Workers want pay boost

[ford91exploder]

Welcome to Disney World

I do like the Soviet era art mainly for the clean lines and use of color.

 

[Figaro928]

Welcome to Disney World

New EPCOT country/attraction?

 

[flynnibus]

All that being said, It was a good idea in Ford's time and if you look at the macroeconomic data it's probably a good time now.

I'm not a fan of blanket actions like that - they tend to be emotionally driven verse rationally. And the pure emotion ones tend to spawn way too many unintended consequences because they weren't thought out.

Somehow people have the impression I'm against paying these people more or better.. and there is nothing further from the truth. I just don't subscribe to the ideas that there should be 'forever' increases for employees who are not adding more value or that there is some 'living wage' number that would universally lift everyone out of financial burden. If a person has value to the org... I'm all for paying them accordingly.

I think Disney should be paying their CMs well above their current wage scales because they are demanding so much more out of them. In the logistics of where/how they work, working outdoors, their higher standards of customer service, their higher standards for grooming, presentation, etc. Raises like .50c for trainers etc are pathetic.

If they should shift to a more full time staff vs part timers is a much more complex topic that would never get beyond generalizations.

 

[Gabe1]

We also need a serious discussion on the minimum wage, Which should be set at the state not the federal level as the economics of a rural area are quite different from a big city.

I take the opposite stance. I'd like to see a Federal Minimum Wage increase. It would level the playing field for all states to attract business into their states.

Many States that set the minimum artificially low just to attract new business or attract existing business from other states. The government of those states do this for the revenue from the businesses however the collateral damage is poverty wages.

If the states are allowed to keep the minimum wages low and do not raise the minimum with the CPI annually the cycle continues. So instead of businesses taking the brunt of higher wages against their profit margins the public takes on those expenses for WIC, school free lunches, adjusted utility grants and many other waivers plus subsidies.

As an example. Single Mom works for about $23,000 at Disney, Uni, or any major player and has one child. She falls into the poverty range.The schools must take money out of their working budget for free lunch. If schools have registration fee's those students that fall into the poverty range waive the registration fee for those students. Their field trips and consumable costs are absorbed. If the family is technically considered homeless the school must also provide to and from transportation to school even if that is two taxi's a day. You look at all the lateral jobs that are available in the entire Orlando area and multiply this by the amount of households that fall into the poverty range you begin to realize corporations like Disney are walking away with huge profits and the residents of the state are placed into the position of subsidizing these families instead of the corporations like Disney. I say raise the Fed Minimum to break the cycle, the corporation(s) are making huge profits, there is not a reason for the 'people' to make up the difference for the underpaid employees and shoulder those burdens. I use schools as an example because I see when I approve our budgets what parents earning below the poverty level costs annually. This ultimately is subtracted from programs offered to students. So not fair.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

New EPCOT country/attraction?

One does hope so, especially if a vodka bar is included and a fantasy based dark ride.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

I do like the Soviet era art mainly for the clean lines and use of color.

I just like pictures of tractors

 

[ford91exploder]

New EPCOT country/attraction?

I've always thought Russia SHOULD be part of World Showcase, It's such a misunderstood place and has so much history and literature surrounding it.

 

[flynnibus]

I take the opposite stance. I'd like to see a Federal Minimum Wage increase. It would level the playing field for all states to attract business into their states.

Many States that set the minimum artificially low just to attract new business or attract existing business from other states. The government of those states do this for the revenue from the businesses however the collateral damage is poverty wages.

then that is the state's issue to fix. The collateral damage you speak of is in the state making the decision.. so it's their own problem they created and to fix.

The idea of a larger fed influence here to 'flatten out' states is entirely against the independent states this government was founded upon. It just further promotes federalism and weakens the states.

 

[ford91exploder]

I just like pictures of tractors

I restore tractors

I take the opposite stance. I'd like to see a Federal Minimum Wage increase. It would level the playing field for all states to attract business into their states.

Many States that set the minimum artificially low just to attract new business or attract existing business from other states. The government of those states do this for the revenue from the businesses however the collateral damage is poverty wages.

If the states are allowed to keep the minimum wages low and do not raise the minimum with the CPI annually the cycle continues. So instead of businesses taking the brunt of higher wages against their profit margins the public takes on those expenses for WIC, school free lunches, adjusted utility grants and many other waivers plus subsidies.

As an example. Single Mom works for about $23,000 at Disney, Uni, or any major player and has one child. She falls into the poverty range.The schools must take money out of their working budget for free lunch. If schools have registration fee's those students that fall into the poverty range waive the registration fee for those students. Their field trips and consumable costs are absorbed. If the family is technically considered homeless the school must also provide to and from transportation to school even if that is two taxi's a day. You look at all the lateral jobs that are available in the entire Orlando area and multiply this by the amount of households that fall into the poverty range you begin to realize corporations like Disney are walking away with huge profits and the residents of the state are placed into the position of subsidizing these families instead of the corporations like Disney. I say raise the Fed Minimum to break the cycle, the corporation(s) are making huge profits, there is not a reason for the 'people' to make up the difference for the underpaid employees and shoulder those burdens. I use schools as an example because I see when I approve our budgets what parents earning below the poverty level costs annually. This ultimately is subtracted from programs offered to students. So not fair.

What you missed in my post was that as part of state set minimum wage was that if a company had more than a small percentage of workers on public assistance that a clawback would take place from that company to recoup the public assistance, I have a real problem with companies which subsidize their operations at the public's expense.

I personally have MORE contempt for corporate welfare (unrealistically low minimum wage etc) than I do for individual welfare.

As to why minimum wage needs to be set locally, For example a far higher minimum wage is required in Boston MA, than In the small towns of Western MA the cost of living is far lower.

In all cases it needs to be high enough so that basic Food/Housing/Transportation needs can be met without recourse to public assistance.

We also need a 'training wage' for teens so they can LEARN to be good employees

 

[jakeman]

We also need a 'training wage' for teens so they can LEARN to be good employees

That's called parenting.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

That's called parenting.

Perhaps, but my mother was never any good with a heavy machine gun or building defensive positions.

 

[jakeman]

Perhaps, but my mother was never any good with a heavy machine gun or building defensive positions.

Did she at least teach you how to properly fill out your timesheet every week in grade school?

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Did she at least teach you how to properly fill out your timesheet every week in grade school?

must be a thing you foreigners have. Though we do have clocking in machines

 

[vonpluto]

Perhaps, but my mother was never any good with a heavy machine gun or building defensive positions.

That's was one of the advantages of having a mom who was German.

 

[ford91exploder]

I'm not a fan of blanket actions like that - they tend to be emotionally driven verse rationally. And the pure emotion ones tend to spawn way too many unintended consequences because they weren't thought out.

Somehow people have the impression I'm against paying these people more or better.. and there is nothing further from the truth. I just don't subscribe to the ideas that there should be 'forever' increases for employees who are not adding more value or that there is some 'living wage' number that would universally lift everyone out of financial burden. If a person has value to the org... I'm all for paying them accordingly.

I think Disney should be paying their CMs well above their current wage scales because they are demanding so much more out of them. In the logistics of where/how they work, working outdoors, their higher standards of customer service, their higher standards for grooming, presentation, etc. Raises like .50c for trainers etc are pathetic.

If they should shift to a more full time staff vs part timers is a much more complex topic that would never get beyond generalizations.

Flynn, Agree with your major points, There will NEVER be ONE living wage it's just a mathematical impossibility, But the economy has grown seriously out of balance since the 1980's - real wages are declining rapidly while corporate profits have been growing exponentially, In the 1980's corporations had really weak profit margins. This is no longer true.

One of the key reasons for slow growth in the economy is one companies salary expense is another's REVENUE we need to take a holistic look at how we operate companies and change the relationship between retained earnings and salary to put more money in employee's pockets which will grow the economy as a whole.

If Companies do not do something like this and SOON, The Gov't will and that will be FAR worse than a rebalancing of companies priorities.

 

[ford91exploder]

That's called parenting.

No it's not - Good parents instill the basic skills, It's your first job which teaches you that you ARE NOT A SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE, that teamwork is essential, that respect needs to be given to superiors whether earned or not and ahost of other things that one never learns at home unless one is a part of a family business (or you are a Ferengi)

 

[ford91exploder]

Perhaps, but my mother was never any good with a heavy machine gun or building defensive positions.

Well I hope she was good with a rifle and light machine gun...

 

[Gabe1]

then that is the state's issue to fix. The collateral damage you speak of is in the state making the decision.. so it's their own problem they created and to fix.

The idea of a larger fed influence here to 'flatten out' states is entirely against the independent states this government was founded upon. It just further promotes the federalism and weakens the states.

And as my example the schools which are state, do. They take money out of their operating budget to give aid to students who parents can't afford. So band, music, art, the extra's are cut to help the unfortunate students instead of the employers. The Elected Officials don't care about these families, they want the corporations happy, they lure the big business to their states offering lower wages as bait. In return the Big Business helps them stay in Elected Office and contribute very generously to their campaign coffers. If you look at the states economy over the last decade, the economy of the states is nothing to brag about, they are weak, independent links. Band those links together they become stronger chain. As long as state politicians have the power to keep big businesses happy and they get to stay in office due to Corporate donations, the poverty wage earners will remain the collateral damage and the the Disney type corporations will pull in huge profits because the politicians of those states will keep wages artificially low. That cycle would end if it became a higher Minimum Wage, keeps the donation pawn out of the political mix. Time to take that cycle out of the states hands because the burden of support of the unfortunate falls on the people at a Federal and State level and places the responsibility back to the high profit, big corporations where it should be.

• There are Federal and State assistance Programs. The Federal Assistant Program has so many programs, a few examples that the working poor adults and their children in the Orlando area can qualify for are: Child and Adult Care Food Program, Pell Grants, Food Stamp Program, Head Start (school), PLAP, Section 8 Housing to name just a few that are Federal Programs not State. The minimum wage is the pawn career politicians are using to advance themselves. They keep their big donation firms happy by keep minimums low and the firms reciprocate. If Career Politician raises the minimum wage the donations to the campaigns disappear. That is the weak link.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Well I hope she was good with a rifle and light machine gun...

no but to be fair she did show me how to make my ration packs go further and to liven up those combat rations with simple spices.

 

[ChrisM]

Flynn, Agree with your major points, There will NEVER be ONE living wage it's just a mathematical impossibility, But the economy has grown seriously out of balance since the 1980's - real wages are declining rapidly while corporate profits have been growing exponentially, In the 1980's corporations had really weak profit margins. This is no longer true.

One of the key reasons for slow growth in the economy is one companies salary expense is another's REVENUE we need to take a holistic look at how we operate companies and change the relationship between retained earnings and salary to put more money in employee's pockets which will grow the economy as a whole.

If Companies do not do something like this and SOON, The Gov't will and that will be FAR worse than a rebalancing of companies priorities.

I'd argue that the primary problem with the low end of the wage scale is that, due to globalization, the pool of unskilled and semi-skilled labor has grown exponentially, which (disparities in regional economic conditions and demands aside) is going to drive down labor costs in and of itself. This isn't simply an issue that can be "solved" by mandating a specific minimum or "living" wage. This is a convulsive event that no one has a clear answer for.

And to make matters worse, the ongoing revolution in robotics is going to eventually become like the detonation of an economic atom bomb on labor. And that's not even considering the somewhat longer term impact of artificial intelligence.

The point being, technological convulsions to our economy are going to happen on an accelerating basis, and likely much faster than we can begin to cope with them.