http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024147587Star member Butch McQueen (40 posts!!!!!!)
Sat Dec 7, 2013, 08:10 PM
I Raised The Mimimum Wage to $10.80 Today!
Well it was only for one hour and it was only for 3 people, but ya gotta start somewhere
I had to do some running around in town today and thought I'd try this little experiment. I did this both out of personal curiosity and in the hopes that maybe if even just a few people get to talking...
For background, I live in what I think of as TPOT (Tea Party Occupied Territory), a small town in Arizona with a population of around 20,000. These are people that (for the most part) are proud that their representative in the state legislature (Brenda Barton) recently publicly compared President Obama to Hitler.
In every business that I went into today, I asked every worker that I had an interaction with if their pay was something "pretty close to minimum wage". They all answered that their pay was right around minimum wage ($7.80 an hour in Arizona). I then commented:
"You know there are a lot of people in this country that don't even believe your labor is worth even that much. There is a Republican Representative in Texas named Joe Barton (maybe he is Brenda's brother or something!) who has actually said he would support eliminating minimum wage completely and letting your employer pay you whatever they want to. But President Obama and I both believe the minimum wage should be somewhere between $10 and $11."
At which point I handed them $3. .....
Ahh, it's not a wage, it's a gift. Wages are taxable.
Response to Butch McQueen (Original post)
Sat Dec 7, 2013, 08:27 PM
LiberalEsto (18,381 posts)
1. I think your idea is awesome!
I might try that.
Key word MIGHT
Response to Butch McQueen (Original post)
Sat Dec 7, 2013, 09:49 PM
merrily (2,013 posts)
7. Very creative activism.
Undoubtedly a lot more effective than signing some online petition (which, in case you haven't already noticed, does absolutely nothing).
More effective than last Thursdays National day of anger/strike for $15.00 wages at McDonalds? I thought that was a total sucess?
Response to Butch McQueen (Original post)
Sat Dec 7, 2013, 10:32 PM
1monster (9,191 posts)
13. I talked to a woman tonight who was considering moving back to New Jersey after several
years here because she can't make enough money working retail at a discount store. She IS making more than minimum wage (in fact more per hour than I am working -- in a lowly position -- in education). But it is not just how much per hour people are paid. It is how many hours they are scheduled for.
The woman I talked to is making $13.00 per hour but cannot get enough hours to support herself and her family.
In talking about a living wage and a higher minimum wage, we have to address hours too.
As an ex jerseyite I was going to comment on the absurdity of this post but DUmmy 7962 beat me to it:
Response to 1monster (Reply #13)
Sat Dec 7, 2013, 10:49 PM
7962 (1,053 posts)
15. Where do you live now? Jersey is NOT a cheap place o live!
Right on Brother!
Response to Butch McQueen (Original post)
Sun Dec 8, 2013, 11:53 AM
Tom Rinaldo (15,068 posts)
24. Very very very cool. Not just the action, but the message too K&R n/t
I think Mr. Rinaldo that you left out a "very", it should be Very, very, very, VERY cool. You are very, very, very, very cheap with the adverbs. Now, get together with DUmmy Coolest Ranger and do something about his very bad back, very near blindness, very half injun/half white condition and his very lack of affodable health insurance.
