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January-February
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Sound Policy
1. LIVING WAGE ENABLES ONE TO PAY FOR BASIC NEEDS
SK/A01.01) Karen MacKintosh, CANADIAN DIMENSION, JanuaryFebruary 2014, p. 7, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. A
living wage is based on the principle that full-time work should provide
families with a basic level of economic security that reflects basic needs in a
particular community, including food, clothing, rent, transportation, childcare
and a basic extended health care plan.
SK/A01.08) Emily Jane Fox, CNN WIRE, January 22, 2014, pNA, GALE
CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. Amy Glasmeier, a professor
of economic geography at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has
created a living wage calculator based on government data, which bears out
this argument. She breaks down the total cost of living, including food,
housing, transportation, child and health care, based on the county in which
people live. Glasmeier said the cost of living rises with the size of the city. For
instance, in places with fewer than 250,000 people, Glasmeier found that the
living wage would be between $12 and $15 per hour. In cities with 250,000 to
1 million residents, its $17, and in cities with more than one million residents,
it's $20 per hour.
SK/A02.02) Charles M. Blow, THE NEW YORK TIMES, April 17, 2014,
pNA, LexisNexis Academic. Most people want to work. It is a basic human
desire: to make a way, to provide for one's self and one's loved ones, to
advance. It is that great hope of tomorrow, better and brighter, in which we
can be happy and secure, able to sleep without hunger and wake without
worry. But it is easy to see how people can have that hope thrashed out of
them, by having to wrestle with the most wrenching of questions: how to
make do when you work for less than you can live on?
SK/A02.04) David Wait, KAI TIAKI: NURSING NEW ZEALAND, May 2013,
p. 33, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. A living wage is
one which provides genuine security, dignity and the ability to participate in
society. It's worth working for.
SK/A02.06) Dan Fournier, UWIRE TEXT, January 31, 2014, pNA, GALE
CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. Of course, raising the
minimum wage to $15 and indexing it to inflation is not the end goal; the end
goal is the construction of an economic system wherein those who contribute
as much as they can are able to survive. Those who work a full work-week
should be able to earn a living wage - a wage conducive for them to pay their
rent, put healthy food on the table for their children, cover their energy and
transportation bills, and allow for enough recreational time and discretionary
buying-power.
SK/A03.02) Editorial, THE NEW YORK TIMES, October 12, 2014, p. SR10,
LexisNexis Academic. As for New York City, $13.13 an hour is well below the
self-sufficiency standards that budget experts use to gauge how much
families need to meet basic daily expenses. These standards show that a
family in the Bronx in 2010 with two adults and two young children needed
each adult to make at least $15.69 an hour; higher hourly minimums were
needed in most of Manhattan and the other boroughs.
SK/A03.03) Mark Bittman, THE NEW YIORK TIMES, July 26, 2013, p.
A23, LexisNexis Academic. The movement found an unwitting ally when
McDonald's offered its workers a sample personal budget that included such
laughable features as the need for a second job and budget lines for
''Heating'' (zero) and ''Health Insurance'' ($20). Per month. (The company,
which is worth $100 billion, give or take a few bucks, now says that heat
costs $50 a month. But only if you speak English; the Spanish language site
budgets heat at $30.)
SK/A04.04) Dan Fournier, UWIRE TEXT, January 31, 2014, pNA, GALE
CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. If wages had always
increased at the rate of inflation, and taken aggregate national economic
growth and productivity into account as the value of the dollar rises, the
minimum wage would be hovering between $21-22 per hour. What does this
mean? It means that although the total value of your labor is equivalent to
that, the difference is being re-distributed upwards to the ruling class through
a backwards tax and wage system that does not give the everyday worker
the full value and product of his work.
SK/A05.02) Mark Bittman, THE NEW YIORK TIMES, July 26, 2013, p.
A23, LexisNexis Academic. In the old days you could say: ''So what? Those
workers are all teenagers. They live at home.'' But the median age of today's
fast-food worker is over 29, and many are trying to support families. One
estimate claims that a family of four needs nearly $90,000 a year to get by in
the nation's capital. That's six minimum-wage jobs.
2.4 percent and 3.2 percent and reduces SNAP spending by 1.9 percent. That
means that 3.5 million Americans would be cut from SNAP not because of
some arbitrary and hurtful policy but because they earn enough so they don't
need SNAP any longer.
SK/A09.02) Jay Goltz, THE NEW YORK TIMES BLOGS, January 23, 2014,
pNA, LexisNexis Academic. While these corporations try to hide behind small
businesses, the reality is that most of the people making minimum wage
work for large companies. That was the finding of a study by the National
Employment Law Project, an organization that supports raising the minimum
wage, and that's also been my personal observation.
firms and they all talk of improved morale and productivity. One firm
increased staff retention in one department by 65 per cent.
AT: Unemployment
1. WAGE INCREASES HAVE LITTLE EFFECT ON
EMPLOYMENT
SK/A10.01) David Cooper [Economic Policy Institute], NATIONAL
JOURNAL, August 28, 2014, pNA, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded
Academic ASAP. Of course, opponents of raising the minimum wage claim
that raising the wage floor will do more harm than good, forcing businesses to
reduce staff or cut hours. But rigorous peer-reviewed research synthesized by
think tanks such as the Center for Economic and Policy Research and the
Economic Policy Institute has shown again
(http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/min-wage-2013-02.pdf) and
again (http://www.epi.org/minimum-wage-statement/) that modest increases
in the minimum wage, such as the proposed increase to $10.10, have little to
no effect on employment. Even the Congressional Budget Office concluded
that the policy would be beneficial for 98 percent of affected workers.
SK/A10.03) David Wait, KAI TIAKI: NURSING NEW ZEALAND, May 2013,
p. 33, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. A challenge
frequently raised against paying a living wage is that it will cost jobs. Again,
the evidence doesn't support this. Studies looking at the impact on
employment of the living wage in Los Angeles and San Francisco found the
impact to be minimal--less than one per cent in the case of Los Angeles and
in San Francisco it promoted employment.
Denmark Proves
1. DENMARKS LIVING WAGE MAKES LIFE AFFORDABLE
SK/A11.01) Liz Alderman & Steven Greenhouse, THE NEW YORK TIMES,
October 28, 2014, p. B1, LexisNexis Academic. In interviews, Danish
employees of McDonald's, Burger King and Starbucks said that even though
Denmark had one of the world's highest costs of living -- about 30 percent
higher than in the United States -- their $20 wage made life affordable.
SK/A11.03) Liz Alderman & Steven Greenhouse, THE NEW YORK TIMES,
October 28, 2014, p. B1, LexisNexis Academic. But as Denmark illustrates,
companies have managed to adapt in countries that demand a living wage,
and economists like Mr. Schmitt see it as a possible model. Denmark has no
minimum-wage law. But Mr. Elofsson's $20 an hour is the lowest the fast-food
industry can pay under an agreement between Denmark's 3F union, the
nation's largest, and the Danish employers group Horesta, which includes
Burger King, McDonald's, Starbucks and other restaurant and hotel
companies.
SK/A11.04) Liz Alderman & Steven Greenhouse, THE NEW YORK TIMES,
October 28, 2014, p. B1, LexisNexis Academic. Danish law does not require
fast-food companies or their franchisees to adhere to the wages required by
the agreement with the 3F union. But they do, because employees and
unions pledge in exchange not to engage in strikes, demonstrations or
boycotts. ''What employers get is peace,'' said Peter Lykke Nielsen, the 3F
union's chief negotiator with McDonald's.
****
SK/N05.06) Travis Toth, UWIRE TEXT, June 11, 2014, pNA, GALE
CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. The city of Seattle is
planning on increasing its minimum wage to $15 an hour as part of the "Fight
for 15" campaign, according to The American Prospect. Raising an arbitrary
standard will lead to prices increasing to balance the economy. This change
then necessitates an even higher minimum wage. It's a vicious cycle, really.
SK/N06.03) Jay Goltz, THE NEW YORK TIMES BLOGS, January 23, 2014,
pNA, LexisNexis Academic. That said, there is a limit to how much businesses,
of any size, can afford to pay in minimum wages. While the current minimum
is certainly too low, I get nervous when I hear people talking about increasing
it to $15 an hour. Some people may consider that a "livable wage" - but I
believe that a $15-an-hour minimum wage would create huge problems for
businesses.
politicians demanded wage requirements more than two years ago. Today, no
serious plan is in sight for Kingsbridge, and the community is deprived of
good jobs.
SK/N07.05) Editorial, DAILY NEWS (New York), January 15, 2012, p. 34,
LexisNexis Academic. What Quinn [New York City Council] came to
understand, first, was the insanity and unfairness of subsidizing, say, the
developer of a mall and then trying to require tenants, who got no benefit, to
boost their wages. That's what living-wage supporters tried to force on the
Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx. Related Cos., the developer, planned to
spend $300 million to turn the hulking white elephant into a retail shopping
mall, creating 1,000 construction jobs and 1,200 permanent positions. The
builder tried to explain that national retailers would never agree to change
countrywide pay scales in order to do business in the city. The living-wage
diehards, led by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, refused to listen. They
gave Related an ultimatum. Related killed the project as economically
impossible. Infamously, Diaz declared he'd rather have no jobs than the jobs
the mall would have generated. And that's exactly what he got in the
borough with the city's highest unemployment: no jobs.
Wal-Mart, he added, other retailers are "concerned it may one day turn on
them."
SK/N09.06) Editorial, THE NEW YORK POST, May 13, 2011, p. 28,
LexisNexis Academic. Take the living wage: In a preliminary study released by
the city [New York City] this week, economists pegged job losses at as much
as 100,000, should the living-wage bill become law. That's because the costs
of the higher wage would wipe out the benefits of city aid, which is meant as
an incentive for developers and businesses to expand. Thus, there'd be fewer
projects, fewer businesses . . . fewer jobs.
SK/N09.15) Sally Goldenberg, THE NEW YORK POST, May 12, 2011, p.
2, LexisNexis Academic. An economist lauded by anti-Walmart activists for his
study of the retailer's impact on the city economy has now come under fire
from the same groups. David Neumark, in a study commissioned for Mayor
Bloomberg, is critical of the "living wage" bill being debated in the City
Council. Anti-Walmart and pro-living-wage groups share many of the same
members - including elected officials, unions and other operatives - making
their two positions on Neumark's work curious, a Bloomberg spokesman said.
"It's disappointing and obviously hypocritical when advocates hail an
academic when his research fits their theory and then trash his reputation
when his research conflicts with their agenda," said spokesman Andrew
Brent.
SK/N11.07) Liz Alderman & Steven Greenhouse, THE NEW YORK TIMES,
October 28, 2014, p. B1, LexisNexis Academic. America's restaurant industry
predicts a wave of woe if pay were to jump toward Denmark's levels. An
increase to $15 would ''limit employment opportunities'' by making fast-food
restaurants reluctant to hire, said Scott DeFife, an executive vice president at
the National Restaurant Association. ''More than doubling the starting wage
will dramatically increase costs in an industry that exists on very narrow
margins.''