Minimum Wage Issues

[Allison Slater]

I was always for the minimum wage increase, and looking forward to it. Now that it's taken effect, my opinions on it have changed. Things are happening that I wouldn't have expected, but I guess I should have.

Where I work at Little Caesars, the company is now refusing to hire anybody over 18, due to the increase. Also, nobody is receiving raises relative to the increase. I'm an assistant manager in the company, was making $7.25, still am making $7.25. Considering all the added stress and work of the position, and having been in the company over 2 years, making 35 cents over minimum wage is NOT worth the work I put into my job anymore.

It isn't just Little Caesar's, either. I was speaking with a manager of a Burger King, and its the same situation there as well. Apparently at burger king an assistant manager just quit because he was making only 5 cents above minimum wage, and the company refused to issue any raises due to the extra costs from the minimum wage increase.

I even heard that the company is considering letting go of various employees over the age of 18 to replace them with 16 year olds.

With one of the biggest employment issues in the state being that of manufacturing job losses, I would imagine a great deal of those people are looking towards businesses such as these for a source of income until they can find something better. Plus there's those who are leaving their jobs due to working extra hard for pay that trainees receive, and those being axed by companies to be replaced with cheaper labour. But if all of these companies are limiting themselves to 16 year olds only now, what's going to happen to employment?

I realise its already said and done and nothing can really change things, but why did the state decide to raise the minimum wage for 18+ only? Why are there no regulations to prevent what's going on now?

[jstalin]

Welcome to economics 101. The minimum wage increases unemployment, particuarly for those with the least skills. Any economist knows that. It was a political ploy, pure and simple.

[bigbobspizza]

I agree that it was probably politically motivated, but also there is an additional tax windfall for the state. As a business owner I am concerned about the increase in my payroll but am paying all employees more because of the increase. Also I am paying those under 18 $7.00/hour.

If I hire new minors they will start at a lower wage until they prove their worth.

[jbr12]

Up north, the entire Blockbuster franchise chain recently shut down. There were no direct reasons that people could find, but after having been a worker for the franchise, I'm positive it was due the min wage increase. They paid everyone except their store managers under what the new min wage is and they refused t give raises... It was crazy

When I was working at the BB in Ann Arbor, I made much more than all of the assistant managers at the BBs up north... Now family fare is taking over up there... within a week of the blockbuster closing in my hometown, a family fare moved into the same tenant space

[Weallneedhistory]

I went into this debate big time with my Brother-in-law this past summer. He is against any Minimum wage. I personally thought it should be raised if only to match the rise in cost of living over the previous unraised 9 years. I found myself having to argue why we need a minimum wage in the first place before I could argue for raising it.

As for Blockbuster, another brother-in-law lives in Caddillac, and was telling me about the BB closure. I wonder if the MW has something to do with it. What he heard, living up there through the grapevine, was that the owner who owns all 5 of them up north just decided to call it quits, cash in, and not sell it.

[tamias6]

My belief is that minimum wage should be set high enough to allow a person access to basic nessesities of life. With the cost of living in today's world I don't see how minimum wage can provide that. Car payments, rent, bills, food, clothing, etc. Money only stretches so far.

[Rizzo]

I was always for the minimum wage increase, and looking forward to it. Now that it's taken effect, my opinions on it have changed. Things are happening that I wouldn't have expected, but I guess I should have.

Where I work at Little Caesars, the company is now refusing to hire anybody over 18, due to the increase. Also, nobody is receiving raises relative to the increase. I'm an assistant manager in the company, was making $7.25, still am making $7.25. Considering all the added stress and work of the position, and having been in the company over 2 years, making 35 cents over minimum wage is NOT worth the work I put into my job anymore.

It isn't just Little Caesar's, either. I was speaking with a manager of a Burger King, and its the same situation there as well. Apparently at burger king an assistant manager just quit because he was making only 5 cents above minimum wage, and the company refused to issue any raises due to the extra costs from the minimum wage increase.

I even heard that the company is considering letting go of various employees over the age of 18 to replace them with 16 year olds.

With one of the biggest employment issues in the state being that of manufacturing job losses, I would imagine a great deal of those people are looking towards businesses such as these for a source of income until they can find something better. Plus there's those who are leaving their jobs due to working extra hard for pay that trainees receive, and those being axed by companies to be replaced with cheaper labour. But if all of these companies are limiting themselves to 16 year olds only now, what's going to happen to employment?

I realise its already said and done and nothing can really change things, but why did the state decide to raise the minimum wage for 18+ only? Why are there no regulations to prevent what's going on now?

Which BK are you talking about? QDI dosen't just fire adults and replace them with kids -- nothing, but pure rumor. Burger King knows it must keep a diversified work force. It would be detrimental in the mornings and late evenings to fire the adult workers -- they're the only ones that can work thoes shifts...

MJLO might be able to expond on this issue also.

[gvsusean]

My belief is that minimum wage should be set high enough to allow a person access to basic nessesities of life. With the cost of living in today's world I don't see how minimum wage can provide that. Car payments, rent, bills, food, clothing, etc. Money only stretches so far.

its a vicious cycle where once you increase the min. wage, the costs for basic neccesaties goes up too; requiring another increase. A major cause of inflation.. extremely detrimental to society.

[Rizzo]

its a vicious cycle where once you increase the min. wage, the costs for basic neccesaties goes up too; requiring another increase. A major cause of inflation.. extremely detrimental to society.

Whatever happen to supply and demand increasing the cost of living? I have a hard time thinking it is mostly min wage raises that cause this. I'm living in a state with 6.50 as the min wage and I can still buy a gallon of milk or dozen eggs no less or more than in Michigan.

[jbr12]

As for Blockbuster, another brother-in-law lives in Caddillac, and was telling me about the BB closure. I wonder if the MW has something to do with it. What he heard, living up there through the grapevine, was that the owner who owns all 5 of them up north just decided to call it quits, cash in, and not sell it.

They owned more than 5.... Boyne City, 2 in Petoskey, Charlevoix, Kalkaska, 2 in Traverse City, Gaylord, Grayling and a few more scattered around. The owners were CHEAP. Both me and my fiance worked for them as managers. While it might be true they decided to cash in and call it quits, but I think part of it had to do with the MW increase... They refused to pay employees what they were worth and consistantly promised to give bonuses for things like god mystery shops but never did... the entire upper management of that place wasn't a good group to work for. Their employee turn-around was crazy

[civitas]

Up north, the entire Blockbuster franchise chain recently shut down. There were no direct reasons that people could find, but after having been a worker for the franchise, I'm positive it was due the min wage increase. They paid everyone except their store managers under what the new min wage is and they refused t give raises... It was crazy

The video store industry has been hurting for a long time.

Video retailers watch, worry

William Merritt, owner of Drake Video in Fairfax, echoed this sentiment. He said the Internet is having an undeniable impact on the home-video business, but much of the turmoil will be confined to the larger chains. "It will probably be a bloodbath for the bigger guys like Blockbuster," Merritt said.

[tamias6]

its a vicious cycle where once you increase the min. wage, the costs for basic neccesaties goes up too; requiring another increase. A major cause of inflation.. extremely detrimental to society.

Maybe we're caught with our pants down in a catch 22 situation. I think that most people would agree that minimum wage is chump change that is incapable of allowing a person the basic needs to live in today's world. But raising minimum wage to help these workers out causes the cost of living to raise up another notch nullifying any benefits the raising of minimum wage was suppose to bring. So that begs the following questions: What as a society can we do? Do we leave minimum wage workers high and dry for the greater good of economics? Do we allow our tax money to subsidize minimum wage workers via food stamps, welfare, etc.? One answer would be to say "We train them to get 21 centrury jobs." Okey. That's a start. But there are only so many of those jobs to go around along with any other type of job. We are still going to have people flipping burgers at McDonalds, and Wally-World employees cleaning dirty store bathrooms. They need a break. But how? I'm not trying to sound antagonistic as I find myself wishing that I had the silver bullet answer.

[jbr12]

The video store industry has been hurting for a long time.

Video retailers watch, worry

William Merritt, owner of Drake Video in Fairfax, echoed this sentiment. He said the Internet is having an undeniable impact on the home-video business, but much of the turmoil will be confined to the larger chains. "It will probably be a bloodbath for the bigger guys like Blockbuster," Merritt said.

I know that the video store business in general was having a hard time... not sure if you caught my latest post or not, but the owners did not treat their employees well at all... Just a silly example, the owners would go on cruises 8-9 times a year, but refused to give the $50 bonus that employees were due for good performance

[Allison Slater]

Which BK are you talking about? QDI dosen't just fire adults and replace them with kids -- nothing, but pure rumor. Burger King knows it must keep a diversified work force. It would be detrimental in the mornings and late evenings to fire the adult workers -- they're the only ones that can work thoes shifts...

MJLO might be able to expond on this issue also.

I'm assuming it's from a franchise-owned store. I don't know the location, I was just speaking with one who came into my store the other night. I honestly wouldn't expect a corporate-run store to be this stingy, for QDI and LCE both. Any thing franchise-run, wouldn't surprise me. I've heard management horror stories from franchise-run McDonalds as well.

[AlexPKeaton]

I think the under 18 rule is because, as minors, they're still dependents. That means they don't need to live off minimum wage.

Minimum wage is a tricky issue though. Whether the minimum wage drives up prices depends on how much of the increase employers eat and how much they pass on to consumers. My guess is that it won't have a huge effect on prices, certainly not equal to the rise in the minimum wage. Employers could make up the difference by hiring less.

I don't think it will make a huge difference though. Even with the higher minimum wage it certainly isn't enough to live off. I suppose people that have to live on minimum wage must get assistance from the government in some form.

-nb

[GR8scott]

reasons why the wage should be raised more constantly say yearly to keep up with inflation and be less of a problem when its raised every 5 years and all of the sudden it raises inflation

common sense to me

[Rizzo]

I'm assuming it's from a franchise-owned store. I don't know the location, I was just speaking with one who came into my store the other night. I honestly wouldn't expect a corporate-run store to be this stingy, for QDI and LCE both. Any thing franchise-run, wouldn't surprise me. I've heard management horror stories from franchise-run McDonalds as well.

The local BK locations (all QDI I believe) have quality adult workers -- no doubt. A lot of adult workers with clean records, great attendance, etc. A company couldn't get away with firing unconditionally and then replacing with much younger people -- unethical, illegal, and very noticeable. They would impose some kind of pay concsession before firing their workforce. Most of their adult workers don't even make much over minimum wage anyway.

When I was maintaining the facilites for QDI the coworkers would speak highly of their Mickey D's counterparts... "Yah as soon as I quit BK -- I'm off to McDonalds, you wait and see!" They would act as if McD's was a golden palace filled with bags of money in the kitchen I remember the McD's in GR were offering 40 thousand dollar management positions including company cars.

[Allison Slater]

oh no, the BK didn't fire anybody, the guy just quit because he was management getting 5 cents more than minimum without a raise,he went off to find something much less stressful for 5 cents less.

LCE had the rumours of letting adults go, although if that happened or not I don't know. Hasn't happened at my store (all adults are management) and hasn't happened at byron center (only 2 non-management adults there). As for the other stores, I don't know.

[michaelskis]

I have gotten into this argument several times with people. I think that the minimum wage should be much, much lower than it was. The market sets the equilibrium and a minimum wage is like a price floor. If you raise it, it shifts the supply curve lower resulting in less quality.

In short, employees will need to pay a higher amount to less people. However if they don

[Budgie Frisket]

Yes, this is a very touchy issue. Anyone here read "Nickel and Dimed?" A journalist took a couple of minimum wage jobs to see if it was possible to survive. She had a devil of a time working two jobs, neither of which offered health insurance benefits. An eye-opener, to say the least.

My biggest fear (and I understand it's an actual syndrome) is that I'll end up a bag lady.

I don't know what the answer is, just that it's nearly impossible to survive on a job making minimum wage if you have a family to support. It's one thing for students to be paid minimum wage and an entirely different matter for a head of household.

[gvsusean]

its funny, there is actually a formula to show/figure the values of a minimum wage.... in all cases it ends up hurting society as a whole to increase min. wage. Someone asked, "what do you do?" Well, as scary as it sounds you.... eliminate the min. wage. I know, people will get paid only 2$ an hour right? Wrong. The job that those people do has a value, nobody and I mean nobody will work at McD's for 2$ an hour. The market will be somewhat turbulent for a short period of time, but in the end that job will be paid what its worth, because soon enough BK will pay 3$ to get the beter employees, then Taco Bell will give 4$, and McD's willl go 5$ until equilibrium is reached.

Fear not the free market, and all shall be rewarded.

[torgo]

The video store industry has been hurting for a long time.

"It will probably be a bloodbath for the bigger guys like Blockbuster," Merritt said.

Personally, I hate blockbuster and Hollywood video. It costs a ton and then you have a movie for a week. Last time I checked, it only takes one night to watch a movie. That's why I go to family video.

[gvsusean]

Personally, I hate blockbuster and Hollywood video. It costs a ton and then you have a movie for a week. Last time I checked, it only takes one night to watch a movie. That's why I go to family video.

plus family video has porn!

[suydam]

Up north, the entire Blockbuster franchise chain recently shut down. There were no direct reasons that people could find, but after having been a worker for the franchise, I'm positive it was due the min wage increase. They paid everyone except their store managers under what the new min wage is and they refused t give raises... It was crazy

When I was working at the BB in Ann Arbor, I made much more than all of the assistant managers at the BBs up north... Now family fare is taking over up there... within a week of the blockbuster closing in my hometown, a family fare moved into the same tenant space

Just FYI: Blockbuster is bleeding money. They're closing stores nation-wide...not just up north and not just here in the land of minimum wage hikes.

One more thing: We can sit and debate the minimum wage all we want. It's easy. Everyone (or nearly everyone) on this board is either a college student or a working professional (or both). Minimum wage (to us) is something annoying we have to pay our low-end workers. To them, it's the only way to buy food.

I do think raising it every 5 or 6 years in big chunks is a bad idea. If it went up slowly, pegged to inflation, it wouldn't hurt businesses who haven't budgeted for the sudden wage increase.

[jbr12]

Just FYI: Blockbuster is bleeding money. They're closing stores nation-wide...not just up north and not just here in the land of minimum wage hikes.

The blockbusters up north were franchise owned and had no connection to coroporate besides name and membership. And in a number of the cities, they were the ONLY video rental store and were profitable.