Alabama House Passes Minimum Wage Bill Blocking Planned Wage Increase

[*bfine32*]

(02-19-2016, 02:36 PM)fredtoast Wrote: The small increase in cost is spread out among the entire population, but the benefit goes to those that need it the most.


Approximately 3 million workers over age 16 earn at the US minimum wage of $7.50.  Giving everyone of those workers a $3.00 hr raise would cost about 18 billion dollars (at 2000 hrs a year).  The unites States produced about $17.4 trillion in goods and services in 2015.  That $18 billion raise would account for an increase of one tenth of one percent of the costs of goods and services. (I realize that this number is too low because lots of people making more than minimum wage but less than $10.50 would also get raises, but even if you double my 18 billion estimate it is still a negligible amount)

Of course the increase would hit some businesses harder than others, but even in the fast food industry to increase would not be that great.  A McDonald's cook prepares hundreds of dollars worth of food in an hour.  So an extra $3.00 only amounts to a few pennies per burger.

What do you do with the folks that are currently earning between $7.51-$10.49 and hour? Do they just get a $2.99-$.01 raise an hour?

[fredtoast]

(02-19-2016, 02:46 PM)bfine32 Wrote: What do you do with the folks that are currently earning between $7.51-$10.49 and hour? Do they just get a $2.99-$.01 raise an hour?

Yes.  That is all they are entitled to.  Some businesses may chose to give them larger raises, but that would not be mandated by law.

[*bfine32*]

(02-19-2016, 02:50 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Yes.  That is all they are entitled to.  Some businesses may chose to give them larger raises, but that would not be mandated by law.

Well, I can't see that causing any problems and where do the "pennies" come from for state and local government workers?

[fredtoast]

(02-19-2016, 02:55 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Well, I can't see that causing any problems and where do the "pennies" come from for state and local government workers?

People making over $7.50 but less than $10.50 are all pretty much in the same boat.  They are not going to complain a lot over getting a raise even if it is less than others.

(02-19-2016, 02:55 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Where do the "pennies" come from for state and local government workers?

I doubt there are any government workers making minimum wage, but if there are we can raise taxes by .0000001% to cover it.  Or perhaps the money we save on fewer government benefits would offset the increase in government wages.

[*bfine32*]

(02-19-2016, 03:03 PM)fredtoast Wrote: People making over $7.50 but less than $10.50 are all pretty much in the same boat.  They are not going to complain a lot over getting a raise even if it is less than others.



I doubt there are any government workers making minimum wage, but if there are we can raise taxes by .0000001% to cover it.  Or perhaps the money we save on fewer government benefits would offset the increase in government wages.

I can tell you there are plenty local workers making less than $10.50 and hour. I get it, your liberal; you want to show the poor you are "doing something for them", when must economic principles shows it will decrease their buying power (save posting contrary; I concede there are models that disagree).

Economics aside; what article of the Constitution covers minimum wage?

[GMDino]

(02-19-2016, 03:07 PM)bfine32 Wrote: I can tell you there are plenty local workers making less than $10.50 and hour. I get it, your liberal; you want to show the poor you are "doing something for them", when must economic principles shows it will decrease their buying power (save posting contrary; I concede there are models that disagree).

Economics aside; what article of the Constitution covers minimum wage?

http://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2162&context=mulr

Nonetheless this was a city raising its minimum wage, not the country.

[BmorePat87]

(02-19-2016, 01:49 PM)fredtoast Wrote: None of that changes the number of jobs available that pay minimum wage.

You are not addressing the problem.  You are talking about an individual.  Even if every individual worked as hard as he could there would still be the same number of jobs paying minimum wage in our economy.

LOL, by raising minimum wage, you still have those jobs. I already said that raising it won't kill the economy (so you can say I support that...) I'm just rejecting the stupid argument that families can't be supported on minimum wage. If you have a family and you're the sole provider, don't settle for a minimum wage job when there are enough non minimum wage jobs. 

[fredtoast]

(02-19-2016, 03:28 PM)BmorePat87 Wrote: LOL, by raising minimum wage, you still have those jobs. I already said that raising it won't kill the economy (so you can say I support that...) I'm just rejecting the stupid argument that families can't be supported on minimum wage. If you have a family and you're the sole provider, don't settle for a minimum wage job when there are enough non minimum wage jobs. 

And I am just pointing out that it doesn't matter how hard you work if there are not enough well paying jobs for everyone to have one.

I agree that working hard increases your chances of making more than minimum wage.  But people lose jobs for all sorts of reasons people(health, injury, pregnancy, re-location, business closing, etc).  And no matter how much each individual works it doesn't solve the problem of people making minimum wage because there will still be the same number of people making minimum wage.

BTW I don't know if you are going this, but it is a very common topic among the people who try to shape the debate to introduce totally unrelated topics (like individual behavior) to derail a conversation.  People working harder has nothing to do with the number of people making minimum wage.

[Vas Deferens]

Birmingham City Council again votes to increase minimum wage sooner than planned ($10.10 an hour)

Quote:Birmingham soon will have one of the highest minimum wages in the South.

The city council voted Tuesday morning to almost immediately implement a minimum wage of $10.10 an hour.

Birmingham's increase was initially set to happen incrementally, to $8.50 an hour in July 2016 and then to $10.10 a year later. This month, the council passed an ordinance to move the increase up to March 1 before Tuesday's vote on an even earlier date, Feb. 24.

Birmingham businesses need 'reasonable' time to comply with minimum wage, Attorney General says
Birmingham businesses need 'reasonable' time to comply with minimum wage, Attorney General says
Though the ordinance is dated Feb. 24, it cannot take effect immediately because of other requirements – the mayor's signature and a published public notice – as well as state law.

Though the change is dated Feb. 24, it still must be signed by the mayor and published publicly before it goes into effect and can be enforced.

The ordinance discussed at Tuesday's meeting was submitted by Council President Johnathan Austin. It passed with a vote of 6-2.

Austin was joined by council members Steven Hoyt, Marcus Lundy, William Parker, Lashunda Scales and Sheila Tyson voting in favor of the ordinance.

"We need to make sure our citizens are taken care of and that we're making decisions in their best interest," Austin said earlier this week.

Council members Valerie Abbott and Kim Rafferty voted against the change after expressing concerns about potential effects on business owners and the politics of the decision. Council President Pro Tem Jay Roberson was not in the room when the vote was taken.

The immediacy of the vote was spurred by efforts in the state legislature to prevent cities and counties from establishing their own minimum wage standards.

A bill by Rep. David Faulkner, R-Mountain Brook, passed Feb. 16 in the Alabama House of Representatives with overwhelming support from Republicans. It now awaits committee action in the Senate.

Faulkner has said that the state needs to keep a uniform minimum wage because a patchwork of minimums would cause problems. Democrats oppose the bill, saying it is an overreach by the legislature.

Sen. Jabo Waggoner said Tuesday that the minimum wage bill is a priority for the Senate's Republican Caucus. They hope to pass the bill by Thursday.

The dispute between state and local officials in Alabama over who has the authority to raise the minimum wage is playing out across the country.

Alabama is one of five states – all in the South – that have not set their own minimum wage. Officials in 29 states and at least 31 cities and counties have raised the wage floor above the federal standard.

Mobile considers raising its minimum wage
Mobile considers raising its minimum wage
State Rep. Napoleon Bracy, D-Prichard, said he plans to push legislation this session that would increase the minimum wage in Mobile County from $7.25 an hour to $10.10. But there are other proposals awaiting lawmakers this spring to increase the minimum wage statewide.

In states and cities without a local minimum wage, employers are governed by the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour, last raised in 2009.

"You have an explosion of local minimum wage laws, and that extends into more conservative states where you have more liberal metropolitan areas," Ken Jacobs, the chairman of U.C. Berkeley's Center for Labor Research and Education, told The New York Times. "In response to that, the states are taking action."

The Obama administration will do whatever it can to support Birmingham raising its minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Labor Chris Lu said at an event in Birmingham several weeks ago.

Lu led a business roundtable at Buck Mulligan's in Five Points South composed of local government leaders, activists and local workers in support of raising the minimum wage.

"Birmingham is really setting a path," Lu said. "Wherever there is a city or state that wants to take on this fight, we at the Department of Labor and the Obama administration are going to support it."

Meanwhile, several local groups have formed a coalition to organize against Faulkner's bill.

Raise Up Alabama officially launched last week at a rally in Mountain Brook. The coalition was organized to get Birmingham's minimum wage increase implemented though rallies, online action, phone banking, letter writing and community organizing.

The coalition represents workers, clergy and unions. So far, Raise Up Alabama includes Alabama Fight for $15; Greater Birmingham Ministries; Moral Movement Alabama; Engage Alabama; the National Employment Law Project; United Steelworkers District 9; RWDSU Mid-South Council; the Alabama AFL-CIO; and Rev. William Barber, the President of the North Carolina NAACP and the preacher behind Moral Mondays.