A Tale Of Two Cities: Oakland Workers Celebrate Minimum Wage Hike As Business Owners Worry

KPIX 5, CBS San Francisco site ^ | February 27, 2015

[Lonely Bull]

OAKLAND (KPIX 5) — The minimum wage in Oakland is about to become the highest in the Bay Area.

Right now it’s $9/hour, but not for long.

Thanks to voter-approved Measure FF, it will rise to $12.25/hour on Monday.

But as this city’s minimum wage goes up, so go food prices. Most restaurants have said they’ll have to raise prices and cut worker hours.

--SNIP--

But while Higginbotham can’t wait for the $12.25 hourly wage, small business owners like Sam Hori at 475 Café worry they may not survive.

“It’s scary, because if things go down, we cannot to be here.”

Hori is raising prices at his café, everything from the sandwiches to the smoothies.

“It’s $3.85, but it’s going up to almost $5,” said Hori, handing a smoothie to a customer. “We’re going to have less customers because some customers will not be happy about it..”

[Lonely Bull]

Measure FF received a Yes vote from close to 82% of voters.

[SkyDancer]

Next up - workers mad they are laid off because owner of business can’t afford to pay them ....

[rockrr]

The Seattlunatics voted in a $15/hr minimum wage. Idiots all.

[RginTN]

ahhh some people believe business owners have a magic money tree to produce the money for their living wage.

[Lonely Bull]

The Seattlunatics voted in a $15/hr minimum wage. Idiots all.

[Seattle's $15] Minimum wage limbo keeps [liberal] small business owners up at night

Jody Hall owns Cupcake Royale, a collection of seven neighborhood coffee shops that sell artisan cupcakes and ice cream. She employs about 100 people.

Hall is a well-known advocate for progressive causes, like paid sick leave. She offers her employees health insurance and 401(k) contributions. She was an early supporter of the Mayor Ed Murray’s plan to reach a $15 minimum wage within two years, with a seven-year phase in for small businesses.

But after publicly endorsing his efforts, she is having serious second thoughts. “I really have a hard time,” Hall said. “Even though I signed support for a seven-year phase in with the mayor, this is keeping me up at night like nothing ever has.”

[Fungi]

The Right Minimum Wage: $0.00 New York Times. Published: January 14, 1987
http://www.nytimes.com/1987/01/14/opinion/the-right-minimum-wage-0.00.html

[MeshugeMikey]

Oakland just about tops my short list of places to avoid like the plague.

amazing foresight these people have.

DETROIT CITY II here it comes

[laconic]

I want a thousand dollar an hour minimum wage; that way, everyone could work four hours a week for $ 4,000 and we would all be rich, making an average of $ 200,000 each. Isn’t it amazing that no one has thought of anything so simple before? We could all be rich and have a lot more leisure time. Let’s get it on the ballot.

[digger48]

Mike Rowes take on minimum wage

http://www.freerepublic.com/%5Ehttp://profoundlydisconnected.com/ofw-minimum-wage/

http://profoundlydisconnected.com/ofw-minimum-wage/

[RedMDer]

Welcome Home

Homes need to be cared for
Please handle it today

Let's get this done!
Less than $4.3k to go!!

[Fungi]

Laconic, a great word. The first time I used it in college, no one knew what it meant. Laconic: using few words; expressing much in few words; concise.

[max americana]

“It will certainly help struggling workers like Chris Higginbotham, a cashier at McDonald’s.”

So McD’s will now eradicate the dollar menu at that location? I guess saying “would you like to super size that?” a hundred times a day is a “struggle”...

[ArcadeQuarters]

Why should anyone be paid more for taking longer to get their job done? All of society would be wealthier if the motivation were productivity rather than time.

Human labor (physical and mental) is the limiting resource in how wealthy we can be so we should use it efficiently, not pay to waste it.

[faithhopecharity]

so there will soon be even LESS jobs in Oakland .. (a city already afficted with massive unemployment and a very high level of serious crime)

Oakland, California’s answer to Detroit

[sickoflibs]

Arguments for raising it:

1) They will spend that $$$ stimulated the economy and increasing demand creating jobs. It has 100X the power of a Reagan tax cut. Customers will line up to spend that $$$ regardless of the price.

2) Its immoral to pay workers less then at least $XXXX per hour. Its a moral thing.

Example, if Starbucks has to raise its price for coffee what choice to customers have but to pay it? Even $10 per cup? They want to be able to stay awake.

[Secret Agent Man]

82% of Oaklanders still in the “socialism is great” phase, other people’s money hasn’t run dry yet.

[poobear]

Smoke more pot Jodie.

[Boomer One]

I’m confused. Where in our Constitution does it give government the mright to set a minimum wage? This is a step toward socialism, and I guarantee it will hurt America. I guess the 82% who voted for this increase will wonder what happened to starter jobs for unskilled youth and why small businesses have closed their shops.

[WIBamian]

Obama is obviously lying when he says the minimum wage will help poor people. In fact, Christina Romer, the former chairwoman of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, suggests that the minimum wage rarely helps low-income workers, and it can actually harm the very people it is supposed to help.

The only reason the minimum wage is raised is to ‘help’ poor people with a ‘perceived’ benefit in exchange for their votes. Aghast! It's all politics!

The Business of the Minimum Wage

[catnipman]

“So McD’s will now eradicate the dollar menu at that location?”

First step will be eliminating cashiers by replacing them with touch-screen ordering systems coupled with payment systems like grocery self-checkout units.