City Councilor Nadeem Mazen is sponsoring a petition to set a $15 minimum wage in Cambridge.
This minimum wage is fair and reflective of the cost of living within Cambridge. It will would provide enough income for a full-time worker to meet all of the typical expenses of living in this city of ours.
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Seriously?
By bohemka
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 3:46pm
The idiom I used was "tar with the same brush." And you're snidely suggesting I pick up a copy of Strunk & White? Physician, heal thyself.
Yeah, seriously.
By lbb
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 4:22pm
Tar with the same brush: to characterize with the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly. That doesn't apply to a simple, value-neutral observation about the makeup of businesses in one neighborhood.
Please stop
By bohemka
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 10:53pm
This is a proposed economic measure that would impact every business in the city of Cambridge — not just Harvard Square.
To take a mockingly sarcastic corporate-strong "observation about the makeup of businesses in one neighborhood" and suggest that those are the conditions throughout the entire city is the very definition of tarring with the same brush.
I do not understand why you are persisting with this.
I hope
By anon
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 8:50pm
your intern reads this.
Someone just got a raise.
Report. Compensation Advisory Board. City of Boston.
By theszak
Fri, 08/21/2015 - 3:27am
Scroll to [b]PDF page 37-164[/b] or so for the City of Boston Compensation Advisory Board Report
after clicking on... Packet
for Regular City Council Meeting 8/12/2015
http://www.cityofboston.gov/cityclerk/citycouncil/...
Hmmm
By anon
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 8:45am
Better load up on irobot stock - it's only a matter of time before they come up with something much more economical than $15/hour burgerflipper/plasticorpaperer/floorsweeper/etc.
Oh yes, of course
By lbb
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 9:53am
...because the minimum wage jobs of Cambridge are such a devastating economic force that some Sloan School punks are going to run right out to robotize it, and all these small business people that everyone's clutching their pearls about who can't afford $15 minimum wage will have no problem affording their product. Hold your breath for that one.
$25,000
By anon
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 12:00pm
[b]One-time[/b] cost burger-flipping robot makes more sense than a $32,000 (plus taxes/benefits/etc) [b]per year[/b] burger flipper, even to a small business barely making ends meet.
A note on typography
By lbb
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 4:23pm
Bold type does not a citation make. Please provide references to the $25,000 one-time-and-no-recurring-costs robot that a non-standardized small business can buy and fully replace the work done by a human being.
A note
By Anon
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 7:26pm
On bleedingheartedness (and most likely a nice chunky trust fund) - we already have $200 robot vacuums/floor washers. It wouldn't cost that much to beef them up for heavy commercial use, and all those $15/hour wax on/wax off folks are going bye bye. As for burger flipping, all you need is a timer and a couple motors, and a place to bolt it onto a grill - it can probably be made for $2,500, not $25,000.
Artful dodger, you!
By lbb
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 9:57pm
Stop making stupid assumptions about people. You just make yourself look like an idiot.
Yes, I've heard of roombas too. You have come up with examples of automation that can take over some human tasks. You have not come up with an example of a robot that can replace a human. Or do you really think that people walk into McDonald's, assume the position by the grill, and do absolutely nothing but "flip burgers" for eight hours straight?
Civility is a lost art on the internet.
By Rick C
Wed, 08/19/2015 - 1:28pm
You said " Sloan School punks "
and then you said ,"Stop making stupid assumptions about people. You just make yourself look like an idiot."
So I assume you know all these people personally and they would agree that they are punks?
Ha!
By Kaz
Wed, 08/19/2015 - 12:21pm
I work in software. I have lots of engineering friends.
If you think a burger-flipping robot is a "one-time" cost, then knock yourself out opening the first robot-only burger joint.
If you think my services or my engineering friends' services are less than $32k/yr, draw up the contract...I don't subscribe to the Sunday paper any more, so I'm fresh out of funnies to read.
Well, that's not entirely a bad thing.
By anon
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 1:59pm
In a perfect world, nobody would do menial labor ever. It's unpleasant, (or even if you don't mind the work it's a bit dull) so having machines that don't experience such displeasure do it instead is a real improvement. Since most people need to work for a living we're in an awkward position where people need to hold onto their terrible jobs in order to not starve, but in the long run, the goal should be automate unpleasant work and let people do what they enjoy.
Raising the minimum wage alone doesn't really address the whole "need to work to live" problem, but as long as most people keep their jobs or find other jobs we can nudge things in that direction.
Great for surrounding communities
By Lunchbox
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 9:14am
I for one welcome this change. Think of all the businesses that will flee Cambridge to Boston, Somerville, etc.
Of course they will...not.
By lbb
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 9:55am
What businesses in Cambridge are currently paying less than $15 an hour? Do you think that there are large factories that will blithely up and relocate to neighboring communities where the wages are lower (and guaranteed to stay that way)? Or are they perhaps retail businesses for whom relocation means finding an entirely new customer base? How easily do you suppose they'll do that in the neighboring suburbs?
New biz
By Lunchbox
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 10:53am
If I'm thinking about opening a new restaurant, or shop, or whatever, and I can pay my employees $15 in Cambridge, or $9 a few blocks up the street or across the river, what am I going to choose?
We're talking about a 66 percent increase in the minimum wage. That's significant. Let's not pretend there won't be any negative consequences to this. There's no such thing as a free lunch.
Good luck with that
By Michael
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 11:13am
Your staff is going to be made up of people who don't know they can get a raise by going those same few blocks. Enjoy the lunch rush!
But
By MostlyHarmless
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 11:31am
I'm not walking to Somerville to buy your sandwich, so good luck with that.
There you go. You just proved my point.
By whyaduck
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 1:30pm
So, you have no qualms about paying your hypothetical new employees $9.00 an hour where one needs to make $80K plus, per year, to afford an apartment rental in Boston?
So...
By anon
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 5:28pm
Are you saying McD/BK/etc should be paying burger flippers $80,000 and hour just because that's how much one needs to rent a luxury 1 bedroom apartment in Boston? Last time I checked this is USA, not USSR - unskilled laborers tend to make less than nurses or programmers.
Excellent idea
By anon
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 10:47am
Burger flippers are on strike, let's give them $15 an hour. Next thing you know, there will be a "we're not burger flippers, we want more money!" strike amongst lower-paying skilled workers (mechanics, EMTs, social workers, etc.) Then, there will be a "we're not drones" strike amongst lower-level management. Then a "we're not lower-level management" amongst mid-level management, then upper management - you get the idea...
And then, THE CIRCUS PONIES WILL TRAMPLE US ALL TO DEATH!
By lbb
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 12:52pm
Slippery slope arguments always fail because they're pure speculation.
Really?
By anon
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 3:10pm
Are you naïve enough to think everyone currently making around $32,000 a year doing skilled and/or dangerous labor, or perhaps having spent a crapload of money on their degree, will be OK with burger flippers pulling in the same salary?
Funny you should bring that up
By adamg
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 4:24pm
Paramedic explains why he supports $15 an hour for fast-food workers.
? He blames the evil
By Patricia
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 4:49pm
? He blames the evil "overlords" to keep people fighting amongst themselves. Gah...
One person's misguided opinion. If a licensed electrician is making $13 an hour, then ya, they've got every right to be upset that a job that just about anyone can do which requires no skils pays more. Of course, I know of no electrician making $13 an hour. Down south where wages are lower, but NY?
Is there a reason why they shouldn't? A GOOD reason?
By lbb
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 4:27pm
You have a job. Your neighbor has a job. If he gets a raise so that he now makes the same as you, is that somehow going to take money out of your pocket? Or will your $32,000 suddenly buy you less?
If you had a beef with your $32,000 before, it wasn't with your neighbor, it was with your employer. If your neighbor gets a raise from HIS employer, you still don't have a beef with him.
It's value. Flipping a burger
By Patricia
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 4:43pm
It's value. Flipping a burger for a living requires no education. Salary is usually market driven. A burger flipper today can be easily replaced tomorrow.
Please be specific
By lbb
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 9:59pm
The question is a very simple one. You have a job. Your neighbor has a job. Your neighbor gets a raise and is now making as much as you. How does this deprive you in any material way? Please be specific.
Easy
By anon
Wed, 08/19/2015 - 11:01am
Higher prices due to higher labor costs. Lower investment returns due to lower profits - that retirement plan of yours most likely holds all those evil corporations that are going to tank once their profit margins are shot. So, less money in that retirement account of yours, and less stuff your unchanged paycheck can buy - how does that not deprive you in any material way?
Well
By Anon
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 7:37pm
Why would anyone do dangerous and/or difficult manual labor or spend money going to school when they can Get the same salary bagging groceries or flipping burgers? Not everyone's a bubble-dwelling bleeding heart idealist - lots of people work for money, not for their personal enjoyment. Why would they kill themselves in their highly demanding jobs when they can get the same paycheck for simple up and down arm movement? if burger flippers make 32k, social workers, teachers and paramedics should get 64k at the very least, right off the bat. In Bumfuck, MO that is, assuming $15 becomes federal minimum wage - they have every right to demand at least $100k in cities like Boston or NY, along with everyone else in the skilled labor force. But then again, cost of living is a foreign concept to occutard clowns like you...
Namecalling? That's all you got?
By lbb
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 10:12pm
Oh well played, anon coward, well played. You're an idiot and you don't have the first idea what you're talking about, but you get points for enthusiasm. Or at least, you get points for reciting what you've been trained to say, very very well.
People work for money, yes, that's part of it. Most of them don't work just for money, however. There are other factors such as aptitude, such as availability, such as the fact that some people have moral qualms about doing certain kinds of jobs and moral or ethical reasons why they want to do other jobs. Why would someone turn down a job with more money? I don't know, have you asked a parent who wants to spend more time with their kids, and realizes that what they're making is enough? Why would someone do something difficult and dangerous and not just go for the job with more pay? I don't know, have you asked a Navy SEAL? Have you asked a Coast Guard rescue diver?
And you say I'm "bubble-dwelling". You're the one with the blinkered worldview. I truly wish you the best of luck on getting over that.
At Dwelltime in Cambridge
By gotdatwmd
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 2:14pm
At Dwelltime in Cambridge last weekend, where they have a "no computers at the table" brunch, a barista kindly reminded a computer "scientist" of this restriction and the reaction was "i am developing an app to revolutionize the future, you wouldn't even have a job here if it wasn't for us so don't tell me what I can and can't do."
I hope this passes as it will be a strike against the millennial intelligencia at MIT and Harvard that only care about the rights of others if they magically unionize or are female, minorities and can learn to program video games.
Instead of doing real science, they are developing apps and robots to replace bartenders and other service workers. Give the blue collar folks some reason to beat the STEM oligarchy out of Cambridge and make it a place where all businesses can thrive instead of it being an autistic playland and surrogate bedroom for computer kids.
Seriously???
By lbb
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 4:29pm
If you seriously believe that the "STEM oligarchy" cares about the rights of women, no matter what they can do in the workplace, then all I can say is, you're a profoundly ignorant man.
"you're a profoundly ignorant
By Patricia
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 4:45pm
"you're a profoundly ignorant man."
UHub is getting more and more like every other blog out there. What a shame.
Really, is it just me or was it a bit more civil before?
And how polite is it...
By lbb
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 10:15pm
...to tell women and minorities that they're riding high on the white man's back?
There's been a profound push
By gotdatwmd
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 5:15pm
There's been a profound push to get women and minorities into STEM (specifically computer science) related fields but it has nothing to do with engaging interests, but all to do with the arrogance of the tech industry in that they believe that anyone not in tech is lower than them. Teaching computer programming to inner city 6 year olds is not to going to engage them any more in high level mathematics than if they were interested in college, same with many women. If there is no interest, then it won't be pursued. It can't be forced. It's more of the idea that anyone that isn't in a STEM field is of a lower class. This is why the Cambridge intelligencia cares only their best and brightest 18-25 year olds and the hell with anyone else.
Look at how San Francisco's push is to price out and marginalize anyone that doesn't make STEM money or works in those fields. The lower paying jobs there are designed exclusively to be servants to computer programmers and engineers. This is what they want to do to Cambridge as well.
Agreed to a point
By lbb
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 10:17pm
Eh. This myth of "no interest" persists: "Oh, we're trying really hard to hire and promote women, but I guess they're just not interested!" Of course. What else could it possibly be? Couldn't possibly be a sexist corporate culture...naaaaaah...
Isn't that a concern of
By gotdatwmd
Wed, 08/19/2015 - 11:44am
Isn't that a concern of individual companies? How is someone supposed to know the inner working of a corporate culture when they're in high school looking to choose a program in college. Would a young girl interested and with aptitude for computer science turn down specialization in college based on something she doesn't even know about?
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