Raising Min. Wage to $15

[Godzira]

Petition - Fight for $15 BC

[Noir]

no

[Godzira]

why.


"In the U.S., cities including Seattle and San Francisco are moving to a $15 an hour minimum wage.

“Seattle and San Francisco know that increasing the minimum wage gives a boost to local economies,” said Irene Lanzinger, secretary treasurer of the BC Federation of Labour. “ Low wage earners are more likely to spend their money at businesses in their neighbourhood. Businesses may also experience improved employee retention and productivity when employees feel valued and respected.”

[RRxtar]

Fuck no.

First of all, why does a 15 year old kid need to make $15/hour?

More importantly, what happens when all of the skilled labor who work their ass off to do better than minimum wage who are currently making $15-$18/hour suddenly don't have any incentive to work harder than a minimum wage job? They are going to need a raise to keep them at a pay grade above minimum wage to reflect their work level. So now why would a highly skilled labor or journeyman who is currently making $25/hour want to go thru all that effort to get there, when they can take the easy route and make about the same?

Second of all, raising minimum wage WILL increase costs on businesses who employ labor workers. So now that $10 meal that you worked 1 hour to afford is a $15 meal, which you still need to work 1 hour to afford, so affordability doesn't go up.

[Godzira]

Originally Posted by RRxtar

Fuck no.

First of all, why does a 15 year old kid need to make $15/hour?

More importantly, what happens when all of the skilled labor who work their ass off to do better than minimum wage who are currently making $15-$18/hour suddenly don't have any incentive to work harder than a minimum wage job? They are going to need a raise to keep them at a pay grade above minimum wage to reflect their work level. So now why would a highly skilled labor or journeyman who is currently making $25/hour want to go thru all that effort to get there, when they can take the easy route and make about the same?

Second of all, raising minimum wage WILL increase costs on businesses who employ labor workers. So now that $10 meal that you worked 1 hour to afford is a $15 meal, which you still need to work 1 hour to afford, so affordability doesn't go up.

why wouldn't it raise wages for trades and salary workers? it has to start somewhere

[Hondaracer]

exactly.

Does somone who cant even get a mcdonalds order right deserve the same $15 a guy digging trenches all day long get? i'd say no.

This whole "children living in poverty" story the news is running the last few days kinda pisses me off. I get that some people are really in dire straights because of shitty circumstances etc.

but the story they led with was a teacher explaining her encounter with a mother of a student "the mother of the 8 year old, who had a 6 year old, who was also pregnant, living in a new city, broke down to me that the only thing she had in her fridge was a jar of olives"

Well.. not to sound cold hearted, but if you couldnt afford to feed one child, what exactly gave ya the idea to have 2 more?

[RRxtar]

Originally Posted by Godzira

why.


"In the U.S., cities including Seattle and San Francisco are moving to a $15 an hour minimum wage.

“Seattle and San Francisco know that increasing the minimum wage gives a boost to local economies,” said Irene Lanzinger, secretary treasurer of the BC Federation of Labour. “ Low wage earners are more likely to spend their money at businesses in their neighbourhood. Businesses may also experience improved employee retention and productivity when employees feel valued and respected.”

The government mandated raise in minimum wage does absolutely nothing to increase employee value and respect. If anything, Im now going to be pissed off that this useless tit is costing me so much money that if he is now expendable. At a $10 wage I could tolerate a few mistakes, but when he costs me 50% more, hes wasting me money. Plus Im still pissed off that hes making as much as my skilled workers make/ used to make.

If minimum wagers want to earn more in my company, they can work to earn that.

Minimum wage jobs arent supposed to be a career.



I would much rather see huge income tax incentives for low paid workers than see wages go up

[flagella]

LOL @ $15/hr

Are people fucking retarded? Goodness these self-entitled fucks.

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by Godzira

why wouldn't it raise wages for trades and salary workers? it has to start somewhere

lol... Construction right now is tight as FUCK when it comes to making money, people are litterally undercutting people to make HUNDREDS of dollars in profit on some jobs, and some are just taking work to break even in order to continue to bid on work.

a $3-$4 overall increase in wages to most struggling construction companies would mean shutting down.

[4444]

U want more money, get a better job

U want a better job, get skilled and/or work harder

U want a McJob, don't expect to be middle class, McJobs are for 15 yr olds and those working towards something more (ppl getting educated)

Yes, it is that simple

[RickyTan3]

Fuck that!

When I was younger I busted my balls for $15 an hour.

I agree raising to maybe $12 but FUCK $15

[RRxtar]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

lol... Construction right now is tight as FUCK when it comes to making money, people are litterally undercutting people to make HUNDREDS of dollars in profit on some jobs, and some are just taking work to break even in order to continue to bid on work.

a $3-$4 overall increase in wages to most struggling construction companies would mean shutting down.

Exactly. Wages go up means company costs go up which means bids go up. But theres always an east indian company (no racist. just being honest) paying their family cash and room and board to work for them, that will undercut the fuck out of the job and get it. Which means the reputable company loses the job, and likely has to lay employees off.

If minimum wage goes up, so does unemployment.

[freakshow]

It's not that hard to make $15/hour.. if you're worth $15/h, you'll get $15/h. If you're not worth that much, you won't..

[Godzira]

well then.

[Traum]

Undoubtedly, the cost of living is high in Vancouver, but my personal feeling is that this is primarily due to a high housing and transportation costs, not a low minimum wage. Trying to jack up the min wage when housing and transportation costs are the real culprit seems like a dumb solution.

[Geoc]

The reason why San Francisco can afford to raise to 15/hr is because multi-billion dollar tech companies dump millions and millions of dollars into the talents they have there. There are a lot of engineers pulling 6 figures and up driving up cost of living.

We have nothing compared to places like those, our cost of living are jacked up by rich immigrant money, not because median incomes are rising. We can't afford 15/hr here.

[LP700-4]

BRB making petition to cap gas price at $1.00/L so I can afford a V8

[MindBomber]

Originally Posted by RRxtar

Exactly. Wages go up means company costs go up which means bids go up. But theres always an east indian company (no racist. just being honest) paying their family cash and room and board to work for them, that will undercut the fuck out of the job and get it. Which means the reputable company loses the job, and likely has to lay employees off.

If minimum wage goes up, so does unemployment.

It's not just immigrant contractors.

I've bid against a number of contractors who were born in Canada that are basically buying work, and they've proceeded to go bankrupt, but their predecessors start up and take their place. They do it in an attempt to keep their crews busy so they don't walk but it simply doesn't work, because if they can't find profitable work now they won't be able to later.

[Tone Loc]

To be fair, it's customary for labour groups to ask for a higher amount than they expect to receive. If they just ask for $11 they won't get $11, but if they ask for $15 they can then "negotiate" $11.

That being said, the minimum wage should go up with the cost of living... but $4 dollar increase? No way. What will end up happening is that employers will just hire less people and/or overwork the remaining staff. Low-wage jobs are low-wage for a reason, they're not "lifer" jobs. Not to sound like a jerk but I don't know how one can work at McDonalds for their entire life (or that's what they're making it sound from the article) and be "satisfied" regardless of the wage lol.

The moral of the story is that kids are too entitled these days. How about you get out of Generation Me mode and think of the bigger picture...

EDIT: Not to mention, like someone said above, Vancouver's cost of living is high NOT due to high median incomes, but wealthy immigrant investor money that "invests" into the housing market, thereby keeping housing prices up, and a relatively high cost of fuel + public transport compared to other cities

[Mr.HappySilp]

This will only hurt small business. The small shops will either close or have to lay ppl off. The big crop will still operate just fine because they will just pass the cost down to customers (they can afford to do that lol). So who suffers in end? Small business.

[iEatClams]

Originally Posted by Traum

Undoubtedly, the cost of living is high in Vancouver, but my personal feeling is that this is primarily due to a high housing and transportation costs, not a low minimum wage. Trying to jack up the min wage when housing and transportation costs are the real culprit seems like a dumb solution.

this

Originally Posted by Geoc

The reason why San Francisco can afford to raise to 15/hr is because multi-billion dollar tech companies dump millions and millions of dollars into the talents they have there. There are a lot of engineers pulling 6 figures and up driving up cost of living.

We have nothing compared to places like those, our cost of living are jacked up by rich immigrant money, not because median incomes are rising. We can't afford 15/hr here.

+ this

Originally Posted by RRxtar

Exactly. Wages go up means company costs go up which means bids go up. But theres always an east indian company (no racist. just being honest) paying their family cash and room and board to work for them, that will undercut the fuck out of the job and get it. Which means the reputable company loses the job, and likely has to lay employees off.

If minimum wage goes up, so does unemployment.

yup, temp foreign employees and Shady companies that pay their employees cash under the table.

You wonder how they can build a house for $100 a square foot and you see that it's guys getting paid $10 cash an hour. Needs to be a crackdown on this imo. Let the market decide, and if you crack down on the illegal cheap labour, the wages of labour should go up (less supply).

[hud 91gt]

Fuck No.



A little off topic but on the same lines...


I do believe full service restaurant workers should be paid a higher wage like some other countries. Only have ever worked at McDonalds during my high school years I don't really have any food service experience but I know enough people that do. They survive on tips, and good tips. I think it's absolutely ridiculous what is expected from North Americans. 20-25% for bringing me my food, topping up my drink a couple times and i'm paying you the same amount that that 15 year old kid is sweating his balls off over an oven in a fast food restaurant for an entire shift? Something seems out of place.

I don't deny it's a tough job, they work hard and tips give some incentive for good service but god damn. If I want a $50 steak, I don't want to pay you $10 to ask me if I want it medium rare, and to walk it over to me without dropping it.

If they were paid a decent wage, food costs would go up, but I can guarantee not 20%. An added benefit the employees would even be taxed properly. But I suppose most students would starve ha. Fuck I eat out to much and I guess i'm a cheap ass.

[bicboi]

3 years ago when I was making a minimum hourly wage, I would've totally sided with this. But it was because I was making so little I worked my ass off to have a salary like I do today. Making $15/hr a minimum will produce a lot of lazy fucks in the whole job industry. I guess it really depends what side of the fence you are on.

[BrRsn]

Originally Posted by LP700-4

BRB making petition to cap gas price at $1.00/L so I can afford a V8

Good analogy.


$15/hour is ridiculous. I have worked since ~2005? Working minimum wage taught me that i wanted more. Where's the motivation to go through the bullshit that's post-secondary if you're already living relatively comfortably?

Society doesn't function without people making $10/hour ... I don't wanna pay 50% more for shit just because people want to be paid more. I know people that have gone through a BCIT course / have a undergraduate degree and they're making $17/hour ... why the hell would anyone want to pay for all that school to only make $2/hour more than minimum wage?

[willystyle]

Take a look at countries that had raised their minimum wage exponentially like in UK and Australia and you will notice first-hand that it DOES NOT improve affordability. Inflation will skyrocket, increasing the cost of basic necessity and services even higher. It's all a snowball effect.

That $8 bowl of large Pho you pay today will cost $13 tomorrow because that server makes $15/hr now. It will hurt small businesses because they can't afford to pass the additional cost to consumers, like large enterprises can.

And how is Canada's economy built?

From small businesses. This is the opposite of improving the lives of the working class.