From Paben
A new Republican bill in Olympia would suspend the requirement that the state adjust the minimum wage during periods of high unemployment.
Rep. Condotta
That requirement was set by Initiative 688, passed by voters in 1998. Click here to see the bill report for HB 2498.
A hearing on the bill is set for Tuesday, Jan. 31.
A different bill sponsored by House Republicans would would lower the minimum wage for servers, as long as the tips they receive put them at the $9.04 per hour that all other minimum-wage employees currently get.
The Republican bill would let employers pay all tip-earning staff $7.25 per hour, as long as their tips bring them up to the minimum wage others get. Federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour.
Click here to see HB 2497, which is scheduled for a public hearing on Tuesday, Jan. 31.
It’s been explained to me that restaurant owners often try to pay their kitchen and dishroom staff a higher wage, so they can get paid a little more fairly compared to the tip-earning employees, who can sometimes bring in tons of money with tips. But, as the minimum wage rises each year with inflation, they’re finding it harder and harder to level the playing field.
Click here to see more on the state’s minimum wage and past adjustments to it.
Both bills are sponsored by Cary Condotta, R-East Wenatchee.
I’m sure John Steinbeck would approve.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCKe65vjN58&feature=related
The problem with the “right to work (for peanuts)” crusade, is that the logic can seem reasonable during tough times.
The trick is all the intentional forces and pressure to purposefully cram the economy into a desperate corner by which such emergency low wage provisions look like a reasonable leap of logic. In the small picture, unemployed workers can’t even pay rent or buy food, and would jump at the chance to work at Walmart or McDonalds as an emergency measure. The architects of this scam have the American worker exactly where they want him.
For struggling businesses who are already running at a loss, the raise in minimum wage can be the last straw that kills the business.
But that’s just the final result of an overall strategy since 1980 to remove the middle class. This can’t be fixed with raises in minimum wage or not. It’s a systemic breakdown of the entire economic model.
Something does need to be done about Initiative 688. I don’t know if this goes far enough, but it’s a start. As a business owner who employees about 40 employees between two locations, this initiative has been a hindrance to my business and this latest increase could end up being the factor that puts us out of business. This latest increase equals about a $15,000 increase to our bottom line and in this economy that money just is not there.
There are basically three ways for me to pay for these raise increases. The first is to raise prices. Even in good times raising prices is a slippery slope, in this economy where consumers are so price sensitive raising prices is impossible.
Second way would be to cut hours. Again I run into the issue where I risk losing customers due to a decrease in service. And my employees don’t gain any more income with receiving a raise if it just results in their hours being cut.
The last way is to reduce the wage gap between my minimum wage employees and my senior employees and management staff. That is what we have been doing since I-688 started. Before I-688 started, our managers made 40% above minimum wage, our supervisors earned $3+ above minimum wage and once an employee completed all of their training they were earning $1 above minimum wage. We also had merit raises available to reward our top employees. The only employees who made minimum wage were new hires.
Now our managers only make 20% above minimum wage, our supervisors earn less than $1 above minimum wage and all non-management employees are paid minimum wage. No raises for completing training and no possibility to earn a merit raise.
Now in 2012, we can’t raise prices and the wage gap has been reduced as much as it possibly can. I’m left with no choice but to cut hours or go out of business (which may end up happening anyways). Initiative 688 is costing us jobs and raising the operational costs of a business in this state so high that it is forcing businesses to close their doors.
Paying employees more money might sound like a good idea on the surface. But the money to pay for these wage increases needs to come from somewhere. The majority of businesses who employee minimum wage employees are small business owners. Small business owners aren’t a bunch of Scrooge McDuck’s swimming around in our money vaults, we are struggling to make ends-meet and in this economy struggling just to keep the doors open.
Initiative-688 is not allowing employees to make more money and it is damaging our economy.