gov. Martinez’s gubernatorial campaign and another $10,000 to Susana PAC. The FBI and other state agencies appear to be investigating.

In 2012, one of Gov. Martinez’s campaign advisors and manager of Susana PAC sought a list of non-union teachers and their email addresses so that they could counter union information about the governor’s proposed education reforms. The state Attorney General’s office is investigating possible violations of state ethics laws.

Gov. Martinez denied to release documents to the Associated Press on many occasions, including records regarding expenses connected to a Louisiana alligator hunting trip (!) taken by the governor’s husband. Turns out the trip was taken in a state-owned vehicle.

In 2011, Gov. Martinez waged a highly inappropriate campaign to fire John Boyd, executive director of the state collective bargaining board, which oversees contracts between unions and state agencies. Ultimately, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled that Boyd had to be reinstated. However, at the next available opportunity, Gov. Martinez replaced Boyd with someone she felt would be more favorable.

And so on.

New Mexico’s working families are still waiting for an explanation for why Gov. Martinez vetoed a minimum wage increase passed by both houses of the legislature, or the information about the veto was scrubbed from her official (publicly-funded) website.

“Sadly this comes as no surprise,” said Working America Regional Director Chelsey Evans, “but we’re glad the rest of the country is clued in to the damage Susana Martinez is doing for working people here in New Mexico.”

Read the full report.

Ted Strickland Tried To Live On The Minimum Wage For A Week, Ran Out Of Baloney

Ted Strickland tried to live on the minimum wage for a week, and it didn't go so well.

"I didn’t make it," the former Democratic governor of Ohio wrote in Politico Magazine.

For his "Live The Wage" challenge Strickland allotted himself $77 for food, transportation and other basics. The amount is supposed to be what's left over after housing and taxes for somebody who earns the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, or $290 for a 40-hour workweek.

Strickland tried to keep his expenses down but said he'd run out of cash by Thursday.

"For the week, I walked as much as I possibly could to avoid paying for transportation, skipped meals to save money -- and I ate much smaller and less healthful meals when I did eat," Strickland wrote. "Because fresh fruits and vegetables are hard to find at a price within a minimum wage budget, I turned to bread, peanut butter, bananas and bologna more than anything else."

Strickland performed the stunt to draw attention to Democratic efforts to raise the federal minimum wage, which hasn't had a boost in five years. Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D) has also signed up for the challenge to raise attention for a November ballot initiative.

Last year many Democrats undertook the "Food Stamp Challenge," limiting their food budgets to what a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipient gets for a week, to dramatize their opposition to benefit cuts.

Strickland, who currently works as president of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, acknowledged that he can't truly immerse himself in the world of the working poor.

"I have an apartment here in Washington and a good job," Strickland writes. "I know I’ll never be able to truly walk in the shoes of a minimum wage worker, but experiencing just some of the decisions this income requires on a daily basis is enough to understand that we need to do better for these hardworking families. It’s un-American that you can work and work and work and not get out of poverty."

A Three Dollar Increase....

Mary Poppins Quits with Kristen Bell from Funny Or Die

One Year Later, Here's What San Jose Looks Like After Raising the Minimum Wage

One year ago, San Jose, Calif., raised its minimum wage to $10 an hour. From the moment an increase was first discussed, opponents quickly painted a grim scenario. San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed (D) said that a higher minimum posed "the biggest threat" of any issue to the city's economic development.

Specifically, a chamber of commerce-backed memo warned that raising the minimum wage would:

1) Cost at least $600,000 in costs just to enforce the law and cover the increased bureaucracy. 

2) Force businesses to slash working hours.

3) Force 30% of employers and 43% of those in charge of hiring minimum-wage workers to lay off employees.

3) Prevent new businesses from opening.

4) Lead to aggressive government overreach, claiming that the city would "investigate financial records of private businesses and individuals" and allow "'private enforcement' lawsuits."

5) Kill jobs left and right and cause hiring freezes.

"Our opponents said it was going to destroy Silicon Valley," said Prof. Scott Myers-Lipton of San Jose State University. But with a 60% majority in favor, Measure D was passed in 2012 and the new wage went into effect on March 11, 2013. 

And guess what happened?

The Burger Chain That Pays $10 An Hour With Benefits

Shake Shack, a burger chain with locations in Florida, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C. as well as international locations in the Middle East, Russia, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, pays starting workers $9.50 an hour outside of New York City and $10 an hour for New Yorkers, CEO Randy Garutti told ThinkProgress. It also offers full-time employees health, dental, vision, retirement, and disability benefits plus paid time off.

But on average, workers get $10.70 an hour thanks to a program it calls Shack Bucks. Every month, it gives employees a percentage of the company’s top-line sales. “It’s sort of immediate revenue sharing, not a long-term program,” he noted.

The company pays about 70 percent of employees’ health care premiums and also matches contributions to their 401(k)s. He added that he is “more excited” than all of these perks about how many employees move up into manager roles. “There are a lot of people who started making $9 an hour and are now general managers in our restaurants making very good money,” he said. The owners started in fine dining and brought the compensation practices from those restaurants into its original burger and hot dog stand.

When asked if these practices have come with concrete benefits for the company itself, he responded, “Absolutely,” adding, “Our turnover is lower, we can hire the best, they stay longer, and we can grow them into management.” And it pays off for customers. “If the team feels taken care of, then they’ll go out and take care of the guests.”

And he thinks other business owners in the fast food industry can take this approach and see similar results. “I know they can,” he said. “Because I just know that it works.”

And Shake Shack isn’t the only eatery taking this approach to its workforce. Michigan’s Moo Cluck Moo pays entry-level workers $15 an hour, a move its owners say leads to less turnover, better customer service, and more skilled employees. In-N-Out, a West Coast burger chain, pays $10.50 an hour for entry-level employees. Outside of the burger world, Boston-based burrito chain Boloco pays starting workers anywhere from $9 to $11 an hour, which the owner says increases loyalty and productivity and, in turn, profitability.

In light of the conversation to raise the minimum wage, others have decided to join in. Two pizza companies in St. Louis will soon pay at least $10.10 an hour. It has also spread outside of the food industry: clothing retailer The Gap recently announced it will also raise its lowest wage to $10.

But the fast food industry is notorious for low pay, where workers make so little that they consume $243 billion in public benefits each year just to get by. And while some executives argue that these jobs are just a starting place for teens earning extra cash, the reality is that the majority of workers are well out of their teenage years. Meanwhile, the average low-wage worker brings in half his or her family’s income, while more than a third of fast food workers are supporting children.

A Senator Asks A Panel Of Experts To Defend Walmart. It Gets Awkward.

Hey you guys! Guys! OK, I have a new idea. Kind of radical, but just hear me out: What if we don’t pay Walmart’s employees ... but Walmart pays them instead?

Well, what do you think? Still not sure? Listen to the smart man giving his testimony at 4:50. 

Minimum Wage Champs & Chumps: NM Senate passes Minimum Wage Hike 24-17

The New Mexico Senate passed SJR13, a Constitutional amendment raising and indexing New Mexico’s minimum wage.

The amendment, if it passes the House, places the question on the November 2014 ballot for voters to decide if the state should index the state’s minimum wage providing an effective raise of about $1 and tying the raise to the cost of living going forward.

In a surprise vote, Democratic Senator Clemente Sanchez joined the Democratic majority to help pass the measure 24-17.  Sen. C. Sanchez previously voted against endorsing the measure in the Senate Rules Committee.   He later voted to move the measure forward without recommendation.

Clemente Sanchez provided the key 22nd vote.  (Constitutional amendments require a majority vote of those elected to pass).

Unsurprisingly, Senator John Arthur Smith voted with Republicans against the bill.

After initially passing on the vote, Democratic Senators Mary Kay Papen and George Munoz also voted for the bill providing the 23rd and 24th votes.

The measure now moves to the House where 36 votes are required.  Legislative watchers believe there are currently 34 votes to pass with two members, Rep. E. Chavez and Rep. P. Archuleta, absent for illness. Democratic Rep. Sandra Jeff is expected to vote with Republicans against the measure.

Women Prepare Their Revenge for Mitch McConnell Voting Against the Minimum Wage 15 Times

Why do Kentucky women hold Mitch McConnell in such contempt? His favorables with them are a negative 26 percent, and his Democratic opponent Alison Lundergan Grimes leads him with women by 12 points, according to a recent independent Bluegrass Poll. 

Perhaps it’s in the policy. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Voted Against Paycheck Fairness Act twice. He voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Act, calling it a “special interest vote.” McConnell and Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic bill calling for equal pay in the workplace. 

McConnell voted against raising the minimum wage 15 times, when over 250,000 Kentucky women would benefit from an increase in the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, according to a new report from the National Women’s Law Center. They report that 7 in 10 minimum wage workers are women working long hours to provide for their families in Kentucky. 

Alison Lundergan Grimes responded to the report by vowing that the first thing she would do when elected is voting to increase the minimum wage, “Hardworking women across the Commonwealth rely on the minimum wage to put gas in the car, food on the table and roofs over their children’s heads. Unfortunately, the current minimum wage is simply not enough to make ends meet. Senator McConnell says increasing the minimum wage is the last thing he’d do, even voting over 15 times against giving hardworking Kentuckians a raise. When elected as Kentucky’s first female Senator, it will be the first thing I do.”

Push for minimum wage hike led by localities, Democrats

States and municipalities across the country are leading a localized push to raise the minimum wage, driven largely by Democrats, who see an opening to appeal to working-class Americans at a time of growing inequity.

Efforts in Congress to raise the national minimum wage above $7.25 an hour have stalled. But numerous local governments — including those of Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, and the District — are forging ahead, in some cases voting to dramatically increase the pay of low-wage workers.

The efforts, while supported by many unions, threaten to create a patchwork of wage rates that could mean workers in some areas will be entitled to vastly less than those working similar jobs nearby. The campaigns reach from coast to coast.
“Congress can’t do anything right now, and even if they could, they wouldn’t even come close to the level that various cities and states around the country are looking at,” said Phil Mendelson, the Democratic chairman of the D.C. Council, which is expected to take an initial vote Tuesday setting the city’s minimum wage at $11.50 an hour by 2016.
The county councils in Montgomery and Prince George’s voted this week to reach $11.50 — higher than any rate in effect in the United States — by 2017. The coordinated effort emerged in recent months after local officials decided they could not wait for Congress or state legislators.
As minimum wage fights have gone increasingly local, Democrats have led the charge, working to define themselves as the party of blue-collar workers while casting Republicans as defenders of corporations and big business.
Backing minimum wage increases, even in otherwise conservative states, sharpens that definition, they believe. Minimum wage increases have broad public support, and income inequality issues have touched a nerve in many places.
“When the pope starts criticizing trickle-down economics, you know the gulf between rich and poor has become too much to ignore,” said Tom Lindenfeld, a Democratic consultant with close ties to labor unions.
Recent initiatives
President Obama has called for an increase in the national rate, mentioning it in his most recent State of the Union address and recently signing on to a proposal from congressional Democrats to set a $10.10 hourly rate. But congressional Republicans have opposed any increase, saying it would hurt employers and curtail job growth.
“When you raise the price of employment, guess what happens? You get less of it,” House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said in February.
Many states long ago set their rates slightly above the federal minimum, and a handful of cities — notably San Francisco and Santa Fe, N.M. — joined them. The District has set its minimum wage at $1 above the federal standard since 1993. But the recent push is distinguished by the number of jurisdictions involved and the magnitude of the increases proposed.
This year, a group of unions, led by the Service Employees International Union, spurred efforts to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour for airline and restaurant employees at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, just south of Seattle. Voters in 2012 decided to increase the minimum wage in Albuquerque to $8.50, and have yearly cost-of-living bumps, beginning this year. 

 

More

He’s Worked At Burger King For 8 Years. Just Guess How Much He Makes.

In recent months, fast-food workers across the country have begun a series of one-day strikes for sorely needed pay raises, workplace improvements, and the right to unionize. 

As Terrance tells his personal story, it's really important to remember that he's one of millions in America who serve your fries — folks who are just asking to be able to feed their families in return. 

Go Bernie! Go!

Stephen Colbert on McDonald’s and the minimum wage

Stephen Colbert does a brilliant take on McDonald’s new Web site that purports to help employees budget their limited income.

“McDonald’s agrees with me. Instead of raising salaries, they’re giving their workers something more valuable: a Web site.”

For example, McDonald’s budget journal assumed that employees spend zero on heating, and only $20 a month on health insurance, when McDonald’s smallest health insurance lan is nearly $60 a month.

 The journal has now been updated to include some heating costs.  But, as Colbert notes, it still assumes that you have a second job.

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