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Marching for decent wages

Wage march on Boylston Street in Boston

Lily Goldman watched a march for a jump in the minimum wage on Boylston Street this afternoon. More photos.

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May as well march for a jump in ALL wages, since that's what will happen if this wish comes true.

Next up: Marching for a jump in the number of available jobs. Yes, "Matthew" and others will disagree, I'm sure.

Any UH readers who are employers wish to chime in here?

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These jobs will be filled by our newest of citizens who will be happy to earn wages substantially above the region they left.

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1) US and OECD foreign and international monetary policies create...
2) social and economic destabilization in developing countries, which results in...
3) people desperate for work leave their homes and families to come here, which means..
4) the ensuing influx of labor depresses wages, and
5) anyone who wants improvements told to "not whine, at least its not el salvador!"

the great neoliberal circle of life continues.

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These so-called "adults" need to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. If they're only making $7 an hour, then their labor is only worth that much. Bunch of lazy liberals with their Elizabeth Warren and her Obamanomics. When I was a kid, trucks on Storrow Drive and backpacks on the T. Allston Hipsters should BPD Corruption. Fucking Kennedys.

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Tourettes

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One Liawatha reference away from being Howie Carr's next column.

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Oh, did you say something?

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How entitled, they think having a job means they should be able to afford food and rent. We're on the road to becoming a welfare state.

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According to some well-established hub poverty wanker, all working professionals who can't afford to live in boston should stfu, pack up and move, yet somehow "teh poor" deserve to live here and must be subsidized by someone, either the government or the corporations?

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I didn't know wages on Boylston Street this afternoon were so low.

Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com

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But wishes ain't gonna do it. The labor unions that are pushing this need to actually do the real work of organizing low wage workers, winning representation elections, and getting contracts. Soundbites, headlines, and good intentions are easy to come by but aren't getting it done.

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Oh, there's more than enough money to go around.
It's just now considered "un-american" for it to actually go to the workers.

"CEO pay rose 21.7% since 2010, while workers' earnings fell 1.1%. "
http://money.cnn.com/2014/06/12/news/economy/ceo-pay/index.html

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To those who are for this, do you expect an increase of wages without an increase in prices of goods and service? Also do you believe that CEO's and company executive's will stop receiving "golden parachutes?" If so please watch a youtube video of Economics 101. Now do I believe that majority of workers, especially those that work low skilled jobs get compensated more? Hell Yea, they deserve it and are treated like slaves. Unfortunately we live in The Corporate States of America where companies care about the bottom line. This last economic downturn was the first recession, depression where company profits increased and wage levels kept at or below pace.

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There are a number of calculations available on the web detailing what it would cost corporations and businesses if they had to pay living wages.

The results are far more reasonable than you might think. That is without even considering the substantial tax burden that results from non-living wages being bolstered by tax money paid in by the middle class.

You do realize that Costco is a lot cheaper than many places to buy stuff, right? Other examples abound. I suggest you forget about the abstract oversimplification of Econ 101 and, instead, do a little research.

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So when are you going to volunteer to take a pay cut to give the people that work below you a raise?

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You are really unclear on how the world works, aren't you?

FIRST OF ALL, this isn't a zero-sum game (you might want to google that). The reason people are underpaid is because corporations can get away with that by plumping their profits and dumping the burden on the working tax payer. So, not only do I not have to take a pay cut so lower wage workers can be better paid (because they are underpaid to bolster profits), I also would not have to pay as much in taxes on a low six-figure income to support their exploitation.

SECONDLY, I have done enough shit work in my life that I have NEVER PAID LESS THAN A LIVING WAGE TO ANY WORKER IN MY HOME. Somehow, I doubt that you have ever had to rake filberts or pick beans or berries to make enough money for a plane ticket to college or to buy school books. Furthermore, I also make it a point to shop at places where workers are fairly paid, and I find I get more value for my money in doing so.

Finally, my organization pays every worker at least a living wage and has regular audits of compensation to ensure fair pay because most of our executive wing also started off in shitty jobs and came from generations of laborers.

When you put down the cheetoes, leave mommy's basement, and explore the work world for yourself you can talk to me about it. Otherwise, nobody is buying Joe the Plumber's "woe is me I could have a billion dollar a year business if it weren't for those meddling Democrats" act from his mommy's basement, either.

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I love Costco for what they do and how well they treat their employees, but not every single corporation has the mindset of Costco. I was watching a show about Costco how they keep prices at 7-15% percent above their cost to purchase from the distributors. Other big box stores have implemented self checkouts to save on cost of labor. I wouldn't be surprise to walk in a grocery store and see more self checkouts, longer lines and less workers. By the way I believe Walmart can afford to pay their workers 3 times more and be profitable. We've already heard about the horror stories of Walmart.

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So that means no one should even try?

There was never any inherent, original reason or incentive for employers to provide safe(r) workplaces and 8-hour days - it was only when workers organized and gained some amount of solidarity from the purchasing public that those changes were made and worker protections were put into law.

Of course businesses will threaten higher prices, that's what they do when faced with increased regulations, or "responsibilities" or "ethics." But we have to be willing to call bulls#!t on that, and public actions are part of that.

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.were with these small businesses and guess what?

They suck.

It's always some pompous clown mini 'entrepreneur with a half assed biz model who chisels and cheats at every turn.

This is particularly true with the really small things, landscape outfits, painting companies or crappy little restaurants.

The last are so crazy and awful I swore em off like rotgut by the time I was 30.

Larger small biz things like a biotech start up with more than 50 employees are better because it takes more acumen as you scale up.

The small end of small works best when it is some old school family thing with Mom at the register, Dad flippin the grill swill and some kids to chop carrots and onions.

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I once worked for a now-closed pizza shop near Porter Sq. The owner was a class A miser and all-around DB. Some choice memories:

-A patron requested some red pepper flakes for his to-go slice, so I handed him the small plastic pre-filled containers for that purpose. (Think the ~2"-wide ones you often see at salad bars for the dressing.) The man ate his slice at a table. After he left, the owner berated me for not instructing the man to use a table shaker, explaining that a sleeve of those plastic containers cost him $0.25 each.

-I requested a day off 3 weeks in advance for my sister to visit from out of state. Two days before, he announces a mandatory meeting for our 5-person staff. I quit.

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You just made shitty job choices. The job history of one person means nothing.

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Especially of a high school dropout turned drug dealer

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and not out on the street?

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Maybe their schedule or decision to not get paid today isn't any of your business.

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They will all be replaced my more skilled lobor worth the $15 hr.. But worse, people entering the job market for the first time will never get hired.

Don't refuse to post my comment because I have a valid point.

If im a business owner and im forced to pay some schlump $15 hr to use a microwave, you better believe I'm hiring someone who actually knows how to cook. Not a moron who can use a microwave.

And again this will hurt people entering the job market for the first time. No way in hell is someone paying an individual $15 hr for low skilled labor with no experience.

I'm hiring the guy making $12 hr who actually knows how to "cook" food from your local take out joint.

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Thank you for sharing your valuable experience as a business owner. I know that it's not easy providing microwaved food in the competitive marketplace.

Your experience in business provides some real world savvy that many of us pointed head types would never think of such demanding that your comments be posted. Brilliant!

We need more articulate, well thought out opinions from small businesses.

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in '12, 2.1% of the workforce was making minimum wage. 4.7% (3.6 million people) made min. wage or less (tipped employees, etc). 21% of those people were between the ages of 16-19. 30% of them were under the age of 25. That leaves about 2.5 million people out of a workforce of over 75 million that are making at or below minimum wage. Not the tens of millions of families struggling to survive that others would have you believe.

What isn't being discussed is, if you raise the wages of those making min wage, say the guy working at Dunkin Donuts for $8/hour. You're also going to have to raise wages for the guy working next to him with 2 years of experience and who is now making $10/hour. If the first guy goes from making $8-$10, do you really think the guy standing next to him is going to be ok with that? That the new guy is now making the same has he is? No, the cost of goods isn't going to skyrocket, but the cost of wages is going to go up and the real beneficiaries of this will be high school and college kids working part-time jobs.

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We need more articulate, well thought out opinions from small businesses.

Especially hypothetical small businesses that don't actually exist.

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" know that it's not easy providing microwaved food in the competitive marketplace.", condescending, snarky, insulting to a mans business, I could go on.

I hate this kind of "drive by" insult that makes the so called "pointy headed type" look more like a bore and is usually not the kind of stuff that flies on this blog (unless about bikes).

I know the Pointy Headed poster probably felt quite smug with his witty response but I find it a sad reflection of what is called "discussion" now a days.

I'm actually surprised that people up voted his comment that many times.

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Burger flippers deserve $15 an hour, meaning anyone in semi-skilled fields should get at least $25, and anyone in fields requiring a college degree should start at $35 at the very least - let's see how well that works out. Or is everyone naive enough to believe people in skilled fields will be perfectly content with a burger flipper salary?

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If a grocery bagger deserves $15 an hour, doesn't that mean your auto mechanic (or that smug hipster that fixes your fixie at your neighborhood bike shop) deserves at least twice as much? If so, is everyone willing to pay $80 for an oil change? If not, why would anybody want to bust their ass as a grease monkey (or take any other one of millions of semi-skilled or skilled jobs out there that are currently paying around $15 an hour) when they can make that $15 an hour putting crap in bags behind a register at their local Star Market?

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and the sky has not fallen. I wish they would just set it to change with the cost of living and stop making politics of it.

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