Slog Aug 13, 2014 4:47 PM

You'll Never Guess Who's Joining the "Legal Fight Against Seattle's Minimum Wage"

by Anna Minard

Comments

1
"That was kind of the point."

So why would anyone hire a Seattle high school dropout or ex-con when you can hire an eager and enthusiastic Chinese exchange student from Bellevue who would love to come into Seattle for the job?
on August 13, 2014 at 4:51 PM · Report this
2
Despite the consistent growth of the restaurant industry over the last decade, wages have been stagnant since the seventies. That means that I am making less now, in real dollars, than I did when I first started in the business. Every time the minimum wage comes up, the NRA throws a tantrum. Somehow, what had a real impact on the industry was the financial crash of 2008.
BakerB on August 13, 2014 at 4:59 PM · Report this
3
In other words, they're getting together to loudly and proudly announce that they can't run their businesses properly but should be allowed to keep running them anyway.
treehugger on August 13, 2014 at 5:11 PM · Report this
4
" increasing the labor costs of franchise businesses will make it "difficult—if not impracticable—for franchisees to compete" with non-franchise small businesses "

So if I understand this correctly, that will mean less McDonalds and Subways and more Mom'n'Pop burger joints and sandwich shops? Count me in!
sperifera on August 13, 2014 at 5:59 PM · Report this
5
I hope the courts don't see this as "ripe". Why don't we let it phase in for a couple years and see how it goes?
fletc3her on August 13, 2014 at 6:26 PM · Report this
6
@1 - because of the interview.

on August 13, 2014 at 6:39 PM · Report this
7
"because of the interview."

Interview? For a minimum wage job? Thanks for the laugh. I'll get 20 applications. All the fuck ups get ignored. College kids from Bellevue get the interview.
on August 13, 2014 at 6:48 PM · Report this
8
If they believed any of their own rhetoric, they'd let Seattle be a cautionary tale for the rest of the world, scotching any other minimum wage increases lest they become smoking crater of economic stagnation like Seattle.

But they know Seattle will go on quite well after $15/hour becomes the norm, and then every other city will want to follow. That's what they fear. It's actually the same fear the rich have of health care reform: they know it works.
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn on August 13, 2014 at 7:12 PM · Report this
9
@6 That is an incredibly informative response for such brevity. Bravo.

Unfortunately, what you were answering was neither an earnest question nor from someone in a position to hire anyone, but rather another round of the same old scaremongering with vaguely racist, classist and political-oppositionally charged undertones.

This is close to verbatim from every other thread on the subject.
on August 13, 2014 at 9:01 PM · Report this
10
@8: My worry is that they'll do what they did with the ACA -- keep sabotaging and sabotaging, then yell about the very things they did to make it not work, and then idiots believe their bullshit.
themightywoozie on August 13, 2014 at 9:31 PM · Report this
11
What the city council should do is put everybody on the fast track. End this stupid lawsuit, and punish everybody for letting it get this far.
TheMisanthrope on August 13, 2014 at 11:30 PM · Report this
12
Good riddance to any of the fast food plantations that leave because they won't trim their investors profits to return earnings to workers as a fair, living wage.

The local restaurants and cafes that absolutely can and will replace them will be a welcome improvement to the offerings of food and service...not to mention the view.

I offer a pre-emptive "FUCK YOU" to anyone who stands with these interloping thieves who have collectively driven down the wages and quality of life for all workers in our region. If you want to stand with these modern "manor houses" and "plantations" to perpetuate the indentured servitude of your neighbors, please do leave with the insatiably greedy bastards when/if they actually fulfill their threat to go, you fucking soulless, self-serving, shortsighted, stupid, sociopathic assholes. Just go.

I've had my fill of the fools who worship money and devalue human life in the service of their sociopathic religion. Yes, it is a religion, just listen to its adherents speak then watch what they do. They reveal themselves.
on August 14, 2014 at 4:51 PM · Report this