By adamg on Mon., 9/4/2017 - 1:02 pm
WFXT reports on the picket line that started this morning on Tremont Street downtown.
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WFXT reports on the picket line that started this morning on Tremont Street downtown.
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Comments
Is this a one and done
By anon
Mon, 09/04/2017 - 1:06pm
Or will starting on Tuesday will workers unite and walk out citywide?
Was there a separate group who wanted to lose their jobs
By EM Painter
Mon, 09/04/2017 - 1:08pm
Did they also have a group who wanted to lose their jobs to robots and kiosks?
More employment now than ever before in the history of the world
By anon
Mon, 09/04/2017 - 1:38pm
And we live in the richest country in the history of the world. We live in a city with the greatest income and wealth inequality in the US. Mass. pioneered the minimum wage in 1912. The legislative study group said that any employer who does not pay a person a high enough wage to cover their cost of living was stealing their labor.
If MA raised it's minimum wage to keep up with inflation since the 1970s it'd be $17 hour. These folks are asking for $15 minimum wage. The bill the Mass Senate passed that raise to the wage to $15 (over time) applies to businesses with 50 employees or more.
All activism boils down to begging
By EM Painter
Mon, 09/04/2017 - 7:21pm
or if you like, appealing to the sentiments of the powerful.
We have a min wage. The question is, do we have it right?
By anon
Mon, 09/04/2017 - 7:32pm
People earning poverty wages say no, they want to earn fair pay so they can pay their own way. People making billions of profit in multinationals like WalMart and McDonalds say yes.
Poverty wages are socialized wages, the rest of us pay for food assistance, housing assistance and health coverage assistance. We allow capitalism to exploit labor and we require the public to fund the difference.
Min wage kills jobs across the state too
By EM Painter
Mon, 09/04/2017 - 10:59pm
Min wage will benefit some workers but make it harder for other low skill workers to get hired. Businesses will orient around employees who actually produce enough to be profitable paying workers 15/hr instead of 11/hr. Who speaks for the people who never get hired in the first place because of the min wage?
The second objection I have is that the min wage raise applies across the state and the effects on those in western mass will be heavier, will kill marginal businesses out there and hurt low skill workers more because there is a bigger gap to cover.
The min wage works when it reflects the actual minimum wage established by competition for labor.
I have worked at this wage not too late my ago. While it was hard it was also important in my life to understand what my labor was actually worth. Arguments about human dignity and fairness miss the point and leave you in a position as the beggar of giant corporations rather than taking control of your destiny.
show your evidence
By anon
Tue, 09/05/2017 - 12:45am
The min wage has increased $8 to $11 since 2014. Show us your evidence of job loss.
aka
By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 09/04/2017 - 7:45pm
The first against the wall when the revolution comes.
I've negotiated raises with bosses in professional services
By Anonymous
Mon, 09/04/2017 - 7:57pm
I've negotiated raises with bosses in professional services who said yes. Minimum wage workers in a business where the model is poverty wage don't have that privilege. I believe SEIU and others have been helping fast food and WalMart etc organize and protest for livable wages for about 5 years. I find it hard to believe that as the richest country in the history of the world we're not prepared to pay people a livable wage but that's just me. I don't own WalMart stock and want it to double in price on the backs of people paid poverty wages. SeaTac and Seattle were the first to pass $15 min. California and New York followed.
but the richest people in the
By myname
Mon, 09/04/2017 - 9:02pm
but the richest people in the country aren't customers at the McDonald's on Washington St. this place serves some of the poorest people in the City. if you raise wages here then prices go up, poor people pay more for food, it's a vicious cycle.
Or...
By Stevil
Tue, 09/05/2017 - 12:06pm
it becomes far cheaper for McDonalds to develop an app to replace the people in front and robots in back. Even at McDonalds there's no free lunch.
Or...
By BlackKat
Tue, 09/05/2017 - 2:07pm
The owner of the franchise who makes $1 million a year or whatever makes only $500,000. Boohoo for him.
Fat chance
By anonism
Tue, 09/05/2017 - 4:44pm
.
Or
By Stevil
Wed, 09/06/2017 - 7:37am
S/he brings in technology and makes $1.5 million. Plus doesn't have to deal with people that call in sick at the last minute, quit without notice, don't folliw food sanitation rules etc etc.
You can always buy a McDs franchise and pay your people a premium. Lots of luck with that.
Or even start your own franchise.
Sure sure
By Kaz
Wed, 09/06/2017 - 8:46am
I need to gets me some of that free technology that never costs a dime for its entire lifetime all these people are talking about. I mean right now I'm payin' my kids to do their chores when I could just have a robot do it and save $1.5 million a year!
Tom and Jerry house of the future, here I come!
One word
By Stevil
Wed, 09/06/2017 - 1:02pm
Roomba
Doubles as a cat toy
If only
By Kaz
Wed, 09/06/2017 - 1:43pm
Great example. The roomba is a great robot helper for a house with a Tom, Spike, or Jerry. It means you don't need a $15/hr maid to do the sweeping...but you might occasionally need to hire someone to replace the carpets:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/15...
Now, let's head over to McDonalds where the robot workers taking your orders and making your food are as ready-to-go as a roomba...
I hate those danglers
By Stevil
Wed, 09/06/2017 - 6:53pm
And the poor cars think it's chasing them
Ask a European
By anon
Tue, 09/05/2017 - 1:08am
Fast Food workers get a living minimum wage and benefits, like sick time, vacation, and health insurance. People still eat there too. Why? Because those people get paid a living wage as well. That's how it works. These corporations are making high profits off of the lowest paid workers and taxpayers subsidizing those wages with food stamps and other programs. People use these horror stories and mom and pop shops as a shield against paying a living wage but it really benefits large corporations that can't pull this crap in other countries.
Giant corporations love the minimum wage
By EM Painter
Mon, 09/04/2017 - 11:12pm
It kills off their smaller competitors who can't comply.
Giant corporations have offices full of lawyers and hr. They can automate and shift production to low wage states or even countries. Small companies do not have those options.
These campaigns aren't hurting Walmart and McDonald's, they are helping them.
Activists do beg
By anon
Tue, 09/05/2017 - 11:06pm
Suffragettes and civil rights activists were basically begging to be treated fairly and equally.
Vietnam war protesters were begging for peace.
Abolitionists were begging to have fellow human beings treated as such and not as chattel.
I don't think I need to go on.
Total fake news
By bosguy22
Tue, 09/05/2017 - 9:02am
Minimum wage in 1971 was $1.60. That's about $10 in today's dollar, not $17.
http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/
Thanks Bosguy
By Stevil
Tue, 09/05/2017 - 12:07pm
I did the same calculation some time ago from about 1978 I think - came up with about the same number.
Like that matters
By BostonDog
Mon, 09/04/2017 - 2:44pm
They are already adding robots and Kiosks as fast as they can. Paying the humans more or less won't change that.
What?
By anon
Mon, 09/04/2017 - 3:05pm
Making minimum wage vs making no wage at all does change a lot of things.
Not to the corporations who make the decisions
By BostonDog
Mon, 09/04/2017 - 4:44pm
It's not as if local employees/manager have much say in these decisions.
Robots
By Anon
Mon, 09/04/2017 - 5:04pm
Make sense when they're cheaper than burger-flipping and button-mashing drones. They might be more expensive than a $10 drone, but if they're cheaper than a $15 drone all the gimme $15 clowns will quickly find themselves making exactly $0.
So...
By Kaz
Tue, 09/05/2017 - 12:47pm
Your solution to avoiding robots constantly getting cheaper and easier to install to do menial work instead of humans...is to keep letting humans do the menial work for less and less money to stay under the ever-dropping line even if it means they can't even afford the food they're making but at least the robots haven't won yet?
Awesome goal. Good luck with that in 15-20 years. I mean another solution would just be to kill these people right now and replace them with robots immediately. It's a bit messier I guess and you'd have to get your hands dirty. Best to just keep killing them slowly instead and less directly so you feel like you were "helping" by "not replacing them with robots".
By the way...how much do you get paid to do things? I wonder how soon we can have a robot that does that...
Very appropriate day for the strike
By mg
Mon, 09/04/2017 - 1:33pm
Good luck to them. The way shift workers are currently treated is shameful.
Compare To The $173 Per-Hour The Ⓣ Is Paying Dan Grabauskas
By Elmer
Mon, 09/04/2017 - 1:53pm
[sup]âŸâŸâŸâŸâŸâŸâŸâŸâŸâŸ( assuming he actually works a full 40-hour week )[/sup]
Heck, why not $30 while we're
By anon
Mon, 09/04/2017 - 1:59pm
Heck, why not $30 while we're at it? $35 if you can work the fryolator.
you convinced me!
By anon
Mon, 09/04/2017 - 8:07pm
Your bad faith representation of the argument for 15$ minimum wage has completely won me over...in fact, why not pay them 0$ while we're at it!
Seattle's experience
By Lunchbox
Mon, 09/04/2017 - 2:12pm
"The costs to low-wage workers in Seattle outweighed the benefits by a ratio of three to one, according to the study"
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/0...
There's no free lunch.
minimum wage hike backfired?
By anon
Mon, 09/04/2017 - 2:46pm
Has Seattle’s minimum wage hike backfired? Not so fast.
McDonald's could finance $15 minimum wage by halting it's stock
By anon
Mon, 09/04/2017 - 2:51pm
McDonald's could finance $15 minimum wage by halting it's stock buyback program.
Unionized McDonalds in Denmark pay workers the equivalent of $23/hour. Customers pay the equivalent of .30 cents more per meal-- burger, fries, drink.
Imagine if all the WalMart and fast food workers were paying more tax on income instead of signing up for food assistance, medicaid and housing subsidies.
McD's in Denmark is much,
By myname
Mon, 09/04/2017 - 9:05pm
McD's in Denmark is much, much nicer than the one on Washington St! Really what we're talking about here is making McD's pay more and charge more for it's food thereby pricing out most of its existing customers.
Pretty sure Back Bay customers can pay $0.17 more for a Big Mac
By Anonymous
Tue, 09/05/2017 - 8:48pm
$15 min wage would raise the cost of a Big Mac $0.17 cents, unless corporate funded it by ending their stock buyback program.
source:
Study: Raising wages to $15 an hour for limited-service restaurant employees would raise prices 4.3 percent - Purdue University https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2015/Q3/s...
Any idea how that'she calculated?
By merlinmurph
Tue, 09/05/2017 - 7:45am
Just curious - thanks.
Ever Wonder
By Stevil
Tue, 09/05/2017 - 12:10pm
Why there's no Mcd's in Back Bay?
Nevermind - found the study
By merlinmurph
Tue, 09/05/2017 - 4:54pm
And that study has been so shot full of holes, it ends up being pretty useless.
Except for one thing....
By merlinmurph
Tue, 09/05/2017 - 4:52pm
Except burger-flippers aren't paid by McD's corporate. They're paid by the independent franchisee.
Key Caveat
By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 09/04/2017 - 4:29pm
not sure about that
By cinnamngrl
Tue, 09/05/2017 - 4:07pm
http://fortune.com/2017/06/27/seattle-minimum-wage...
Strike all you want
By Double Saw Buck
Mon, 09/04/2017 - 2:36pm
Do you want to get something done? Vote. There is an election coming up and you can vote to change the tide of driving families and blue collar jobs out of the City. The City is for the rich only and $15/hour isn't going to cut it.
The city is for the rich and
By anon
Mon, 09/04/2017 - 6:27pm
The city is for the rich and the heavily subsidized poor. The middle class has been squeezed entirely out of the city by housing costs.
Subsidies do not create affordable housing
By karenz
Wed, 09/06/2017 - 1:17am
Back nearly 10 years ago when I was working with older adults and senior citizens to find housing in Brighton, the Boston waiting list was over 40,000 long, and I am guessing now it is even worse.
Bob Deleo and Massachusetts Super-Majority
By Anonymous
Mon, 09/04/2017 - 7:40pm
You might think having a Democratic super majority in Massachusetts means FightFor15 is a fait acompli aka done deal.. It's not clear Speaker DeLeo will even give it a vote. Forget voting, protest the state house. It's truly remarkable that this plank of the "Better Deal" national democrats rolled out a month ago (including our own US Senators) wont have the support of the most powerful Democrat in state government.
Oh yeah the state legislature!...
By Smart Arse
Mon, 09/04/2017 - 11:29pm
They're experts on rising wages. ESPECIALLY THEIR OWN.
Those fuckers voted themselves a huge fatass pay raise and 99% of the voters are either too stupid or too sycophantic to do anything about it.
They can walk and chew gum
By anon
Tue, 09/05/2017 - 8:04am
$15 min wage means I will never hire new workers
By EM Painter
Mon, 09/04/2017 - 11:08pm
Workers who start in my business don't produce enough to be worth 15/hour. I will simply cut back how much I take on and do more of the work myself.
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