House passes bill to raise minimum wage to $15 an hour

Fox News ^ | Ronn Blitzer | Fox News

[conservative98]

The House of Representatives approved the Raise the Wage Act Thursday, which would boost the federal minimum wage for the first time in a decade.

In a 231-199 vote along party lines, the House passed the legislation that would increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour, more than double the current rate of $7.25. In an even more drastic increase, the bill calls for having the same minimum wage for tipped workers, raising it from $2.13 an hour.

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Exactly.

[jazusamo]

This is ridiculous, they’re playing to the leftists as usual.

I doubt it’ll get through the senate and am sure President Trump would not sigh it if it does.

[Yosemitest]

Minimum-wage increase proposals are NOT about minimum wages.
It's about UNION wages (read government employees mostly) and UNION DUES.
Like "Artie" on another thread wrote.

"but my theory is that
this is one of the foundations of single payer.
Down the road, as single payer replaces ObamaCare,
all healthcare workers will become in essence government employees.
Think about how many thousands of new, dues paying union members will magically become part of the SEIU.

Barry had sealed this deal with Andy Stern years ago.
Barry promised Andy and the SEIU thousands of new members,
Andy says
great,
this is the wage structure we need
so we can pay the slush fund.
Gotta pay a living wage to all of the new union members
so dues can be extracted
and kickbacks to the dems can be made.
It’s convoluted
but what dem scheme isn’t,
especially when large sums of cash are involved?"

So read the following:

Union Support Of Minimum Wage Hike Is Self-Interested by RICHARD BERMAN on Aug 26, 2013

Mary Kay Henry, president of the Service Employees International Union, ... was quick to emphasize that her organization's support of a more-than-twofold increase in the minimum wage was "not about growing unions."

This may be true — but it's also undeniable that such a move would have a profound impact on growing union paychecks, even if those unions don't count a single minimum-wage employee in their ranks.

The fine print can be found in union contracts. Each year, the Department of Labor's Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) releases a number of union collective bargaining agreements (CBAs).

Unsurprisingly, many CBAs available in the OLMS database LINK union salaries and wage rates to the federal minimum wage. There are a number of methods that unions use to accomplish this end. The two most popular appear to be setting baseline union wages as a percentage above the minimum wage, and mandating a flat wage at a set level above the minimum wage.

One example is a series of CBAs signed with the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE). Their contracts mandated that
"(w)henever the federal legal minimum wage is increased, minimum wage (in the agreement) shall be increased so that each will be at least fifteen (15%) percent higher than such legal minimum wage."

There's also an SEIU local's contract, which ordered that
"(t)he minimum hourly wage rates shall exceed any statutory applicable minimum wage rate by 50 cents."

Some unions have also arranged contracts where the employer MUST renegotiate their contracts in case of a minimum-wage hike, NO MATTER HOW LONG is left on the pact's life span.

The possibility for abuse here is staggering:
Unions with average wages WELL ABOVE the minimum wage CAN INSERT such clauses into their contracts, FORCING negotiations in industries not otherwise affected by a wage hike.

Given the limited number of CBAs available in the OLMS database, it's impossible to determine just how widespread this practice is.

But at least one union has trumpeted this arrangement as "one of the many advantages of being a union member."

Earlier this year on its blog, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union proudly boasted that "oftentimes, union contracts ARE TRIGGERED TO IMPLEMENT WAGE HIKES IN CASE OF MINIMUM WAGE INCREASES."

This is a stunning admission of SELF-INTERESTt for an organization that's actively PUSHING minimum-wage hikes at both the state and federal levels of government.

It also raises questions about unions' growing use of nonunion "worker centers" like the Restaurant Opportunities Center, OUR Walmart, Fast Food Forward and other organizations that have made headlines in recent months.

These groups advocate many policies that would affect those businesses that pay a minimum wage — restaurants, retailers, etc. — and a minimum-wage hike is often the FIRST demand that these union front groups make. This only casts further suspicion on the motives of the labor unions funding these groups.

No matter how you look at it, the benefits that these unions stand to reap from a minimum-wage hike should raise questions about their real motives — and whether they're only manipulating the debate over fast-food wages for their own benefit.



Berman is the executive director at the Center for Union Facts.

Young Student Gets Limbaugh Lesson on the Minimum Wage
Oct 27, 2017


RUSH: This is Caden in Reno.
Great to have you.

CALLER: Hi, Mr. Limbaugh. RUSH: Hi.

CALLER: This is just an honor.
I just want to say how much of an honor this is to be speaking with you on your show.
I am just… I’m doing a speech on Monday in my speech and debate class on why the minimum wage should NOT be increased.

RUSH: Mmm-hmm.

CALLER: And I would like to…
I was wondering if you could give me a couple of talking points on why
raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would affect the economy
or just business in general.

RUSH: Okay.
Caden, but first, before I answer this,
do you have a computer ?
Are you able Google things and search them ?

CALLER: Yeah.

RUSH: Okay.
Because you’re gonna need to do this because you’re gonna find the evidence I’m gonna give you.

CALLER: Okay. RUSH: Seattle.
You need to search “Seattle and restaurants” and find out what happened to them after the minimum wage was raised to $15 an hour.
A bunch of restaurants closed, Caden.
Raising the minimum wage
— choosing an arbitrary number that has nothing to do with the market and demanding that the least qualified earn that money —
means that people get fired.
Businesses do not have a pile of money they’re not using
that they can go raise wages from.
They have to earn it via sales or whatever.

So what happens when the minimum wage is raised arbitrarily on the command of government
is that people lose their jobs.
More people end up out of work,
and the resulting increase in the minimum wage is not enough to counterbalance that at all.
But you Google “Seattle and restaurants,” and you’ll find out
the number of restaurants that have had to close since they raised the minimum wage to $15.
It will be your argument right there.
You can do your entire report on that story.



---



Related Links



• Washington Post: A ‘very credible’ new study on Seattle’s $15 minimum wage has bad news for liberals

[DoughtyOne]

Senate won’t buy in.

If by some chance it does, Trump won’t.

They think this will buy them votes.

[mewzilla]

The web didn’t take out our restaurants. Cause our nursing homes to lay off and lose great hires because they had to pay more to the less productive.

[DallasGal]

Places in Seattle add a 20% service fee on your bill and state this is not going to the employees. Can’t blame them since they are paying the $15/hr

[House Atreides]

Currently tipped employees will not appreciate this...at least not the competent and hard working ones who EARN their higher tips. The lazy “tipped” employees will love it as they’ll get a substantial raise with no need to improve their performance.

The end result will be that the quality of service will DECLINE.

[Drango]

The donkey wage for those newly unemployed is ZERO

[Responsibility2nd]

In an even more drastic increase, the bill calls for having the same minimum wage for tipped workers, raising it from $2.13 an hour.

In states where $15.00 an hour for waitstaff is mandatory; restaurants have closed and gone out of business. A major chain in California just announced bankruptcy.

Are House Democrats really that mean and stupid? Are they really trying to force the restaurant industry into a financial crisis?

 

[Vaquero]

It needs to pass the senate first

[JimRed]

Hundreds of thousands (or more) of marginal workers will be let go. A business may be able to afford breaking even on a couple of employees, but can’t afford paying them far more than their production warrants.

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

The wait staff of a good restaurant will go from 11 servers and 4 busboys to 4 servers and one busboy.
Immediate expenditures will be made to update the automatic dishwasher to the emerging technology.

[Kozak]

[central_va]

There are only 8 million small businesses that have more than 1 employee. 8 million out of 330 million. Their need for cheap labor should not drive the direction of one of the only two political parties.

[Red Badger]

And I’m sure the Senate will pass it and President Trump will sign it..................this was just for show, a political onanism just for their ignorant base..................

[SpaceBar]

Minimum wage is socialism and completely short circuits the law of supply and demand.

[morphing libertarian]

fewer jobs for students

[central_va]

The wait staff of a good restaurant will go from 11 servers and 4 busboys to 4 servers and one busboy.

Not possible if the number of customers are the same. The amount or work is still the same.

[Yosemitest]

Robotics will boom, when the government makes $15.00 an hour wage a LAW.
All those uninformed students who will support that, will be out of work soon, IF it becomes Federal Law.

[mewzilla]

It’s not just small biz that’s harmed. It’s non-profits, too. And I don’t mean just charities.