@GoodJobsSeattle @ @GoldyHA Coalition may reject the idea of health benefits as a part of wage. Larger Seattle nonprof community does not.
— CapitolHillChamber (@caphillchamber) April 17, 2014
Back in Stupidland I sarcastically tweeted back “like that’s believable” to the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce’s suggestion that it somehow represents the non-profit community better than the Seattle Human Services Coalition (SHSC). Which apparently offended the chamber’s Michael Wells. You can read the whole stupid, stupid exchange here.
For the record, SHSC—a coalition of hundreds of human services providers, agencies, programs, and individuals—fully supports a $15 an hour base minimum wage “that does not include other forms of compensation.” I later asked Michael if his non-profit championing chamber would accept a straight up $15 minimum wage that allowed a health care deduction only for non-profits?
“Nope.”
Fair or not, the chamber’s claim to be championing the interests of non-profits is simply stupid messaging. It fails the sniff test. It makes them sound arrogant and disingenuous. The chamber should really consider taking my constructive criticism to heart.
Also on Twitter, hipster oligarch David Meinert helpfully suggests that folks might take me more seriously “if you could make a point without all the negativity.” I suppose he’s talking about posts like this. Huh.
The thing is, politics is an adversarial process. It’s a contact sport. So if you can’t take a few bruises, then get out of the game. I didn’t make these rules—I don’t even necessarily like them. But fuck if I’m going to play with one hand tied behind my back for the sake of not offending people who would congratulate themselves for passing a $15 minimum wage that doesn’t pay $15 an hour.
Isn’t merely having an important discussion within the confines of a 140 character limit, in and of itself, a form of ‘stupid messaging’?
@1 Yes!
I’ve been following — and participating in — the minimum wage debate not only in HA comment threads but also in other forums, including the Seattle Times and financial blogs.
This issue stirs amazing passions. After reading hundreds of comments on the subject, I’m forced to conclude that rightwingers really and truly are despicable people with a venal and hateful attitude toward their fellow human beings. I see people who make a comfortable living expressing outright personal hatred toward strangers they don’t know whose only “crime” is wanting to be paid more than $7.25 an hour for their work.
I don’t need to list all their dishonest arguments here; you know what they are, because they all use the same talking points. What really comes through is how personal this issue is for them. They act like someone is sticking a gun in their face and robbing them. They don’t realize they’re the robber with the gun, holding up the workers whose labor they want on the cheap.
As long as I get my proportionate increase, I’m on board for the $15 per hour minimum wage.
It seems to me that the issue of including are not including other benefits with a $15 wage illustrates why unions are such a good idea.
When we pass the $15 wage, this is an obvious that this will result… wherever possible… In cuts in other sorts of benefits?
The advantage to the employers of having a union is that our wage structure gets to be negotiated rather than a magic number like this.
In the meantime, until the $15 wage passes, I have begun tipping at fast food drive-through’s. I must not be the only person doing this because so far, other than a thank you, I have evoked no surprise.
Does anyone here know whether McDonald’s and its brethren have a policy for dealing with tips?
On Twitter Meinert told a woman to “fuck off” and called Seattlish’s writers “young girls”. To hear him complain about negativity is painful.
@6 He’s not related to this guy, is he?
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/le.....th-minors/
@6
That is what we call “meinertspaining.”
@5, I’d bet corp policy is not to accept tips. However, you’ve probably just contributed to some drive-thru worker’s unreported and untaxed cash income. If you want to be above board, make sure you charge the meal+tip to your credit card and you’ll find out the real official policy.