Kerry Calls for $7.00 Federal Minimum Wage

[liberalpragmatist]

http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/releases/pr_2004_0618.html

As part of his plan to build a stronger economy for America’s families, Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry today called for raising the minimum wage to $7.00 by 2007. The increase will impact nearly 15 million workers, helping families make ends meet and move another step towards the American Dream.

An increase in the federal minimum wage is well overdue. It has fallen further and further behind the cost of living, and the impact of the last increase has been entirely eroded by inflation. Today, the minimum wage is worth only 33 percent of the average American wage, its lowest level since 1949. In very real terms, this only serves to keep many hardworking Americans from getting ahead and saving for the future.

< SNIP >

Contrary to the claims of critics who say a minimum wage increase only helps teenagers, today’s report notes that many minimum wage workers are primary breadwinners whose families depend on their income. Of the women who would benefit from an increase, over 75 percent are adults.

Striving to do the right thing and help their families, millions of working women and mothers are struggling from the effects of a federal minimum wage that has not been increased in eight years. Increasing the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.00 will help these working women by:

* Raising the income of 4.5 million working women

* Giving 1.4 million working mothers a raise, including 623,000 single moms.

* Providing a family enough money to pay for 10 months of groceries, 8 months of rent or an entire year of healthcare and community college expenses.

Overall, 15 million workers will benefit from an increase, with 7.4 million receiving a raise.

“I want to build an America where working families can get ahead, where a family working full time does not have to raise their children in poverty,” Kerry said. “With this increase, we will lift up millions of workers and build a stronger America as a result.”

[x_y_no]

1. This is way overdue

Good for Kerry!

[chelsea0011]

2. Kerry starts to define the Democratic Platform

If I hear the media keep saying that no one knows Kerry while at the same time not covering his dialy campaign speeches, why I otta.....

[Worst Username Ever]

3. I have a question about this

I have often wondered how a bump in the min. wage would effect the rest of us. Picture this: If I were flipping burgers, and I started at 5.15/hr, and over the next couple of years with some raises, etc, I make my way up to 7/hr. Now, if the minimum wage were suddenly brought up to 7 dollars an hour, I would pretty much demand that with my burger flipping experience, that I be paid more than the entry level people who are going to enter at the same pay rate that it took me 2 years to achieve. So maybe they bump me up to 9. Well, the assistant manager who is being paid 9/hr is going to say that if that guy who just flips bugers gets 9, I should get a bump too. So the ass't manager gets bumped to 12 and hour. Then the manager, who gets paid 13, says I should be getting more that just 1 dollar an hour more than the assistant, bump me too. Etc. And this continues all they way up the chain. Do you think this would be the effect? A raise in the minimum seems like it would have to translate into a raise for everyone. I mean the 25K/yr guys would move up to being 28K/year, the 30K would have to be bumped to 33K, and on and on.

[x_y_no]

4. nah .. shylock

The effect dampens out pretty quickly.

[Worst Username Ever]

5. Are you sure?

Cuz it just seems like somewhere down the line you are going ot have someone less qualified catch up with someone more qualified. I am going to post this on the main board and see what people think...

[mzmolly]

7. Were talking flipping burgers here, not rocket science.

Okey dokey?

[Worst Username Ever]

15. Not really

The fast food chain goes all the way up to a CEO, just like the aerospace industry. Eventually, someone is going to be more qualified than the person below him/her who just got a pay boost. I am jsut wondering how high it goes.

[mzmolly]

16. Trust me, Burger King CEO's will persevere in the face of such

adversity :eyes:

[Worst Username Ever]

19. That_is_not_my_question

I am asking how far up the chain the raises go if there is a raise in the minimum.

[mzmolly]

21. They don't go up the chain at all.

Thought I addressed that. People in the fast food or other industries that pay Minimum wage are a dime a dozen, they are not in a position to bargain - management included. CEO's won't starve in any case either - not that I was terribly concerned for them ...

But rest assured, no one is going to demand or be in a position to demand a raise because minimum wage went up. I've worked in enough companies where they raised the *entry level* salary for a certain position, and the people who worked in that position for a longer period of time were told "too bad so sad" if they made at least the same amount. That's how it works in this culture of corporate compassion. Anyone making the same or more will be kept at their current salary. Managers will be told they can return to flipping beef if they wish, but they'll lose hours, experience and of course *prestige* if they are demoted. :eyes:

Also, if I pay an extra .10 cents for my meal at Burger King, then I'll consider it money well spent.

[JI7]

29. right, it's more about economic justice

there is a certain amount people should get for the work they do even though it's a job that many others could fill. and the fact is that they CAN afford to pay but many times don't because of greed.

[mzmolly]

6. Burger flippers are not in a position to *make demands* ...

Sorry but this argument sounds like typical Republican dribble from people who dont know what it's like to "flip burgers."

Burger flippers are a dime a dozen. Minimum wage workers often dont exceed that wage much regardless of so called experience. Minimum wage jobs don't generally entail much training, or experience - everyone is expendable.

People argue that minimum wage is meant to be a starting point, thus we should leave it alone. Well guess what, it's also an ending point for many people who haven't much of a choice in this life.

It's not as though you can walk into Burger King and say, well sir I've flipped burgers for 10 years, I can't work for minimum wage (been there, done that) :eyes:

This is such a laughable argument from the "let them eat cake crowd" I can hardly hear it without becoming enraged. :hi:

It's also a joke to suggest that anyone working for minimun wage, or managing said workers is actually in a position to uhm *bargain* ...

mzmolly - former Burger King employee. ;)

[cosmicdot]

11. minimum wage

I once thought that minimum wage was minimum wage

http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/america.htm

State Minimum Wage Rates
http://www.aflcio.org/yourjobeconomy/minimumwage/staterates.cfm


States with no minimum wage law
States with minimum wage rates lower than the Federal

what's the turn-over flipping burgers at Burger King franchises... granted it has become the national industry, but do people tend to flip burgers in the same place forever? do they work full time? do they have benefits?

what will $7 buy in 2007??? it doesn't buy much today ...
:shrug:
will it be a living wage?

your 'worry-what-$7/hr-will-do' dominoes fall in the wrong direction - imho ... people spend money they have ... the boat rises ... consider it trickle up theory ...


figure monthly living expenses (the always something, too; plan for the future if anything is leftover); figure monthly wages @$5.15/hr., after taxes, etc.

do the math
and survive
(good luck!)

I'm sure the "execs" behind this Burger King Holdings aren't sweating the rent.


Ninety-one percent of BURGER KING® restaurants are owned and operated by independent franchisees, many of them family-owned operations that have been in business for decades.

Burger King Holdings, Inc., the parent company, is private and independently owned by an equity sponsor group comprised of Texas Pacific Group, Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners. In fiscal year ending June 30, 2003, Burger King Corporation had system-wide sales of $11.1 billion.

Burger King was owned by UK-based Diageo until 2002 when an investment group led by Texas Pacific Group bought the company and took it private.

who is/are the Texas Pacific Group? :shrug:
unlike being a corporation ... more like the Carlyle Group ... much can be hidden from public view

Subsidiaries/Affiliates of Texas Pacific Group:

America West Holdings Corporation
Bally Management Ltd.
Denbury Resources Inc.
Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A.
J. Crew Group, Inc.
MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc.


Portfolio as of 31 Dec. 2000 - more of TPG's 'family'


Advanced Telcom Group, Inc.
Bally International AG
Belden and Blake
Cafe Valley, Inc.
Denbury Resources Inc.
Diamond Brands Inc.
Epotec, Inc.
Gemplus SA
Genesis Health Venture, Inc.
J. Crew Group, Inc.
Landis & Gyr
Magellan Health Services
ON Semiconductor
Oxford Health
Piaggio & Co.
Punch Taverns
Star One, Inc.
Vivra Specialty Partners
Zhone Technologies, Inc.
Zilog Inc

http://www.insidervc.com/TPGII.htm

with health services in TPG's portfolio, they should be able to leverage decent healthcare for employees

[rinsd]

23. You wouldn't get a raise....

The boss would say take it or leave it.

[mzmolly]

8. GOOD FOR YOU MR. KERRY!

:toast:

[flewellyn]

9. It's a good idea...

It's helpful, it would actually make life better for a majority of Americans, particularly the working poor, and it would help the economy in general, while causing slight and temporary inconvenience to the wealthy.

Naturally, the wealthy are staunchly opposed.

[flewellyn]

10. It's a good idea...

It's helpful, it would actually make life better for a majority of Americans, particularly the working poor, and it would help the economy in general, while causing slight and temporary inconvenience to the wealthy.

Naturally, the wealthy are staunchly opposed.

[no name no slogan]

12. It's a good step, but very small

The minimum wage is one thing, but what we truly need is a LIVABLE WAGE.

In my midwestern town, $7.00/hr is not nearly enough to afford housing, clothing, medical care and transportation for one person, let alone a family.

Kerry's good with this, but $7.00/hr still means that working poor peole will be relying on government subsidies, charities and food shelves just to make ends meet, while their companies continue making huge profits and give obscene compensation for the executives.

Instead of the gov't picking up these costs, why not make the big corporations who are paying these wages accountable? Make THEM pay a living wage. Most people, given the chance, would much rather work than receive assistance from the government.

In a country as rich as this one, it is a CRIME that a person working full time at one or more jobs cannot afford to keep a roof over her/his head. I hope Kerry talks about this, too, because it's disgraceful.

[jpgray]

13. If you can't make the leap, take small steps whenever you can (nt)

[no name no slogan]

38. There's room to leap-- try leaping first, and take small steps later (nt)

[JayS]

14. Speaking as an employer...

...I would have to log into my accounting system to see what the minimum wage is; I can never remember it but I never have a need to. I do know that I pay way more than the minimum wage and I also know that I demand more from my employees in how they treat people, from the customer, to our vendors, to fellow employees, to our grounds crew, and so forth. That's not too bad a deal to get paid more to act how you should anyway. These actions make my business worth more so I pay more.

The employees that have been here for some time also make way more than market. To my knowledge, they are not upset about this. I pay more because I want to retain the services of some good and trusted people. It is incredibly expensive for me to hire new people. This is not in terms of money or training but because hiring is such a big risk these days. For some reason, my insurance company takes a dim view of hiring employees that occasionally chop up customers with a battle axe.

Tip: Check your credit reports! More and more employers are using them to try and judge the risks of making a hire.

SEE: http://clarkhoward.com/library/tips/credit_scores.html

Frenzy over credit scores - April 16, 2003
Clark was reading the May issue of Smart Money magazine when he ran across a story entitled, “Fico Frenzy.” It was about the obsession a certain group of American have with their credit scores. If you haven’t heard about the importance of credit scores, you need to pay attention. Your three-digit credit score decides what types of loans you get, what auto and homeowner’s insurance you get, and even the job you may or may not get. The scoring method to get to this number was created by Fair Issac, Co., so they call it a FICO score, but it’s also known as a credit score. Your score ranges from 300 to 850. And some people are trying everything in their power to increase their score. One woman mentioned in the article had a score of 655 and she was trying desperately to inch it upwards. At 655, the woman got a much higher interest rate on loans than did people with a higher score. She transferred some of her balances and immediately when to 677. She then started checking message boards to find out what else she could do. Over a nine- month period, she got her score up to 725 and got much better offers. Some people have scores that are just fine, but they can’t let it go. And, there is no need to obsess if your score is above 720. You are qualified for the best rates with that number. But, if your credit score is 655, the average mortgage rate you’d qualify for is 7.5 percent. With a 720, you qualify for 5.25 percent. If your credit score is not good enough, get the May issue of Smart Money and figure out how to raise your score. Or check in a couple weeks online at smartmoney.com.

[mzmolly]

24. Thanks.

:hi:

[midnight armadillo]

17. Good idea, lacks balls

The best strategy is not to shoot for an incremental improvement, it's to shoot for the moon and then compromise, dragging the debate in a progressive direction.

If he's really got any spine he'll call for a living wage indexed to inflation and local costs of living.

[goodhue]

18. this is excellent

This is the kind of stance that will increase votes for Kerry from all quarters -- moderate swings, leftist swings and traditional nonvoters.

[ACK]

20. With a Repuke congress this is a good step

When we get back the House or the Senate if he does not call for a living wage when it would half a chance I will call him out for it.

Right now, its a small good step.

_

[IronLionZion]

22. create the jobs first, then raise the wage

What happens when the minimum wage is raised? Companies eliminate jobs to compensate for the higher costs. That's basic economics.

I'm all for a living wage for American workers but more jobs need to be created first.

[AP]

31. Uh, no. There is wealth being created in the US, but it's all accumulating

at the top.

Raise wages, force wealth down to the people who work (rather than forcing it up to the top by having corporations benefit from too cheap labor).

Once the economic power flows down to the people, jobs will grow around taking care of the increasingly wealthy middle class, whether they're doctors and lawyers, or creators of copyright, or manufacturing jobs, or jobs managing the wealthy of the wealthy middle class, or whatever.

Like I said. America is creating wealth hand over fist, but it's accumulating it at the top. And decimating the labor market to force costs of labor down for capital is one of the ways they do it.

[mzmolly]

25. Fast Food Nation. Read about it here.

http://www.geocities.com/youth4sa/fastfood.html

The entire fast food industry seeks out teenage, part-time (no overtime, please), unskilled workers like Elisa, because they¹re willing to accept low pay, are cheaper than adults, and are easier to control due to their inexperience. Although recently, middle class teenagers are shunning jobs at McDonalds and Burger King and are being replaced by poor immigrants and the elderly (The New York Times, January 8, 2001).

³The labor practices of the fast food industry have their origins in the assembly line systems adopted by American manufacturers in the early twentieth century² (p. 68). In a restaurant assembly line, tasks are broken up into small, repetitive bits requiring little or no skill, while machines and operating systems do the things that require timing and training (p. 69).

In addition, the fast food industry generally pays minimum wage, moreso than any other industry. The result has been that the real value of laborers¹ wages have fallen for the last three decades. Worse yet, the industry almost never pays overtime. Bonuses for managers at many fast food restaurants are tied to holding down labor costs. The result being that many workers are forced to wait until the restaurant gets busy before punching in. Workers are forced to do clean-up after they¹ve punched out. One Taco Bell employee ²regularly worked seventy to eighty hours a week but was paid for only forty² (p. 75). Taco Bell has been sued for this in a number of states.

The fast food industry is not alone in doing this kind of thing. Wal-Mart is being sued in 28 states for forcing workers to work off the clock, as reported by Steven Greenhouse in his expose ³Suits Say Wal-Mart Forces Workers to Toil Off the Clock,² in the June 25, 2002, New York Times.

[CKB8888]

26. We plan layoffs

If the minimum wage is raised to $7.00 my company will be forced to layoff 10% of our workforce. I suspect my company is not the only one. How much unemployment does John Kerry predict will result nationwide?

[quinnox]

27. Right

John Kerry is obviously proposing this to raise unemployment nationwide.

I think that 5.15 an hour is way too much, perhaps Kerry should propose it be lowered to 1.00 an hour minimum wage or even lower so American workers can compete with those in China and other countries.

Also, that way, your "company" would be able to hire a lot more slave labor that way.

<sarcasm>

[CKB8888]

30. Hardly slave labor

We provide medical, dental, and vision insurance, excellent retirement benefits, tuition reimbursement and we pay unemployment insurance taxes, Medicare taxes, social security taxes, worker's compensation insurance, etc. The bottom line is a small corporation like the one I work for cannot afford to employ as many people if we are forced to raise wages.

[AP]

32. The health care industry is one of the most profitable in the world and

makes up the biggest segment of the economy right now.

You're telling me they can't afford to pay a little more to the laborers whose minimum wage labor is now only contributing to padding the savings accounts of its CEOs?

[quinnox]

34. Well , then if this happens

your business would have a few choices. One, cut the wages of the upper management to be able to keep the number of workers currently employed. Two, cut down the work force, and hope the company is still able to compete on the same level with less workers.

I'm sure the same arguments were used when the minimum wage was .50 cents an hour by big business, but I guess they did survive and prosper after all. Here it is 5.15 an hour and corporations are still in business. I have a feeling when it is raised to 7.00 an hour, they will survive as well. Maybe the CEO will have to do with a less million or two in annual pay.

[AP]

28. Don't worry. All the economic power that flows down to people at the

bottom will help the economy improve. People will start paying down their debt (which means the credit card companies will lose some money, but they're having record profits in bad years, so you know there's something fucked up right there), their kids will get better educations, there will be more health, happiness and security, and democracy will be stronger.

When the economy is revitalized, than new industries will form and people will all be better off.

[DrFunkenstein]

33. Offset By His Health Care Plan And Tax Credits For Small Businesses

Which will be tied to jobs.

[bigwillq]

35. Raising the minimum wage would be a good thing

The sad thing is--It seems my pay never increases no matter how much minimum wage increased by. Something needs to be done about that,

[CTLawGuy]

36. fantastic, John!

I think this will resonate very well. This is a good way for Kerry to distinguish himself from Bush and really people to vote FOR him.

[Padraig18]

37. Illinois will beat the Feds to it.

It went up to $5.50/hr. here 1/1/04, and will go to $6.50/hr. on 1/1/05. LONG overdue, and kudos to Sen. Kerry!

[sampsonblk]

39. ...and no one cares!

Who cares? Four Americans died today, that I know of. Why is John Kerry wasting time talking about things that matter not. Sure, raise the minimum wage. But on the important issues of the day, WE ARE RIGHT, and the Repubs are wrong. John Kerry ought to address the issues that actually matter. Issues that voters are paying attention to. This minimum wage nonsense is a waste of our time.

Lemme ask you this: tomorrow morning, how many people will remember what John Kerry said today? Will it advance his campaign?

This crap reinforces the view (of many) that Kerry is weak on defense. Today was a day to talk about defending Americans. And Kerry is talking about the minimum wage, which he will NOT raise with a Repug Congress. And we all know it. What a waste of time.

He should be out telling everyone that we don't need a cowboy for President, or more Americans will die.