$15 Minimum Wage Advocacy Group Posts Facebook Job Listing That Pays $12 An Hour

[Ban Hammer 12,835]

A simple Facebook comment exploded into a big reveal on the hypocrisy of some groups spearheading the fight for a $15 minimum wage.

“It was a paid advertisement that came through on social media,” Cody McLaughlin told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “I thought it was funny so I posted a comment.”

The advertisement was for a job opening at the advocacy group Working America. The group was looking to hire field managers to launch a grassroots effort to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. For his own amusement, McLaughlin asking if it paid $15 an hour.

“Hi Cody! Our field organizing positions start at $12.25 per hour,” Working America replied. The group did note though, “After 90 days of employment the pay increases to $15 per hour.”

Not long after the comment began attracting attention which prompted the group to delete it which McLaughlin felt was when it crossed the line. Though his motivation was to be funny he notes he was open to a serious debate. To him, deleting the comment only served to hurt the dialogue.

“Then they deleted my comment,” he noted. “The reason I got into politics is because I want to hear both sides.”

“I think there are merits to each sides argument,” McLaughlin continued. “I commented mostly for my own amusement but I would be willing to debate it.”

McLaughlin, who works at a PR firm out of Portland, notes that the decision to delete the comment also just looks bad. After the comment was deleted, McLaughlin posted a screenshot to his own page.

Supporters of the $15 minimum wage often argue that its more representative of “the living wage” which is the supposed basic standard in which someone can live comfortably. However a video released back in December shows that the $15 minimum wage may actually not be representative of anything. Kendall Fells, a Service Employees International Union (SEIU) organizer, during a union panel meeting discussed how the union arrived at the figure.

“That’s where people decided that $15 made sense, I would say it was a pretty scientific process, $10 was too low and $20 was too high, so we landed at 15,” Fells said.

Working America is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, one of the largest unions in the country. Unions have been at the forefront of pushing for a $15 minimum wage and worker groups like Working America have been utilized to help with that mission. Though there are many reasons to use worker groups some critics have argued they are actually being used to bypass labor law in order to more easily unionize workers.

Under current National Labor Relations Board rules, worker centers like Fight for 15 aren’t subject to many of the limitations unions face but they also cannot organize workers without filing a petition for an election.

Working America did not respond to requests for comment from The Daily Caller News Foundation.

http://dailycaller.com/2015/06/26/simple-facebook-question-shows-the-hypocrisy-of-minimum-wage-advocates/

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Slow news day for Tucker Carlson. Bottom line is that $12.25/hr to start and $15.00/hr after 90 days beats the perpetual minimum wage of $7.25 or whatever it happens to be at state levels that countless people get paid. I bet you that tons of people in retail and other minimum wage jobs would be more than happy with such an arrangement.

[Póg mo 1,749]

So after 90 days, the pay goes up to $15 an hour? I'm not sure what you are outraged about!

[lostinblue 1,989]

Former unpaid campaigner blasts Hillary: Pay your interns

A former Hillary Clinton campaign fellow is accusing the Democratic front-runner of hypocrisy for relying on unpaid interns and fellows while publicly calling to for increased wages.

Carolyn Osorio writes in a new USA Today opinion piece that she joined the campaign as a fellow after Clinton announced her bid in April, adding that she had to move to Nevada and work there for free.

"I had hoped a trailblazer would be more willing to break the mold of indentured servitude that haunts my generation," she writes.

"Finding out that Hillary perpetuates the exploitation known as unpaid internships was like discovering that Santa wasn't real."

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/245941-former-unpaid-clinton-campaigner-pay-your-interns

[Ban Hammer 12,835]

So after 90 days, the pay goes up to $15 an hour? I'm not sure what you are outraged about!

i wonder how many will be let go on day 89

[VOL 425]

Slow news day for Tucker Carlson. Bottom line is that $12.25/hr to start and $15.00/hr after 90 days beats the perpetual minimum wage of $7.25 or whatever it happens to be at state levels that countless people get paid. I bet you that tons of people in retail and other minimum wage jobs would be more than happy with such an arrangement.

Let me tell you how it works in the USA. Life is not fair, and people are rewarded for working harder or getting and education.

You start out a minimum wage and build yourself up from there, that is the American Way

Apparently you think everyone needs to be patted on the back and told that life is fair, In your world everyone would get a trophy just for participation.

[TBoneTX 43,048]

Part of a post has been edited for TOS reasons, with post returned to thread as follows:

"getting and education"?

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Former unpaid campaigner blasts Hillary: Pay your interns

A former Hillary Clinton campaign fellow is accusing the Democratic front-runner of hypocrisy for relying on unpaid interns and fellows while publicly calling to for increased wages.

Carolyn Osorio writes in a new USA Today opinion piece that she joined the campaign as a fellow after Clinton announced her bid in April, adding that she had to move to Nevada and work there for free.

"I had hoped a trailblazer would be more willing to break the mold of indentured servitude that haunts my generation," she writes.

"Finding out that Hillary perpetuates the exploitation known as unpaid internships was like discovering that Santa wasn't real."

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/245941-former-unpaid-clinton-campaigner-pay-your-interns

Ahh the anti-Hilary out of the blue gambit! Can you please tell me how someone is forced to move to another State and work for free? That is the claim that this gal is making. How?

[Póg mo 1,749]

Let me tell you how it works in the USA. Life is not fair, and people are rewarded for working harder or getting and education.

If life is not fair, how is it that you believe working hard is going to be rewarded? Most working Americans, work hard, and yet few really have a lifestyle, I'm all that envious of.

[Boiler 43,429]

The hypocrisy is outstanding.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

The hypocrisy is outstanding.

What hypocrisy? They offer $5.00 (or roughly 70%) above federal minimum wage upon hiring and $15.00/hr after the short probationary period. That's a hell of a lot more than many large corporations put on the table and it does get the staffers to the demanded pay within a single quarter. Tell you what: let the target corporations put that offer on the table and the $15.00/hr wage movement will cheer, take it and go away.

[Boiler 43,429]

Ohh dear

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

Let me tell you how it works in the USA. Life is not fair, and people are rewarded for working harder or getting and education.

You start out a minimum wage and build yourself up from there, that is the American Way

Apparently you think everyone needs to be patted on the back and told that life is fair, In your world everyone would get a trophy just for participation.

How does someone build themself up when they can't afford clean housing, to clean their clothes, to eat, to buy the things that they're working to sell?

In two states, minimum wage is 5.15/hr. Assuming someone in those states, working a minimum wage job, was fortunate enough to get 40 hour work weeks, they would make 10 712 in a year if they never took a single day off. The poverty cut off for a single person in the contiguous 48 is 11 770/yr. So a single person working full time at minimum wage is living in poverty, in those states. Someone making federal minimum wage (7.25/hr) makes only 15 080, less than 3 000 above the poverty cut off for a single person.

Iowa is one of the states with federal minimum wage, so let me do a budget breakdown for you for someone living in the city of Des Moines. Assuming an 8 hour work day and 30 days in a month, 40 hour workweeks, a person would make 1 276 before taxes or healthcare.

Tax withholding is 6% in Iowa, so this person gets to take home 1199.44.

Looking at Craigslist for rooms for rent in Des Moines, they seem to run from 350-600/month. We'll assume that the 350 dollar ones go fast, so with a full time job, our minimum wage labourer was fortunate enough to get a 400 dollar room.

Like most minimum wage labourers, the shifts this person is given don't coincide with the bus schedule. Sometimes shifts end after 11, when bus service ends. Sometimes shifts begin before 6 am, with the busses only starting at 5:45 am. This person must drive a car. They're very fortunate. Their old beater of a car was inherited from a grandmother who no longer drives. Average commute in Iowa is about 20 minutes, which translates, at town driving speeds, to about 11.5 miles. Gas costs a little over 2.50/gallon. The car gets 33 miles per gallon (1996 Honda Civic--a common car). 22 days of work cost 40 dollars in gas money. You think only the young should make minimum wage, so let's say this is a 22 year old male, fresh out of college to his first job--the market is flooded with fresh college grads, so minumum wage is common for them. Insurance for his car is about 1000/yr. That's 83/month.

60 dollars a month for clothing expenses (including keeping uniform clean and replacing damaged clothes--a pair of jeans are around 45 dollars in Des Moines)

120/mo for health insurance (though this person would qualify for CHIP or Medicare but we'll imagine this is a good person by your standards who works hard and doesn't force others to pay their way)

263/mo for food (according to Iowa's average for a single person with no children)

Our hypothetical man, fresh out of college has 233.44 left at this point. The average student loan repayment per month in the US is 244 dollars.

By the end of the month, this new graduate is almost 11 dollars in the hole. There's no money left for an emergency. If his car loses a tire or the engine needs maintenance or he needs to pay a copay for a medical expense, he doesn't have the money. If he's too sick to go to work a single day, that 11 dollars in the hole deepens.

When you're living that razor thin, when every month, before anything pleasant or any emergency, you start out eleven dollars in the hole, how can you always work harder than everyone else to get pay raises?

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Ohh dear

Oh dear, what? Oh dear, why could you not figure it out?

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

How does someone build themself up when they can't afford clean housing, to clean their clothes, to eat, to buy the things that they're working to sell?

In two states, minimum wage is 5.15/hr. Assuming someone in those states, working a minimum wage job, was fortunate enough to get 40 hour work weeks, they would make 10 712 in a year if they never took a single day off. The poverty cut off for a single person in the contiguous 48 is 11 770/yr. So a single person working full time at minimum wage is living in poverty, in those states. Someone making federal minimum wage (7.25/hr) makes only 15 080, less than 3 000 above the poverty cut off for a single person.

Iowa is one of the states with federal minimum wage, so let me do a budget breakdown for you for someone living in the city of Des Moines. Assuming an 8 hour work day and 30 days in a month, 40 hour workweeks, a person would make 1 276 before taxes or healthcare.

Tax withholding is 6% in Iowa, so this person gets to take home 1199.44.

Looking at Craigslist for rooms for rent in Des Moines, they seem to run from 350-600/month. We'll assume that the 350 dollar ones go fast, so with a full time job, our minimum wage labourer was fortunate enough to get a 400 dollar room.

Like most minimum wage labourers, the shifts this person is given don't coincide with the bus schedule. Sometimes shifts end after 11, when bus service ends. Sometimes shifts begin before 6 am, with the busses only starting at 5:45 am. This person must drive a car. They're very fortunate. Their old beater of a car was inherited from a grandmother who no longer drives. Average commute in Iowa is about 20 minutes, which translates, at town driving speeds, to about 11.5 miles. Gas costs a little over 2.50/gallon. The car gets 33 miles per gallon (1996 Honda Civic--a common car). 22 days of work cost 40 dollars in gas money. You think only the young should make minimum wage, so let's say this is a 22 year old male, fresh out of college to his first job--the market is flooded with fresh college grads, so minumum wage is common for them. Insurance for his car is about 1000/yr. That's 83/month.

60 dollars a month for clothing expenses (including keeping uniform clean and replacing damaged clothes--a pair of jeans are around 45 dollars in Des Moines)

120/mo for health insurance (though this person would qualify for CHIP or Medicare but we'll imagine this is a good person by your standards who works hard and doesn't force others to pay their way)

263/mo for food (according to Iowa's average for a single person with no children)

Our hypothetical man, fresh out of college has 233.44 left at this point. The average student loan repayment per month in the US is 244 dollars.

By the end of the month, this new graduate is almost 11 dollars in the hole. There's no money left for an emergency. If his car loses a tire or the engine needs maintenance or he needs to pay a copay for a medical expense, he doesn't have the money. If he's too sick to go to work a single day, that 11 dollars in the hole deepens.

When you're living that razor thin, when every month, before anything pleasant or any emergency, you start out eleven dollars in the hole, how can you always work harder than everyone else to get pay raises?

The reality today is that no matter how hard you work, for many employers there is no pay raise in retail. Period. They pay what they have to by law and that is it. That's the reality. And it most certainly extends beyond retail.