Now would be a good time
To test the theory that raising the minimum wage kills jobs. That mantra has never been proven to a conclusion or else the MW would never be raised from the minimum. The President of the West Northumberland Chamber of Commerce has put herself on the line in this story here . Mrs Thrasher, owner of Boston Pizza says her business cannot absorb the costs of an increased wage bill and she will have to cut jobs. Up until this point the argument of lost jobs has never really been put to the test, it has been thrown around as a talking point in the decades old battle of higher minimum wages. Rather like the mythical "diaper on the beach" no real economic evidence has been produced to back it up. But now if the threat is so real we should be able to watch the job numbers, in Ontario, go down on a comparison basis in August (after the layoffs go out in July).
I hope some evidence will be seen even if it is only to prove or disprove the mantra. Perhaps then we can get on with making the minimum wage a "living wage"!
I hope some evidence will be seen even if it is only to prove or disprove the mantra. Perhaps then we can get on with making the minimum wage a "living wage"!
4 comments:
I know a musician in a band who has played at Boston Pizza more than once. He said they had to argue with management to get paid, and the deal they struck was somehow changed without their agreement, resulting in less pay than promised. Free pizza is nice but doesn't pay the rent.
Now we know what kind of perspective this Chamber of Commerce president brings to the table as an employer. Not good.
Just in case anyone wonders, this band is good and the room was packed with people who liked their performance. There was no issue there, just an issue being paid what was promised.
Last time I darkened Ms. Thrasher's Boston Pizza doorstep I was thrashed for $6.50 for a 20oz pint of Molson Canadian draught. I am most grateful for that gouge becuase it set me on the path of converting old refrigerators into 'kegerators' of which I now have two with more kits and CO2 bottles on their way through Customs. But I digress. The point of a raise in the medium wage killing jobs isn't being looked at rationally. I cite Ms. Thrasher's intemperate response as Example #1.
My argument is this, backed by no particular insight or resaerch, just a sick little feeling in my gut: If the minimum wage were to go up 3.5% (I'm puling figures out of the air for argument sake), I gaurantee you Ms. Thrasher would raise the price of a 20oz pint of Canadian draught by at least 7%. In other words, for people already comfortable wth gouging the shit out of the public, an increase in the minimum wage is the perfect excuse to gouge even deeper and increase their already embarassing profit ratio. Of course, a key component in the strategy, the thing that makes it work in the public's conscious, is Screaming Like A Stuck Pig And Portraying Yourself As The Victim.
'Scuse me. I'm going out to the shed for a perfect $2.50 20oz pint of Molson's Canadian on draught. |Yep, two-fifty. That's what it costs me and that's what it costs Ms. Thrasher.
Merklin, you should never pay a dime for Molson Canadian... it's just mopped up spillings off John Labatt's floors.
To each their own.
I have now completed my third installation and bar-tended one small gathering of sensible types who wanted draught beer. Next Saturday the temperature is expected to hit 23-degrees. Business looks promising indeed as cottage season is upon us and suburban garage doors are raised in celebration of the end of winter.
Bar owners are going to use the minimum wage hike to their advantage -as they will always do. I will not be going with Ms. Thrasher's flow. I will be going with my own $2.50-a-pint flow. And flow it does....
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