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| House Passes Minimum Wage Increase |
| 2007-01-11 |
| The Democratic-controlled House voted Wednesday to increase the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, bringing America's lowest-paid workers a crucial step closer to their first raise in a decade. The vote was 315-116, with more than 80 Republicans joining Democrats to pass it. ``You should not be relegated to poverty if you work hard and play by the rules,'' said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md. The bill was the second measure passed since Democrats took control of the House, ending more than a decade of Republican rule. The measure, which now goes to the Senate, would raise the federal wage floor by $2.10 from its current $5.15 an hour in three steps over 26 months. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #22 Yah, gromgoru & Shipman, but you see the point (actually, Shipman made it better) and I didn;t even have to use realistic circumstances. Now, if the employer had a much higher chance of being caught and being stuck with the fines, he might think a lot harder before hiring those illegals. The problem IMO isn't the illegals although they are part of the problem. It's the employer who's willing to cut a few corners to get cheap labor done any way he can. If Tommy had more money he could go into the fence white-washing business on a much bigger scale hiring illegals who work cheap, but slow compared to what can be done by contractors using technology, but who want more money. Heck, he might even be able to go national like some meat-packing facilities we've heard of recently (and who probably will not have to end up paying those fines after all the litigation and negotiating is over with). |
| Posted by: FOTSGreg 2007-01-11 20:48 |
| #21 sorry about that, |
| Posted by: Jan from work 2007-01-11 20:46 |
| #20 dems supporting unions? With the DNC coming to Denver, they will be picketed by the union using the Pepsi center not being a union hall. I see costs going up to cover the added wage difference, and MY wage staying the same. I'm screwed. |
| Posted by: J 2007-01-11 20:45 |
| #19 #17 .99*60 +.01*4*2500=159.4 |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-01-11 19:48 |
| #18 Easy, I'd hire the illegals because they won't be as loud as that asshole with the machine. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-01-11 19:27 |
| #17 Tommy needs a fence white washed. He has $60 to do the job himself or to get it done with. He has 2 friends, Manuel and Johnny. He needs it to be done in 24 hours, but there's at least 48 man-hours worth of work involved. Manuel wants to do the job. He says he can do it for $5 an hour. He has 3 friends named Raul, Martine, and Juan. He says he can get his 3 friends to help him to do the job. He will pay for their help out of the money that Tommy is going to pay him. Working together the 4 of them can get the job done in 12 hours time at a cost to Tommy of $60. Johnny also wants to do the job. He wants $30 an hour and will use the money to rent a machine which will get the job done in 2 hours at a cost to Tommy of $60. The problem is, Manuel and his crew are illegals. There is maybe a 1% chance that Tommy will face a government fine of about $2500 each for hiring 4 illegal workers (if he gets slapped with the fine). Who would you hire? |
| Posted by: FOTSGreg 2007-01-11 16:44 |
| #16 None of it if you make less than about $40k/year. |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-01-11 16:07 |
| #15 So how much of that 2.10 an hour raise gets eaten up in taxes? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-01-11 14:21 |
| #14 "This is payback for the unions" However if there are serious layoffs, how does this benefit the unions. Companies are about to see their hourly employee costs go up by 10% or more. I expect the unemployment rate to shoot up above 5% if this bill passes. (not to mention higher inflation) Al |
| Posted by: Frozen Al 2007-01-11 14:13 |
| #13 Raise the minimum wage? Bah, these people are economic wankers. When I'm elected, not only will I double the minimum wage, but I will implement price controls and halve the price of everything. You'll see an economic explosion like never before. Vote for me! Oh yeah, and free prescription drugs for everyone. Especially old people and pets. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2007-01-11 12:42 |
| #12 "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes." I don't see fascist control of wages and salaries listed there. |
| Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever) 2007-01-11 12:20 |
| #11 Steve White is correct. This is Payback to the Unions. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2007-01-11 12:11 |
| #10 Where in the Constitution does Congress get the power to control our wages? The Commerce Clause. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2007-01-11 11:20 |
| #9 This has no direct effect: fewer than 1% of all workers make the minimum wage, and most of them are kids in high school/college in their first job or part-time job. And many of those kids are from middle-class or better families. The real reason to hike the minimum wage is that most unions have in their contracts a clause that hikes the wages for their members whenever the minimum wage goes up. The Dems are simply taking care of their union supporters. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2007-01-11 11:20 |
| #8 Where in the Constitution does Congress get the power to control our wages? |
| Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever) 2007-01-11 10:48 |
| #7 Many illegals in the midwest are working in construction, I have heard scuttlebutt about $15 an hour, no overtime for concrete workers. I assume welders and ironworkers would make more than that. When I left the pile drivers union in 2002 the scale was 24.42 an hour, and they were cutting into our action back then. A contractor will go apeshit over $1 an hour, just think how happy they would be to save $9 + no benefits. So they arent just working at Denny's for minimum wage, they are soaking up as much of the good work as they can get their hands on. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2007-01-11 08:25 |
| #6 It's not so much the illegals themselves are more enthusiastic, but rather the employers have a great incentive to take the risk of using illegal workers. If an illegal makes $3/hour and a legal worker makes $7, that's worth taking a chance of fines and a shutdown. |
| Posted by: Jackal 2007-01-11 07:17 |
| #5 I guess I'm thinking legally. I suppose there will be plenty of illegals willing to work for $1/hr if they would get nothing in their home country. Sigh. |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-01-11 06:20 |
| #4 More illegals = more Dem voters = more illegals Who said there's no such thing as perpetual motion? |
| Posted by: Bobby 2007-01-11 06:06 |
| #3 Gorb, economics is not an exact science (IMO, it's not a science at all), but raising minimum wage always results in more unregistered employment. Which in USA means more illegal emigrants. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-01-11 05:45 |
| #2 Well, maybe it will make the US an even more appealing option, but I wouldn't be surprised if some people get laid off because of it, and it makes jobs more attractive to legals. Perhaps the net effect is that it might actually reduce illegals? Just thinkin' out loud. |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-01-11 05:39 |
| #1 More illegals. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-01-11 05:30 |