Free Republic

PHOENIX — A state lawmaker wants to give Arizona voters a chance to decide if the current $10.50 an hour minimum wage is as high as it should go. Sen. Sylvia Allen, R-Snowflake, said her proposal would not repeal what voters approved last year, at least not entirely. The wage gains that already have taken place — from $8.05 an hour in 2016 to $10.50 now — would remain intact. But she wants to put a question on the November ballot to block the future increases that are supposed to take place between now and 2020 when, unless repealed, the...

Seattle leaders are displaying shocking bias by turning over a study on their minimum wage increase to Michael Reich, a left-leaning economics professor at the University of California Berkeley, after their initial sanctioned study with the University of Washington (UW) proved their decision to raise the wage was having adverse effects. Seattle’s 2014 legislation called for a gradual increase of the city’s minimum wage until it reaches $15 an hour. Following the vote, commissioners recruited a team of UW researchers to find the effects of the steady rising minimum wage. Not to the surprise of fiscal conservatives, the study found...

The first thing to understand about the minimum wage is that it is a classic case of understandable emotionalism and frustration versus concrete data and economic reality. So the clearest explanation is a pros-and-cons listing. On the pros side of increasing the minimum wage, people who are making it and who keep their jobs will make more money. Their increased earnings improve their purchasing power. The cons side is a little lengthier. Sharp increases in the minimum wage reduces the number of entry-level jobs This, in turn, reduces the opportunity for unskilled workers to start getting experience. This is common...

Many Americans are campaigning for a raise in the minimum wage. Even more Americans are struggling just to find jobs at any wage.Yup -- those two news items are related.While trying to present a case for the Massachusetts state legislature to approve a program that provides summer jobs to teens at non-profits and government agencies, an editorial at the Boston Globe accidentally explained why artificially imposed minimum wages kill job opportunities.I don’t think the Globe even realized it, either: The program provides money for YouthWorks, which pays the wages of 4,400 low-income teens in eligible cities who work for nonprofits...

Wendy’s (WEN) said that self-service ordering kiosks will be made available across its 6,000-plus restaurants in the second half of the year as minimum wage hikes and a tight labor market push up wages. It will be up to franchisees whether to deploy the labor-saving technology, but Wendy’s President Todd Penegor did note that some franchise locations have been raising prices to offset wage hikes. McDonald’s (MCD) has been testing self-service kiosks. But Wendy’s, which has been vocal about embracing labor-saving technology, is launching the biggest potential expansion. It’s not surprising that some franchisees might face more of a labor-cost...

New York state APPROVES $15 minimum wage for fast-food workers...the first time ANY state has set it that high New York state will gradually raise the minimum wage for fast-food workers to $15 an hour — the first time any state has set the minimum that high. Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration formally approved the increase Thursday — a move the Democratic governor announced at a labor rally with Vice President Joe Biden. Cuomo said he will work to pass legislation setting a $15 minimum for all industries — a promise that comes as more and more cities around the country...

Crowded. That’s how Ed Rensi remembers what life was like working at McDonald’s in 1966. There were about double the number of people working in the store — 70 or 80, as opposed to the 30 or 40 there today — because preparing the food just took a lot more doing. “When I first started at McDonald’s making 85 cents an hour, everything we made was by hand,” Rensi said — from cutting the shortcakes to stirring syrups into the milk for shakes. Over the years, though, ingredients started to arrive packaged and pre-mixed, ready to be heated up, bagged...

U.S. Paychecks Grow at Record-Slow Pace By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS JULY 31, 2015, 9:31 A.M. E.D.T. WASHINGTON — U.S. wages and benefits grew in the spring at the slowest pace in 33 years, stark evidence that stronger hiring isn't lifting paychecks much for most Americans. The slowdown also likely reflects a sharp drop-off in bonus and incentive pay for some workers. The employment cost index rose just 0.2 percent in the April-June quarter after a 0.7 increase in the first quarter, the Labor Department said Friday. The index tracks wages, salaries and benefits. Wages and salaries alone also rose 0.2...

 Tips Are Owed, They're Not a Favor.  Not Tipping is "a Crime, the Blood of which Calls out of the Ground for Vengeance".  "Why Restaurants Are Eliminating Tipping", proclaims a news article headline. The claims include the ideas, that it promotes bad service, it's an obsolete concept, and is unnecessary because of the living wage movement.Restaurant owners are certainly entitled to their point of view, but they are probably poorly served by latching onto "living wage". But workers have a right to their own direct relationship with customers. Their independent legitimacy as professionals doesn't have to be dependent upon permission...

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Members of the Los Angeles City Council Wednesday approved an ordinance that will raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour over the next five years. Officials explained the minimum wage will go from $9 per hour to $10.50 an hour beginning in 2016. The rate will then jump to $12 in 2017; $13.25 in 2018; $14.25 in 2019; and $15 by 2020. “We are already seeing the fruits of our labor as our own state and other cities nationwide begin exploring policies to increase their local minimum wage,” said L.A. City Council President Herb Wesson.

One of the first concepts taught in basic economics is the demand curve. As the price of something goes up, the demand for it goes down. And vice versa. One doesn’t even need an economics class to understand that a $50-million house will not have a bunch of buyers in a bidding war, compared to a much less expensive house. Or that a sale, lowering the price of something, is a good way to sell more and clear the inventory. So why is there such confusion about the minimum wage? A wage is simply the price of labor. Raise the...

IRVINE – The City Council late Tuesday voted 4-1 to repeal the city’s living wage ordinance, which requires some contractors that do business with Irvine to pay its employees a slightly higher rate than the state’s $9 per hour minimum. The ordinance has been in place since 2007 when a 3-2 vote signed into law the requirement that companies that have contracts with the city worth at least $100,000 in a 12-month period pay more per hour.

SEATTLE -- Reaction continues to pour in over Seattle's new minimum wage law. Some business owners in Seattle say the increase to $11 an hour will force them to make drastic changes. Many in the local restaurant industry say the next few weeks and months will give them a better idea of the real impact under the new law. Some bosses have already been forced to make tough decisions to protect the bottom line. At Icon Grill in downtown Seattle, all employees will now only get one week of paid time off. Some employees who've worked at the restaurant for...

Just a year after increasing Minnesota's statewide minimum wage from one of the nation's lowest to one of the highest, DFL Gov. Mark Dayton is pushing for another hike. Dayton told a group visiting St. Paul for a Muslim American Society in Minnesota event that he believes the minimum wage for Twin Cities airport workers should become $10 an hour immediately. "I'm going to urge the Metropolitan Airports Commission myself to raise the minimum wage at the airport to $10 an hour, starting immediately, because they earned it, they deserve it, the airline industry can afford it," Dayton said. The...

“We’re building a new way of governing the state. Olympia’s not doing anything, so the power is shifting from Olympia to people like me.” – Seattle billionaire, Democrat financier and far-left activist Nick Hanauer.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Independent bookstores have faced tough times for quite a while. In San Francisco, neighborhood businesses have been passionately protected, so it's hard to believe that an initiative passed by voters to raise the minimum wage is driving a Mission District bookstore out of business. San Francisco's minimum wage is currently $11.05 an hour. By July of 2018, the minimum wage in San Francisco will be $15 an hour. That increase is forcing Borderlands Bookstore to write its last chapter now. When actor Scott Cox took a job at Borderlands Books he didn't do it for the...

The Chicago City Council voted 44-5 Tuesday to increase the minimum wage. Chicago’s minimum wage workers will see their first increase next July, when the rate increase to $10 an hour from the current statewide hourly rate of $8.25. It then will increase by 50 cents in July 2016 and another 50 cents in July 2017. The minimum wage would go up $1 in July 2018 and $1 in July 2019 to reach $13 an hour.

Police detained Rep. Gwen Moore, who was participating in a protest by fast food workers pressing for an increase in the minimum wage, according to news reports. Moore was picketing along with protesters outside of a restaurant in West Milwaukee. WTMJ-TV (Channel 4) reported that arrests were made at the event. The nonprofit group Wisconsin Jobs Now tweeted a photo of Moore apparently being handcuffed. WISN-TV (Channel 12) reported Moore was detained.

MIRA LOMA, Calif. — Week after week, Guadalupe Rangel worked seven days straight, sometimes 11 hours a day, unloading dining room sets, trampolines, television stands and other imports from Asia that would soon be shipped to Walmart stores. Even though he often clocked 70 hours a week at the Schneider warehouse here, he was never paid time-and-a-half overtime, he said. And now, having joined a lawsuit involving hundreds of warehouse workers, Mr. Rangel stands to receive more than $20,000 in back pay as part of a recent $21 million legal settlement with Schneider, a national trucking company.

(Chicago) Mayor Emanuel is vowing to phase-in a higher minimum wage in Chicago than Springfield politicians are planning for the entire state. Rahm says he’ll push for a $13 minimum wage in Chicago even if the state enacts its pending ten dollar minimum wage.