McDonalds: "What, my peon, you don't work two full time jobs?"

[Caliga]

That's an easy one:  the nunmber of full-time employees will be cut to make up for the "losses".

Yep, hence my eye rolling.

[DGuller]

I think it's going to function like a forced efficiency wage.  Those who manage to keep the job will work hard to keep keeping it.  Hopefully that would translate to being more productive rather than stomaching more abuse.

[Admiral Yi]

I imagine it will affect employment very little.  SeaTac is where Seattle's airport is.  That's a captive market.

[Caliga]

Oh, is it just the airport?

[Admiral Yi]

Could be, if only 3,800 people voted on the referendum.

[Caliga]

So I guess the cost of all the food at the airport will go up alot, then.  Since I can usually expense that I don't care.   If it was a personal trip however 

[crazy canuck]

I imagine it will affect employment very little.  SeaTac is where Seattle's airport is.  That's a captive market.

Yeah, exactly. That is the main point the pro side was making.  From the perspective of the surrounding community this makes a lot of sense.  The people that are going to be paying the bill are the airlines in the form of increased user fees to offset the greater labour cost.  That will of course be passed on to the traveling public which is spread far wider than the community benefiting from this wage increase.

I am surprised it passed with such a slim margin.

[sbr]

Oh, is it just the airport?

Yep pretty much.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/11/06/news/economy/minimum-wage-seatac-new-jersey/

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.

[garbon]

I imagine it will affect employment very little.  SeaTac is where Seattle's airport is.  That's a captive market.

Yeah, exactly. That is the main point the pro side was making.  From the perspective of the surrounding community this makes a lot of sense.  The people that are going to be paying the bill are the airlines in the form of increased user fees to offset the greater labour cost.  That will of course be passed on to the traveling public which is spread far wider than the community benefiting from this wage increase.

I am surprised it passed with such a slim margin.

I'm glad people aren't that short sighted though as it'd really suck if this trend caught on as then the costs to traveling public would be very dreadful.

[crazy canuck]

I'm glad people aren't that short sighted though as it'd really suck if this trend caught on as then the costs to traveling public would be very dreadful.

I doubt it would make much of a difference.

[The Brain]

So they'll need STEM degrees to flip burgers there. Win?

[Berkut]

The prices at the airport are already super-inflated, so the cost of labor as a percentage is going to likely be much lower to start with, hence raising wages is going to have less an impact than you would expect.

It certainly will have an impact though.

[Tonitrus]

Oh, is it just the airport?

The airport and surrounding neighborhoods...which being near the major regional airport, means ghettos.  Also strip clubs.

[Phillip V]

Jobs Gap Widens in Uneven Recovery



http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304868404579189703106577712

[CountDeMoney]

McDonald's to Its Minimum-Wage Workers: Here's How to Tip Personal Trainers and Nannies
Will they never learn?
Jordan Weissmann Dec 6 2013, 12:00 PM ET
www.theatlantic.com

By now, you'd think that McDonald's would have learned the perils of offering its workers financial advice. First there was the PR flap when it handed out a budgeting guide that suggested employees would need two jobs to survive. Then there was the help-line where franchise staffers could learn how to apply for food stamps.

But, apparently the lesson hasn't sunk in. Yesterday, as fast-food workers around the country went on strike yet again to demand a living wage, CNBC reported that McDonald's had published an etiquette guide on a company website full of advice from Emily Post on how families should tip their help during the holidays. If you were a McDonald's worker with a pool cleaner, a personal trainer, or massage therapist, corporate had you covered.

After the story ran, the guide was removed, but here's a screenshot courtesy of Time. (More after the image).



Let's acknowledge the obvious: Someone in the vast universe of McDonald's employees has a landscaper they need to tip. What's bizarre is the tone-deafness. McDonald's says the content was provided by a third party, but presumably someone inside the company vetted it (if not, why not?). And the same way telling employees to apply for federal welfare benefits, while thoughtful in its own way, looks terrible when your entire business model is identified with low wages, telling a cashier how to properly tip their dog walker comes off as callous.  It sounds like human resources telling is telling the company's entire low-wage workforce to go eat cake (bought, presumably, with food stamps).