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Minimum Wage should be increased even more

By David W. Shelton | July 26, 2007 |

The minimum wage increase went into effect on Tuesday. It’s now $5.85 per hour. Strangely, some corporations have whined that it would lead to layoffs. I could go on for hours why this notion is poppycock, but I’ll just as easily make my point with just one company.A few years back while I was a manager for a movie theatre chain, I was under a standing order to never, ever ask for a wage increase for hourly employees. They would start at minimum wage, and would be kept there! Furthermore, theatre chains are exempt from overtime laws. Some employees would work sixty to eighty hours a week to make ends meet, and were limited to minimum wage. These are often kids starting out in their first jobs, adults who want to supplement their incomes, or retired folk who just wanted something to do.

Some employees stayed because they enjoyed the camaraderie, others stayed because the job was wicked easy. After all, what’s so bad about working minimum wage when you’re really only working for two or three hours out of a five hour shift?

This was with a three-screen theatre, where shifts WERE that easy. Even when I worked as a projectionist for a certain eight-screen theatre here in town as a teenager, I could study in between show times.

Not so in today’s multiplex environment when shows are staggered to have walk-ins at all hours of the day. These kids are running ragged, and to my knowledge, that chain has not changed their policy.

One district manager (who later left the company) remarked that “some one told me that whey they hire someone, and they do a good job, then they might give them a raise. At (our company), we hire someone, and if they do a good job, we let them keep their job.” It’s a sentiment that wasn’t all that uncommon.

I ran a theatre in Brentwood for a while, and I had to teach kids who had never held a broom before how to SWEEP. They turned out to be great employees, and for years would call to see how I was doing. But in the end, minimum wage was the rule. No ifs, ands, or buts.

If one ever wonders why movie theatres seem like they’re often run down, then all they have to do is look at a concession worker’s paycheck. It’s tiny. The manager checks aren’t much better. Companies like this thrive because they can charge $5.00 for a soft drink, and pay peanuts to the hired help.

In Clarksville, many residents have to work two and three jobs just to make ends meet. This shouldn’t have to be the case.
No, no one will have to “absorb” the sixty-cent increase. It’ll be like a hiccup in the belly of a very overstuffed beast. And in the end, the people who have these low-paying jobs will continue to be utilized as indentured servants.

About David W. Shelton

Posts by David W. Shelton are copyright (c)2006, 2007, 2008 by the author. All rights reserved. David W. Shelton is a writer, speaker and activist in Clarksville, and serves on the Clarksville Human Relations Commission. His passions include film and complete equality for all people, and he has worked in various capacities to work toward this goal. He is currently an illustrator, graphic designer, trainer, and is the owner of Imagine Media Solutions. He is an Adobe® Certified Instructor in Photoshop®.

Web Site: http://www.skippingtothepiccolo.com/

Email: dwshelton@att.net

Sections: Opinion, Politics
Topics: employee, Minimum Wage, Money, salary, teenager

11 Responses to “Minimum Wage should be increased even more”

1. Jeff Mack Says:
   July 26th, 2007 at 8:30 pm

   “These are often kids starting out in their first jobs, adults who want to supplement their incomes, or retired folk who just wanted something to do.” This one sentence alone explains why the minimum should NOT be increased. Why pay someone any more than what they’re worth? What is a worker with NO skills worth? They should be thankful to have even been given a chance to work at all. David, you shot yourself in the foot with the example. Why would a theater pay someone a bunch of money for a job, that most of the time, they’re just setting around and watching movies for free? Why should a theater give a raise? If the person working at the theater leaves because they want more money, fine, there is another person itching to get that job, so they can watch movies for free too! Heck, I wanna work at a theater now!! Work for two and set on my duff for three? I know when I started my first Mc-job, I was happy to be able to earn any money at all! Wages should be set at what the market can bare. If you can’t get a person to scrub a toilet for $5.85 an hour, you need to increase the money until someone says yes! There is NOT one HONEST MORAL job that anyone won’t do for enough money! If someone says they’ll pay you a million a year to scrub toilets all day, you’ll be the BEST toilet scrubber around!! I know I would!! No company should be exempt from overtime laws. That equates, in my book, to borderline slavery. Great commentary on how theaters run, not a good case for the minimum wage.

2. David W. Shelton Says:
   July 26th, 2007 at 9:13 pm

   Jeff, sometimes I wonder if you’re just disagreeing with me for the sake of disagreeing. You say that I “shot myself in the foot,” yet you seem to have casually neglected this paragraph: “Not so in today’s multiplex environment when shows are staggered to have walk-ins at all hours of the day. These kids are running ragged, and to my knowledge, that chain has not changed their policy.” Clearly, the situation is far different now than it was when I had my position there. If you ever visit the Great Escape, then you’ll see these kids on their feet at all hours. Even McDonald’s will give (small) raises. The reality is that minimum wage is just too low. In a time when so many of us have to work two and three jobs, it’s just not worth the time to put into it.

3. Jeff Mack Says:
   July 27th, 2007 at 4:16 pm

   I did miss that one .. I’ll admit it. It doesn’t change the fact, that if some one stays in a minimum wage job, it’s their own fault. They should get an education, be it OJT or college, to get out of that minimum wage job. The minimum wage job may be good training to go and get a better job. There shouldn’t be a minimum wage at all. Pay should be based on what the market bare, not on government statuate. The minimum wage debate is spurred on by unions and their lobbyists who are just trying to get an undeserved pay raise for union members, because if you raise the minimum wage the pay moves for thing above it too. I do enjoy the debate!! LOL!!

4. Bill Larson Says:
   July 28th, 2007 at 11:33 am

   The minimum wage is economic fairness, nothing more, and nothing less. I seem to recall someone saying Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Sadly some people, particularly those in the business world, would pay slave wages if they could get away with it. Sometimes people just don’t have a choice. In a world with true free market, wages could indeed be set by what the market would bear, but in a world of anti-competitive actions, consolidations, and mergers it can not. You have to have a choice of other places to work, for that to occur. For one local example look at the widespread rumor of collusion between the EDC and Trane not to allow new manufacturing jobs in Clarksville that will pay more than the Trane company currently does. Why? Because they know in a truly competitive wages marketplace the Trane company would have to pay much better wages, or risk losing their best people, and of course they wouldn’t want to do that, unless they are forced to. So I strongly support the current minimum wage laws until we get something better, like a federal living wage law. I also think we should tie congressional pay increases to increases in the minimum wage laws.

5. Jeff Mack Says:
   July 28th, 2007 at 5:58 pm

   If the EDC and Trane are colluding to keep wages low, they should be held to account! No one should be above the law! Ah ah ah..your bringing religion in here. Your right though. Everyone should be treated fairly. In a godly world they would be. You brought it up so here it goes! As Workers — Colossians 3:22-24 says: “Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God; And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.” Simply said — Don’t work like your working for a man, work as though your working for God at what ever job you do and God will also issue a reward. Companies — Colossians4:1 says: “Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.” Nuff said there! Unfortunatly we’re not living properly in a godly world. The world isn’t fair. Slavery has been outlawed in the United States for some time now, if a company can’t get someone to work at a low wage, the company will have to raise it until they can get someone to do the job. They should not be forced by the government to raise in any further. It that so hard? Why force a company to pay someone what they are not worth? Do you have people working for you? If you did you’d know this. This will affect small business much more than that of large corperations. A federal living wage law sounds alot like Socialism or worse Communism to me. Should the government tell me what my job should be also? The government has proven itself time and time again to be bad stewards of OUR money. Why give them more power over it? I agree that big business has WAY TOO much power in Washington and the state capitals, through lobbists. Therefore lobbiest should be outlawed and term limits set. More power to the states and the people, less to the federal goverment. The minimum wage is the unions way to impose a wage increase on business and hurts the small business the most. I wounder how many small business’s will have to fire people because they can’t afford to pay the higher wage? That means the people who were working for minimum wage now lose their jobs!! Bad Idea!!

6. Jeff Mack Says:
   July 28th, 2007 at 7:54 pm

   Sorry for the mis-spelled words,I was in a hurry..

7. Jeff Mack Says:
   July 28th, 2007 at 8:11 pm

   WOW..Timing….If you want a good commentary on the minimum wage.. Check the storychat of the letter to the editor http://www.theleafchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070728/OPINION03/707280312/1014/OPINION Read the article, but the people really think is in Storychat! I’m thinking of putting a link to this story on there…. Should bring you some hits!!

8. Bill Larson Says:
   July 28th, 2007 at 8:52 pm

   The golden rule is a human thing, not a religious one. It originated in Egypt well before it made it’s way into the Jewish Torah, and thus into Christianity. 1970 - 1640s BC “This is an ordinance: Act for the man who acts, to cause him to act. This is thanking him for what he does.” - The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant In line B1 142 page 64 of The Tale of Sinuhe and Other Ancient Egyptian Poems, tr. R.B. Parkinson OUP. ~1280 - 650 BC “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your countrymen. Love your fellow as yourself: I am the LORD.” - Moses, Tanakh, new JPS translation, Leviticus (Leviticus 19:18), Judaism. ~700 BC “That nature only is good when it shall not do unto another whatever is not good for its own self.” - Dadistan-i-Dinik 94:5, Zoroastrianism. ? BCE “Whatever is disagreeable to yourself do not do unto others.” - Shayast-na-Shayast 13:29, Zoroastrianism. ~500 BC “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.” - Udana-Varga 5:18, Buddhism. ~500 BC “The Sage…makes the self of the people his self.” Tao Te Ching Ch 49, tr. Ch’u Ta-Kao, Unwin Paperbacks, 1976. Daoism ~500 BC “What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.” Analects of Confucius 15:24, Confucianism, tr. James Legge. ~500 BC “Now the man of perfect virtue, wishing to be established himself, seeks also to establish others; wishing to be enlarged himself, he seeks also to enlarge others. To be able to judge of others by what is near in ourselves; this may be called the art of virtue.” Analects of Confucius 6:30, Confucianism, tr. James Legge. ~500 BC “One word that can serve as a principle of conduct for life [is] reciprocity. Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire.” - Doctrine of the Mean 13.3, Confucianism ~500 BC “Therefore, neither does he cause violence to others nor does he make others do so.” - Acarangasutra 5.101-2, Jainism. ~300 BC “One should not behave towards others in a way which is disagreeable to oneself. This is the essence of morality. All other activities are due to selfish desire.” - Mahabharata, Anusasana Parva 113.8, Hinduism ~300 BC “It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely and well and justly (agreeing ‘neither to harm nor be harmed’). And it is impossible to live wisely and well and justly without living a pleasant life.” - Epicurus ~180 BC “What you hate, do not do to anyone.” - The Book of Tobit 4:15, NRSV translation, Judaism. ~150 BC “This is the sum of duty: Do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you.” - Mahabharata 5:1517, Hinduism. ~100 AC “What you feel painful to yourself, do not do to others.” - Tiruvalluvar, Tirukkural 316. ~100 AC “What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. This is the law: all the rest is commentary.” - Hillel the Elder; Talmud, Shabbat 31a, Judaism. ~30 AC “So in everything, do unto others as you would have them do unto you, for this sums up the law and the prophets.” Jesus- Sermon on the Mount, Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 7:12 NIV), Christianity ~100 AC “What you would avoid suffering yourself, seek not to impose on others.” - Epictetus. ~600 CE “Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you.” — Muhammad in The Farewell Sermon. 1785: “Act as if the maxim of thy action were to become by thy will a universal law of nature.” - Kant’s categorical imperative. ~1808 “Identity is the identity of identity and non-identity.” - Hegel’s reflexive, antisymmetric identity, X = not(X), at foundation of all moral systems. ~1870 “He should not wish for others what he does not wish for himself.” - Bahá’u'lláh, Kitab-i-Aqdas 148.73 Bahá’í Faith. ~1890 “And if thine eyes be turned towards justice, choose thou for thy neighbour that which thou choosest for thyself.” - Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, 30, Bahá’í Faith. ~1940 “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” - Gandhi 1945: “The golden rule … is further improved by doing unto others, wherever possible, as they want to be done by.” - Karl Popper (The Open Society and Its Enemies, Vol. 2) As for slavery you can have forced slavery or more subtle forms. Take the coal mining towns company stores. Get the worker into debt, then keep him in debt forever. While that is not as blatant as it once was, it’s still going on today. Just look at the credit card companies and the new bankruptcy laws the Republican controlled congress rewarded them with. Continued in the next comment…

9. Bill Larson Says:
   July 28th, 2007 at 9:00 pm

   You see government as bad, I see it as necessary. Yes they sometimes waste our money, but without them we would be still in the days of child labor, sweatshops, debtor prisons, mass poverty, ignorance, and monopolies. You enjoy the standard of living you do because the government put a stop to the worst excesses of business. Socialism does not equal Communism. No matter how much the government brainwashed you during the cold war Socialism isn’t a bad thing for working people. We have socialism in our education system, postal system, interstate highways, lets not forget our police and fire departments, water, and sewer. Why because we can’t trust private enterprise to do these things. I don’t see our form of capitalism on it’s own being a good thing. If you do then you are simply day dreaming. True Capitalism doesn’t exist. American Capitalism only benefits the wealthy. You might wish you were independently wealthy, but it will not likely happen, no matter how hard you work, and how much you sweat. It comes down to the simple fact that it takes money to make money. What we commonly have is monopolies and oligopolies. A few examples of oligopolies are the accounting & audit services industries, tobacco companies, beer brewers, aircraft manufacturers, military contractors, Auto makers, and the movie and music recording industries. An oligopoly is a market form in which a market or industry is dominated by a small number of sellers. In some situations, the firms may collude to raise prices and restrict production in the same way as a monopoly. Where there is a formal agreement for such collusion, this is known as a cartel. Firms often collude in an attempt to stabilize unstable markets, so as to reduce the risks inherent in these markets for investment and product development. There are legal restrictions on such collusion in most countries. There does not have to be a formal agreement for collusion to take place (although for the act to be illegal there must be a real communication between companies) - for example, in some industries, there may be an acknowledged market leader which informally sets prices to which other producers respond, known as price leadership. If you read the link I gave in comment 4 it proves that the cities which institute a living wage law do not have the level of job loss as the minimum wage opponents claimed would happen. “New study shows higher incomes from ‘living wage’ outweigh the cost in job losses.” When you give more people a decent living wage, they have more money to buy products and services from you. Basically it balances out in the end… I can keep discussing this all day.

10. Jeff Mack Says:
    July 30th, 2007 at 4:45 pm

    Wow…Socailism is good and no matter how hard I work, I’ll never be wealthy with out the help of government… WOW! The roll of the federal government should be very limited. Protecting the people from foreign invaders being first and foremost. Then, roads, utility infrastructure, (power & water). Insure basic freedom and liberty, not much more than this. Next your gonna say the government should pay for transportation to work! There are “new studies” everywhere. You’ll find one from a socialist/leftist/liberal site and I’ll find one that says the opposite from a conservative/right wing site. Just one more thing we’ll never se eye to eye on. Unless you become 5′9″ right wing Christian evangelical!!

11. Jeff Mack Says:
    August 3rd, 2007 at 9:01 pm

    Am I to be sensored again? I made the #11 post on Monday the 30th.

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