(Untitled)

[tamago23]

Do I even need to start analyzing what a bad idea this is? Maine seeks to reduce child labor laws and allow companies to pay "minors under the age of 20" only $5.25 an hour. Aside from the fact that anyone aged 18 to 20 is not a minor, and many people that age are attempting to pay their way through higher education (and/or, sometimes, support a

Comments

[pink_siamese]

This is because our new governor is a certified Tea Party whackjob. He's a complete fucking idiot who has no idea what he's doing. He's driving Papa Siamese insane.

[ms_interpret]

I'm in BC, Canada. Our new premier (same party as the old premier) just rescinded the "training wage" of $6/hr. The deal with it was that a new employee (meaning someone who'd never worked anywhere, I believe) could be paid only $6/hr (min wage was $8/hr) for the first 500 of his or her working hours. So what did the unskilled labour people do? They'd fire you after 499 and then hire someone else.

At least the new premier scrapped that. But she's managed to be evil in another way, and has made a 'tipping wage', which means that people who serve alcohol (where tips are largely expected) can be paid $2/hr less than the minimum wage.

[pink_siamese]

The deal with it was that a new employee (meaning someone who'd never worked anywhere, I believe) could be paid only $6/hr (min wage was $8/hr) for the first 500 of his or her working hours. So what did the unskilled labour people do? They'd fire you after 499 and then hire someone else.

Yeah, that sounds about right. LePage would LOVE to pull something like that if he thought he could get away with it.

Prior to being governor of Maine, he ran a chain of discount stores. He's known in some circles for "taking over, cleaning up, and turning around" the chain, but he's known in others for doing it by firing half the staff and eliminating benefits for the remaining half by cutting them all back to part-time. This is not my idea of a decent solution. Suffice to say I did not vote for him...and he won with something like 30% of the vote (because we had an independent candidate running against him who siphoned off a considerable percentage of the vote...though unfortunately it was not considerable enough

[birthingway]

Thank you for the interesting link re: gender stereotypes. Wow, that is chilling (and another reason why I don't allow TV-avec-commercials in my home--not that they won't still be influenced in other ways and places).

And yep, Maine's proposal sounds like total BS to me. Andrew just got a job at a restaurant, just in time to get the new decent ($10.25/hr) minimum wage here in BC. It's about flippin' time.

[ms_interpret]

It doesn't go up until May next year, no? Or it's gradually going up to that by May next? Something like that. And is he going to be subject to "the tipping wage"?

edit: Okay, I looked it up: The first hike in the minimum wage will come May 1, when it rises to $8.75 per hour. It will increase again on Nov. 1 to $9.50, then to $10.25 on May 1, 2012. Because his job is at a restaurant, not a bar, the tipping wage will not apply.

[branwyn]

WTF is wrong with some people? (Why do I have to keep asking that question