The #minimumwage is going up to $12-15/hr all over the country because this isn't 1973, and the #costOfLiving has far exceeded the legacy minimum wages workers have been kept down by for decades. But in #Ohio, #Republicans are so mad at the thought of workers earning a living wage that they're pushing legislation to stop the minimum wage from being lifted. These people are disgusting, and they clearly want to prevent workers from being paid appropriately.
Today, the new minimum wage of $17.28 in my city of Bellingham, WA goes into effect.
Compared to some other cities in the US, this may sound high. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 (since 2009).
Unfortunately, experts have calculated Bellingham's "living wage" closer to $23.52 for an individual and $29.97 for a family of four with two working parents.
According to Redfin, "In March 2024, Bellingham home prices were up 12.2% compared to last year, selling for a median price of $685K."
Average rent for an apartment is $1,863, and average rent for a house is $2,891.
Whatcom County, where Bellingham is located, recorded a 27% jump in unhoused people in 2023 (the most recent data), the highest increase since the point in time survey began in 2008.
By Rebecca Gordon, originally published by Tom Dispatch April 17, 2024
"...Project 2025 doesn’t launch the typical conservative attack on the very concept of such a wage. It does, however, go after overtime pay (generally time-and-a-half for more than 40 hours of work a week), by proposing that employers be allowed to average time worked over a longer period. This would supposedly be a boon for workers, granting them the “flexibility” to labor fewer than 40 hours one week and more than 40 the next, without an employer having to pay overtime compensation for that second week.
What such a change would actually do, of course, is give an employer the power to require overtime work during a crunch period while reducing hours at other times, thereby avoiding paying overtime often or at all..."
In case you were wondering if the GOP still supports destitution.
"But if that money goes into the wages of low-income workers, we know that all of it will go back into the local economy because research shows that those workers spend 100% of their payslip. Actually, they spend 106% of their payslip, but that’s a whole other story. So the best way to stimulate the local economy is to put the money into raising the lowest wages. That means more money for more jobs."
Three cheers for the minimum wage - an unusual economic policy that can be said to be a pretty unalloyed success.
Against a background of negative economics research conclusions & a hostile Tory opposition, Tony Blair's govt.s introduction of the minimum wage has been progressive & at least done something for the poorest workers.
Sometimes a simple policy can work even when the economists don't want it to.....
Today in Labor History March 20, 1985: The Bolivian authorities sent in the army to crush a General Strike. Workers had launched the strike in response to austerity measures by the Siles Zuazo administration. They demanded higher wages, stable food supplies, price controls and the president’s resignation. At the time, inflation was 3,400%. 10,000 miners filled the streets of La Paz each day. The General Strike lasted 16 days and spread to Santa Cruz and Chuquisaca. On March 24, the miners accepted a government offer to quadruple the minimum wage. They eventually forced Zuazo to resign.
Today in Labor History February 26, 1941: 14,000 workers struck at Bethlehem Steel’s Lackawanna mill in Buffalo, New York. As a defense contractor, the company had $1.5 billion worth of armament orders, but refused to pay the minimum wage mandated for government contracts. Furthermore, they had recently fired 1,000 workers, blaming their last work stoppage for damaging some coke ovens. The pickets effectively stopped scabs from getting in. After less than 2 days, the company agreed to rehire the fired men and began talks on a raise and union recognition. However, a month later, they reneged.