US sees largest protests calling for $15 minimum wage

schumi

schumi

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Hundreds of people, including a number of officials, have been arrested across the United States for taking part in protests calling for a higher national minimum wage and more labour union rights, organisers say.

Demonstrations affiliated with "Fight for $15" - a US-based international movement seeking a minimum wage of $15-per hour for low-paid workers - took place on Tuesday in hundreds of US cities, including the commercial hubs of New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

It was the largest Fight for $15 day of demonstration since the movement was launched in 2012. Protests were planned in 340 US cities and at 20 airports across the country.

Although more than half of all US states have higher minimum wages than the national level of $7.25 per hour, none have $15 - which senior government officials have introduced a bill in support of.

On Tuesday, workers from the aviation, restaurant, and healthcare industries, as well as university and college faculty, were among the thousands of protesters.

The city of Chicago saw some of the largest demonstrations, which took place outside a McDonald's restaurant, a major hospital, and the O'Hare international airport.

A member of the Fight for $15's Chicago chapter, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity, told Al Jazeera 60 people were arrested after hundreds of protesters blocked a major intersection near McDonald's.
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More at: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/...-calling-15-minimum-wage-161129164539058.html
 
Workers Demand Higher Wages Across US

[video=youtube;4SBALU_Wnf4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SBALU_Wnf4[/video]
 
$15 per hour is quite high!!
$15 *R 14 = R210 an hour

if that person works just one day of 8 hours = 8 *210 =R1680
to me thats alot
 
schumi said:
[video=youtube;4SBALU_Wnf4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SBALU_Wnf4[/video]
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:crylaugh:

They are worried about the immigrants in the airline industry, yet those are the people pushing wages down.

:crylaugh:


It’s not just McDonald’s that has embraced job-replacing technology. Numerous restaurant chains (both quick service and full service) have looked to computer tablets as a solution for rising labor costs that won’t adversely impact the customer’s experience. Eatsa, a fully-automated restaurant concept, now has five locations—all in cities or states that have embraced a $15 minimum wage. And in a scene stolen from The Jetsons, the Starship delivery robot is now navigating the streets of San Francisco with groceries and other consumer goods. The company’s founder pointed to a rising minimum wage as a key factor driving the growth of his automated delivery business.
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http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2016/11/29/thanks-to-fight-for-15-minimum-wage-mcdonalds-unveils-job-replacing-self-service-kiosks-nationwide/#699f335b762e
 
Saw an article recently were it was said that if they get the 15 dollars...then they will move into a higher tax bracket and won't be able to afford the basics like milk and such.
 
crackersa said:
Saw an article recently were it was said that if they get the 15 dollars...then they will move into a higher tax bracket and won't be able to afford the basics like milk and such.
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Then the US tax system is broken. Under a progressive tax system, a higher wage won't see you take home less money. You are only taxed at the higher rate on the money above the level for the lower tax rate.
 
The Trutherizer said:
Assuming 20 working days a month that's R33600 a month. That's one helluva minimum wage if you ask me.
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Well, you will still be competing for a place to rent with people earning the same as you. In the long term it will mean you can pay more for an iphone, and bring middle income earners down closer to low income earners, but the things these people spend the most of their money on - rent and food - will adjust accordingly.
 
konfab said:
:crylaugh:

They are worried about the immigrants in the airline industry, yet those are the people pushing wages down.
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They're pushing the minimum wage down?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2016/11/29/thanks-to-fight-for-15-minimum-wage-mcdonalds-unveils-job-replacing-self-service-kiosks-nationwide/#699f335b762e
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McDonalds having to replace workers due to increased minimum wage... I wonder if their shareholders are going to be getting less? Seems like belts are tightening at the McDonalds board of directors.
 
cerebus said:
They're pushing the minimum wage down?
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Supply and demand. More competition for jobs makes it easier to find someone who would be happy to get a job for the wages you want. If you reverse everything, and have a lot of work with not enough people, wages go up.

cerebus said:
McDonalds having to replace workers due to increased minimum wage... I wonder if their shareholders are going to be getting less? Seems like belts are tightening at the McDonalds board of directors.
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Robots don't call in sick, steal, be rude to customers, or go on strike. The only reason why they haven't taken over is because people are curently cheaper. Making people more expensive has just made the capital expenditure worth while.
 
konfab said:
Supply and demand. More competition for jobs makes it easier to find someone who would be happy to get a job for the wages you want. If you reverse everything, and have a lot of work with not enough people, wages go up.
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Regardless of competition, nobody is pushing up the minimum wage unless it's mandated.

Robots don't call in sick, steal, be rude to customers, or go on strike. The only reason why they haven't taken over is because people are currently cheaper. Making people more expensive has just made the capital expenditure worth while.
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I agree that as long as Congress is pro-corporatist, raising the minimum wage will probably result in more unemployment. It doesn't have that effect in other countries, but America isn't a normal country by any standard.
 
cerebus said:
I agree that as long as Congress is pro-corporatist, raising the minimum wage will probably result in more unemployment. It doesn't have that effect in other countries, but America isn't a normal country by any standard.
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So that is why people in the UK and South Africa are worried about an increase in unemployment from minimum wages as well?

There is only one way that you can increase minimum wages without affecting unemployment and that is if workers increase the value to their employer. So if you have to pay your workers 15% more, they should do something that makes them 15% more valuable to their employers. But that doesn't happen, because these workers think that the world owes them a job.
 
konfab said:
So that is why people in the UK and South Africa are worried about an increase in unemployment from minimum wages as well?
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Of course they're worried about it, everyone worries. There's obviously a wage elasticity issue and there's only so far you can stretch the bottom end of wages without impacting the economy. The question is, does that mean $8 or $15? I can tell you from experience that $15,000 isn't enough to get by on in the US, that's when you have to make choices between food and petrol money; and nobody really knows where the minimum wage equilibrium is in the US because it hasn't changed since I was a teenager.

There is only one way that you can increase minimum wages without affecting unemployment and that is if workers increase the value to their employer. So if you have to pay your workers 15% more, they should do something that makes them 15% more valuable to their employers. But that doesn't happen, because these workers think that the world owes them a job.
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Employers will pay their workers exactly as little as they can get away with doing, and that is historically consistent. If they can keep wages at $8/hour eternally, they will simply do that, regardless of the value that workers believe they bring to the company.
 
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