Free Republic

Workers say Target is making drastic cuts to their schedules and doubling their workload as it increases minimum wage under its ‘modernization plan’ to increase efficiency Adam Ryan, 31, has worked at Target in Christiansburg, Virginia, for three years. He works additional jobs whenever he’s able to, but is regularly scheduled only 20 hours per week at Target, despite having open availability. ... In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Bonnie Furlong has worked as a cashier at Target for about seven years, but still makes what starting workers make, $13 an hour. “The last time they raised it, they cut our hours, so...

But poverty-stricken seamstresses making some of the clothes in the MAS Holdings ­factory in Sri Lanka earn just £4.30 a day. It would cost them more than a month’s wages to buy a pair of Beyonce’s £100 leggings. The workers, mostly young women from poor rural villages, can only afford to live in boarding houses and work more than 60 hours a week to make ends meet. Most are reluctant to speak out for fear of losing their jobs. Campaigners insist the women are being exploited and treated like slaves. " We have to share the shower block with the...

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick on Thursday signed a bill raising the state's $8 per hour minimum wage to $11 per hour by 2017. The bill increases the minimum wage gradually, to $9 per hour in 2015, $10 in 2016 and $11 in 2017 — which would be the highest in the nation. President Barack Obama praised Massachusetts lawmakers last week for "standing up for working men and women." Obama previously said he looked forward to Patrick, a fellow Democrat and supporter, signing the bill. The measure also gradually raises the minimum wage for tipped workers, such as restaurant servers, from...

Obama speaks on raising the minimum wage. Live video.

Students at Central Connecticut State University flipped on their computers and waited anxiously for an email that would give them the chance to see President Obama speak at their school on Wednesday. “Every single computer was full,” said student Keanii Munoz, who stopped first at the science lab, then headed to the student union in search of a free machine. “Everybody’s been trying to register.” The link to reigster arrived around noon in a much-anticipated email. Students refreshed their inboxes until the message came, then hoped luck was on their side as they clicked through. “I finally got the email...

The minimum wage has been at $5.15 an hour for almost eight years, and it is long overdue for a raise. Unfortunately, instead of helping working families by raising the minimum wage, the Republicans in the state Senate joined their extreme colleagues in the Assembly by passing AB 49 this month, which takes away the power of cities to raise the minimum wage. As the leading advocates behind the already enacted minimum wage ordinances in Madison and Milwaukee, we are greatly disheartened at the Legislature attacking local control and working people. Although Republicans going on a power grab and fighting...

Enrique Najera sometimes makes $150 for a full day's work. Those days come rarely. Najera is a day laborer whose workday usually lasts no longer than three or four hours. On slow weeks, he gets only two jobs and makes less than $100. Najera, who says he sends money to Mexico to help support his four children, sleeps at homeless shelters or friends' rooms because he can't stretch his wages far enough to cover rent. On Friday, the San Francisco Day Labor Program took a step toward helping Najera and other day laborers by increasing the minimum wage for its...

What You Need to Know About the Minimum Wage By Shawn Ritenour [Posted September 10, 2004] Recently Tom Lehman lamented one of the frustrations free market economists often face when reading economic journalism: opposing bad policy for the wrong reasons.One of the earliest memories I have of feeling this pain was in college and reading that the first President Bush wanted a decrease in the capital gains tax because it would result in an increase in government tax revenues. Another cause for consternation is peddlers of bad policy leaning on conventional wisdom that, while generally believed, turns out to be...