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Seattle to enact $15 minimum wage
Washington Post ^ | June 2, 2014 | Reid Wilson

Posted on 06/02/2014 5:18:57 PM PDT by Second Amendment First

The Seattle City Council voted unanimously Monday to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, equaling the highest minimum wage in the nation.

The law will phase in the higher wages over a three- to seven-year window, depending on the size of a company. Corporations that employ more than 500 workers will have to pay $15 an hour by 2017 if their employees don’t receive company-paid health care. Smaller businesses can wait until 2019 to reach the higher rate. All workers will receive the highest wage by 2021.

“The people who work for a living have basically seen no increase in their incomes since the 1970s,” Mayor Ed Murray said in an interview. “With the federal government fairly stuck, and as we see states more and more adopting that same dysfunction, cities are the place to lead right now.”

Murray spent his first four months in office hammering out an agreement to raise the wage through a task force that included labor, business and nonprofit representatives. Labor groups had threatened to put a wage hike on the ballot this year if the city didn’t increase the wage on its own.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; US: Washington
KEYWORDS: bluezones; seattle
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To: 21twelve

And unions are the real reason there is a minimum wage. Union wages on federal contracts are tied to the minimum wage. They don’t give a rat’s behind about poor, entry level workers. In fact, they also use the minimum wage to keep people who would work for less out of the work place.

People are nuts to think government can wave its magic wand and create wealth or value.


61 posted on 06/02/2014 9:58:40 PM PDT by Pining_4_TX (All those who were appointed to eternal life believed. Acts 13:48)
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To: RetiredTexasVet

“Keep at it Washington State, you’ll make California look like pikers soon.”

I thought I lived in a really dumbsh8t city of L.A. but thank you God there’s a worse idiotic AND leftard city than Los Angeles.


62 posted on 06/02/2014 9:59:08 PM PDT by max americana (fired liberals in our company last election, and I laughed while they cried (true story))
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To: old curmudgeon

Watch for a grand exodus of business go overseas.....and population. Which may very well be the intent. Spread the wealth over there as if they haven’t done enough already.

Sad...but we’re letting this happen.


63 posted on 06/02/2014 10:24:12 PM PDT by caww
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To: headstamp 2

“And the jobs will magically disappear.......”

That’s OK...
Seattle should be a place where only rich Liberals should be able to afford to live, anyway. And the people that serve them, of course.

Wouldn’t want them being annoyed by all those smelly poor people, would we?

(/s)
(Or is it??)


64 posted on 06/02/2014 10:27:36 PM PDT by tcrlaf (Q)
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To: Taxman

That’s hysterical...I read some of their complaints...they lost more than gained... waiters make less now that people are not tipping....no longer free meals....have to pay for parking. etc etc.

Businesses will always find a way to recover their expenses....they are in business to make money not hand outs. So the “perks” are gone.


65 posted on 06/02/2014 10:37:40 PM PDT by caww
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To: caww
On the front page of the Seattle Times yesterday, they had some sob story about how "low wages" hurt women and minorities the worst.

No it WASN'T a parody.

Even though it is the boilerplate for a so-called "reporter".

You know what hurts "women and minorities" even WORSE?

NO jobs at all!

66 posted on 06/02/2014 10:52:15 PM PDT by boop (I just wanted a President. But I got a rock.)
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To: boop
Nordstrom's manager: So Sunbeam, I see you called in sick yesterday. Why couldn't you make it to work?

I was protesting the low wages you pay me.

I pay you $11 per hour. You are a valued employee.

Yeah, but it's not enough to support a family on.

But you're single, and have a B.A. in political science. I pay you what your service provides to the company.

But I want more because I feel like I deserve it.

Sorry, Sunbeam, there's a guy with a PhD in Astronomy who will gladly take your job for $11 per hour.

That's not FAIR!

Guess we BOTH learned a lesson today. Clean out your locker.

67 posted on 06/02/2014 11:01:40 PM PDT by boop (I just wanted a President. But I got a rock.)
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To: boop

But they won’t see that this will lead to fewer jobs...and they all “assume” they will keep theirs...and if not...months or years on welfare or unemployment or both. Either way...they know there’s a “safety net”.

Wonder how this will change the welfare assistance in their area?


68 posted on 06/02/2014 11:21:08 PM PDT by caww
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To: old curmudgeon

Do you think this push is REALLY about minimum wage?
Most unions ALREADY have a clause that ties their wages to multiples of the minimum wage. EVERY union worker in Seattle just got paid...


69 posted on 06/02/2014 11:26:09 PM PDT by Kozak ("It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal" Henry Kissinger)
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To: vox_freedom

“Seriously, buy silver and gold. The worst is yet to come.”

Skip it; ya can’t eat metal.

Better off buying a ton of wheat berries and a hand mill.
When the grid goes down for good, and there’s no longer any such thing as a grocery store, you’ll at least have “the staff of life” to lean on.

Oh, but don’t forget to invest in enough guns and ammo to defend your wheat cache; you’ll be utterly dismayed how nasty people get when they’re starving, and all they’ve got are bags of gold.


70 posted on 06/03/2014 12:40:11 AM PDT by HKMk23 (The Superior Culture will prevail.)
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To: Second Amendment First

How income inequality happens.


71 posted on 06/03/2014 3:01:25 AM PDT by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
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To: Second Amendment First

Jerks. Who can live on $15/hour? If they had as much heart as they claim, they’d have made it $30/hour and watched the city grow income inequality even faster.


72 posted on 06/03/2014 3:29:14 AM PDT by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
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To: Opinionated Blowhard

“Teenagers and young adults in their 20s, especially blacks and other minorities, aren’t going to be able to find jobs. No one makes “minimum wage” forever. It is an entry level wage to test people out.... Sure, it will pay an experienced person the “minimum wage” but it won’t take a chance on an unemployed teenager or young adult. Then they get stuck in the mythical “cycle of poverty.”

They will see what happens when a system is based on merit now; employers will pay $15 for the right worker (and get their money’s worth from them), but that is going to leave even more of those people with no work ethic in the dust...


73 posted on 06/03/2014 3:57:49 AM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: Second Amendment First

Stroke of the pen; law of the land.

Pretty cool!


74 posted on 06/03/2014 4:12:26 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: boop

“On the front page of the Seattle Times yesterday, they had some sob story about how “low wages” hurt women and minorities the worst.”

How long can they expect Anglo parents of sons to read these stories before they swear undying loyalty to any politician who will make these people disappear (with no questions asked)? Sound familiar? It should; that is how much of Europe settled their problems with communists eighty years ago.


75 posted on 06/03/2014 4:12:46 AM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: Kozak

“Most unions ALREADY have a clause that ties their wages to multiples of the minimum wage. EVERY union worker in Seattle just got paid...”

Then they’ll reap the fruits of that in the same manner as they did in the northeast - they’ll be extinct.


76 posted on 06/03/2014 4:13:52 AM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: old curmudgeon
All because of some kid future Democratic voters just out of school who have absolutely no experience and who should probably pay to get the experience.
77 posted on 06/03/2014 4:14:03 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Dave W

“I don’t think too many people make the minimum wage anyway and by 2021, $15.00 could be the national minimum wage anyway. I think it will happen.”

Probably, because by 2021 $15 will buy a can of soda. I think a lot of these “minimum wage increase” stories are just a reflection that inflation is eating our paychecks while not acknowledged by the government (which would have to increase the payments on many entitlements if the inflation was reported). It is also an acknowledgment that many adults will be working low-skill jobs for much of their lives, and the idea of a training wage has disappeared - there is already little opportunity for young people.


78 posted on 06/03/2014 4:17:43 AM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: Dave W
$15.00 could be the national minimum wage anyway. I think it will happen.

I expect Obama to issue an executive order.

79 posted on 06/03/2014 4:18:31 AM PDT by Lazamataz (Early 2009 to 7/21/2013 - RIP my little girl Cathy. You were the best cat ever. You will be missed.)
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To: Delta Dawn
Every business in Seattle will be checking the actual boundaries of the city and will no doubt be looking to move at least 1 foot beyond that line.

Not quite.

At least far enough that ANNEXATION cannot reach them.

Sometimes this is overseas...

80 posted on 06/03/2014 4:21:15 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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