Seattle Passes Ordinance For $15 Minimum Wage

I started at my company 14 yrs ago. My job in customer service required a degree. I was paid less than $15 an hr. My friend was a vet tech which also required a degree and paid less. If an entry level job goes to $15/hr, don't think that those jobs I mentioned will raise their starting pay as well.

Years ago I worked at a supermarket. Management made a choice to raise starting wage to $7/hr. My pay was $6/hr at that time, so it meant a $1/hr raise for me. Not terrible, but the next week I was training the new person off the street making the same as me while I have over a year experience and clearly know the job enough to the point I can train people. Is that fair?

 

Yup... they'll cut their hours to below 32 so they don't have to provide benefits and that extra $6/hour will end up paying for their medical insurance that they are getting as a part of their pay package now at 32+

 

YES! I worked for $4.25 an hr back in the day. No way I was dumb enough to think that was a lifelong career

 

Beavis, what is the current min wage?

 

My first job in '86 was $3.25 / hour , minimum wage in BC at the time

 

Automated kiosks for taking the order and money.

We already have that in a lot of Jack in the Box stores and they offer a discount or free dessert as a "thank you"... I don't order the freebie, my reward is not having to communicate with a person who lacks the most basic grasp of the language.

It can't eliminate 100% of the labor, but it can eliminate all of the front-counter workers.
Much of the food production can be automated.
Given that during off-peak hours, many fast food places run with only 2 or 3 employees, automation for which the technology currently exists could reduce that to a single-person operation off-peak, and reduce a staff of 12 to 3 for peak hours... with an IMPROVEMENT in customer service speed and order accuracy.

 

Raising the minimum wage is also a great way to get a large group of people to vote for you too, even if it's only on a local level...

 

1990, flipping burgers in MA. I was 16 and busted my ass there. Never did I expect it to pay my way through life.

For what it's worth, I did get raises over my 14 yrs at my current job..bonuses..damn good insurance..and so on. I also have a second job working for a non-profit. Part of it is that I enjoy it, part of it is that every little bit helps. I'm lucky if I make $8 an hour after all is said and done there.

 

Wow 6 pages already. I hardly post on here anymore.

Anyways, not only do I forsee everyone's hours getting cut, but it will be damn near impossible to find any entry level jobs that would normally pay minimum wage to begin with. Unemployment will skyrocket but layoffs will be at a high and you won't be getting a job anywhere else. Fast food places are just gonna become more automated. It's a beyond stupid idea, and thank god it's only the city of Seattle and not the whole god damn state. I'm hoping it will be an utter failure so all of you in other states don't have to deal with soon as well.

 

That was 14 years ago... what is the entry level pay for those jobs now?

Compared to 14 years ago, I'm now making $30k more than I was in '00, and incidentally, $20k less than I was making in '09.

 

True.

No one ever thinks about a plan B in case it does fail.

 

Hmm, settle it over a Widmer's, conveniently 3 blocks from my workplace.

 

Comparable to California
I started at $2.90/hr in '79.
In '80 it went to $3.10
In '81 it went to $3.35 and stayed there until '88 when it went to $4.25.
Next increase wasn't until '96, then actually had two increases in '97... $5.00 in March, and $5.15 in September.
Worked its way up to $8.00 in 2008 and stayed there until this year.
It's currently $9.00, and goes to $10.00 in January 2016.

 

You are assuming that minimum wage workers vote.

Some do. Most are too preoccupied with themselves.

 

No, but they can hold it at $15 until the rest of the country catches up in 10 years.

 

Yea and they will look like Detroit