Washington city votes to raise minimum wage to $15 for waiters. They still get tips

[JEDI]

http://money.cnn.com/2013/11/06/news/economy/minimum-wage-seatac-new-jersey/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

The SeaTac initiative will raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour for hospitality and transportation workers in and near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The current minimum wage in Washington State is $9.19.

SeaTac Proposition 1 also calls for paid sick leave and tip protection.


well, i cant complain. Residents of SeaTac, Wash voted for this. they're the ones who live there and they're the ones who will be paying the higher prices.

now I 'm waiting for people to boycott tipping and make it against the law so people don't feel pressured to do it.
after all, $15/hr is a lot more than $2.13/hr and they no longer need to be tipped.

 

[xj0hnx]

http://money.cnn.com/2013/11/06/news/economy/minimum-wage-seatac-new-jersey/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

The SeaTac initiative will raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour for hospitality and transportation workers in and near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The current minimum wage in Washington State is $9.19.

SeaTac Proposition 1 also calls for paid sick leave and tip protection.


well, i cant complain. Residents of SeaTac, Wash voted for this. they're the ones who live there and they're the ones who will be paying the higher prices.

now I 'm waiting for people to boycott tipping and make it against the law so people don't feel pressured to do it.
after all, $15/hr is a lot more than $2.13/hr and they no longer need to be tipped.

That's ...simply ...insane.

 

[Lithium381]

Wth! Well, lets see where it goes. .. experimentation is good right?

 

[iGas]

Perhaps they should have voted for $150 an hour, and mandatory 100% tip.

 

[exdeath]

I foresee many grins of would be new found fortune turning to dismay when they discover they are laid off instead...

 

[feralkid]

That's ...simply ...insane.

Agree 100%

Allowing employers to skirt the law and pay workers $2.15 an hour is criminal.

 

[MtnMan]

Service will go into the crapper. The incentive to provide good service is the tip. I tip well (20%+) for good service, and not so good for crappy service.

 

[BoberFett]

Agree 100%

Allowing employers to skirt the law and pay workers $2.15 an hour is criminal.

How is that skirting the law? The laws are different for tip based jobs.

 

[CA19100]

Service will go into the crapper.

Maybe, maybe not. My favorite restaurant in Columbus, OH, does not accept tips, and instead wraps it into the price of the food and pays his employees very well. There isn't even a place on the credit card slip to add a tip, and they'll hand back cash if you try to offer it. Despite the lack of "incentive," service is excellent.

 

[xj0hnx]

Agree 100%

Allowing employers to skirt the law and pay workers $2.15 an hour is criminal.

No one "skirts the law", if a wait person does not make enough in tips to equal minimum wage then the employer pays the difference. thing of it is, in my 15 years in the food service industry I never saw a place where waiters/waitresses made close to minimum wage. I read somewhere that the average pay is around $12-$15 hour, though I have worked in a couple places where wait staff was mad if they went home with less than $150 off a four or five hour shift. It's probably one of the, if not THE best paying jobs for people, especially women, without an education.

 

[glenn1]

Doesn't SeaTac basically consist of the airport and not much else? Honestly the wages may not make much difference to airport prices, although I can see a lot more "self service" food vendors popping up and probably minimal actual server employees.

 

[Incorruptible]

The idiots who voted for this need to have their heads examined. Raising the minimum wage will result in higher prices, less employees and companies moving out.

 

[xj0hnx]

The idiots who voted for this need to have their heads examined. Raising the minimum wage will result in higher prices, less employees and companies moving out.

You didn't read the actual article did you? Just pulled out your talking points notepad flipped to "Raise minimum wage" and started puking on the keyboard?

 

[Incorruptible]

You didn't read the actual article did you? Just pulled out your talking points notepad flipped to "Raise minimum wage" and started puking on the keyboard?

I did read the article and what I said about minimum wage is true. The minimum wage shouldn't be raised.

 

[rudder]

Agree 100%

Allowing employers to skirt the law and pay workers $2.15 an hour is criminal.

Waiters don't earn $2.15/hour. If tips do not give them at least minimum wage, the employer does.

 

[ivwshane]

The idiots who voted for this need to have their heads examined. Raising the minimum wage will result in higher prices, less employees and companies moving out.

This should be pretty easy for you to prove as many states with in the last several years have raised minimum wage.

I await your data to back up your claims.

 

[Incorruptible]

This should be pretty easy for you to prove as many states with in the last several years have raised minimum wage.

I await your data to back up your claims.

Government shouldn't even be raising the minimum wage. It's not the role of government.

 

[soulcougher73]

Government shouldn't even be raising the minimum wage. It's not the role of government.

Except that part where the local people voted for it, but yeah, government.

 

[feralkid]

The idiots who voted for this need to have their heads examined. Raising the minimum wage will result in higher prices, less employees and companies moving out.

Says every crackpot opposed to fair labor practices for the last two hundred years.

 

[Incorruptible]

Except that part where the local people voted for it, but yeah, government.

They shouldn't have voted for it though. And they don't have the right to tell businesses how much to pay. The people who voted for it are idiots and wrong.

 

[michal1980]

waiters making min wage. LOL.

I bet for most of these guys this will be a pay cut, due to paying taxes now.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Basically the only thing in SeaTac is an airport, where prices are already artificially inflated due to lack of competition. Get used to paying $15 a pint waiting on your connecting flight.

 

[feralkid]

No one "skirts the law", if a wait person does not make enough in tips to equal minimum wage then the employer pays the difference. thing of it is, in my 15 years in the food service industry I never saw a place where waiters/waitresses made close to minimum wage. I read somewhere that the average pay is around $12-$15 hour, though I have worked in a couple places where wait staff was mad if they went home with less than $150 off a four or five hour shift. It's probably one of the, if not THE best paying jobs for people, especially women, without an education.

Oh thank God.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

The idiots who voted for this need to have their heads examined. Raising the minimum wage will result in higher prices, less employees and companies moving out.

Washington already has the highest minimum wage in the country, and yet they're considered one of the most business friendly states, thanks in no small part to the lack of corporate income tax. Amazon, Microsoft, Starbucks, Boeing, Costco, Nintendo, Valve... yeah, Washington is terrible for business because of that oppressive minimum wage. Granted, $15 for workers who already receive tips is moving into the realm of the absurd, but arguing that high minimum wage kills business? Washington pretty easily destroys that theory.

 

[HTFOff]

Washington already has the highest minimum wage in the country, and yet they're considered one of the most business friendly states, thanks in no small part to the lack of corporate income tax. Amazon, Microsoft, Starbucks, Boeing, Costco, Nintendo, Valve... yeah, Washington is terrible for business because of that oppressive minimum wage. Granted, $15 for workers who already receive tips is moving into the realm of the absurd, but arguing that high minimum wage kills business? Washington pretty easily destroys that theory.

Surely the argument that a few mega corporations who make headquarters in a tax friendly state automatically equates to higher employment is not the one you're making right?

There are other businesses out there (small business).

Care to list a study or two that professes to have found a link between high minimum wages and subsequent job creation? I.E. Raising minimum wage = jobs?