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Arrests made as protesters calling for $15 minimum wage shut down Central Square
By adamg on Tue, 11/29/2016 - 9:08am
Central Square protesters. Photo by Andrew Farnitano.
Workers and supporting clergy and residents blocked Mass. Ave. outside the Central Square McDonald's around 6 a.m. this morning. in a protest calling for a $15-an-hour minimum wage.
Police blocked Mass. Ave. before arresting people sitting on the road. Organizers at Raise Up Massachusetts and Fight for 15 say dozens of people were arrested as part of what is a national day of protests.
The Massachusetts minimum wage is scheduled to increase from $10 to $11 on Jan. 1.
At noon, striking non-union service workers who work for a JetBlue contractor will hold a rally at East Boston Memorial Park.
Central Square blocked off (photo by Sam Hammer):
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Comments
Why 6 am?
Trying to mess with garbage trucks and people coming home from the night shift?
Ah yes
A "living wage". Who can live solely on $15/hour? When in history could one support a family on minimum wage?
It depends on the person's living
situation but, in any case, it is a proposed increase which is positive.
The minimum wage law was passed in 1938 so the answer to your question "when in history" should circle around that.
Standard of Living
But I cant live without my $100+ iphone 7 and data plan! Pay me more!
I guess we are going to continue to ignore the negative impacts on raising the minimum wage. This is too good to not be shared:
‘I’m hearing from a lot of customers, ‘I voted for that, and I didn’t realize it would affect you.’” So says Brian Hibbs, owner and operator of Comix Experience, an iconic comic-book and graphic-novel shop on San Francisco’s Divisadero Street, of the city’s new minimum-wage law.
Hibbs says that the $15-an-hour minimum wage will require a staggering $80,000 in extra revenue annually. “I was appalled!” he says. “My jaw dropped. Eighty-thousand a year! I didn’t know that. I thought we were talking a small amount of money, something I could absorb.” He runs a tight operation already, he says. Comix Experience is open ten hours a day, seven days a week, with usually just one employee at each store at a time. It’s not viable to cut hours, he says, because his slowest hours are in the middle of the day. And he can’t raise prices, because comic books and graphic novels have their retail prices printed on the cover.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/417763/when-minimum-wage-hikes-hit...
Yawn
Which replaced your now $75 a month land line with rented phone.
TIRESOME!
Have to agree, if a $80 a
Have to agree, if a $80 a month phone bill is your main utility, considering all you get for that money, how important constant communication is for most jobs, particularly shift workers who are rescheduled all the time, I don't think this is so lavish. Most people have a cell phone bill, a T pass, health insurance and heat/rent as their main budget items. Even the T pass costs more now that the phone/internet/text/calendar/home entertainment center does.
My landline is $22 per month,
My landline is $22 per month, and a Corvette touch tone phone is $10 on ebay.
Plus installation
Plus connection fees, taxes, etc.
Nice try, buster.
Ah, yes, the National Review...
A bit bias are we not?
Since there are many "myths" out there regarding this topic, feel free to share the below with your friends:
https://www.dol.gov/featured/minimum-wage/mythbuster
Gasp! There are opinions out
Gasp! There are opinions out there not originating from Vox, CNN, MSNBC... While conservative, National Review is a highly respected publication still conducting journalism. As many Lefties do, you discredit or slander the source versus refuting the facts or the story. Its much easier and lazier, right whyaduck?
So are you going to pass the San Fran comic book store story as anecdotal? Are the store owners concerns not valid or factual? The bottom line is, you increase the wage/salary of your employees, its going to reduce your bottom line and perhaps put you out of business. That is a fact. Many small business operate within thin margin, that also a fact.
Of course it's anecdotal?
It's literally one example. Not saying his concerns aren't valid or very very real for him but to claim it is widely representative is a false narrative. He can't raise his prices for reasons stated. However, the vast majority of businesses can raise their prices in response to having to pay higher wages. As noted by Erik, the retail business is already under tremendous pressure due to online shopping but is the best solution to pay people so little that they need public support through EBT, Section 8 housing, etc... simply so the business owner can make a living? I'd rather we had higher wages and paid more for stuff honestly.
The fact that I as a small business owner/manager have to give any thought let alone pay for employee health insurance is the worst. A system where people can get good healthcare options outside of employment would be fantastic and certainly hasn't hurt Canada, Germany, Netherlands or any other thriving economy that has that system. I'd much rather pay my employees more money and not deal with their healthcare.
I'll take this one.
Indeed there are. Not all of them come from media outlets that encourage its readers to stay out of black neighborhoods, accuse the president of latent homosexuality and Kenyan nationalism, and categorically insist that the nation of Islam demands the death of homosexuals. The Review earned themselves a few points by denouncing Trump back before it was in vogue, but they've still got thirty years of wretchedly-bad journalism to atone for before anyone should even consider believing them.
Also, if you think CNN and MSNBC are liberal rags, I've got some bad news for you about your tenuous relationship with reality.
.
Right. Lefties do that. Certainly it is the sole purview of the liberal elite who don't think that the NYT and www.crooked-hillary-killed-vince-foster-and-bill-buried-the-body.com are equally reputable sources.
Actually, I suspect he's impugning the source not just because they're a habitually lying pack of lying liars, but also because they found a quote from a guy who made up a number with no hint of reasoning behind it. If you want to run the numbers on what payroll taxes + social security cost, you go right ahead, but if you're arguing that it multiplies the cost of a raise by between 30 and 40x its nominal cost, then the burden is on you (and/or the aforementioned lying pack of lying liars) to show how that math works.
Yes.
Valid? Possibly. Factual? Well, since these fine folks apparently plumbed the murky depths of entrepreneurship all across this great nation, and the only evidence they could find was a single shop owner with no credentials they can point to, I'm going to stick with "no."
Hey, you finally made a coherent point! Yes, some do operate with a narrow margin. If they are only able to operate at any sort of profitability by paying their employees poverty wages and relying on governmental benefits to make up the difference, then they're parasites who should go out of business.
Cellphones are hardly a luxury these days.
Some could even argue it's a necessity. Plus, most carriers (even prepaid) will give you a phone for free.
I know that interferes with the 'minorities living it up on the taxpayers dime' trope but it's true.
While I somewhat agree with
While I somewhat agree with that, paying $29 a month for $600 iphone plus the data plan etc. is NOT a necessity.
You are such a precious little bunny
Do you have any idea what a home phone costs?
Do you realize that keeping even a minimum wage retail job DEPENDS on RECEIVING TEXTS and constant communication? REQUIRES being able to access the web for time sheets and payroll stuff and scheduling?
REQUIRES! REQUIRES! REQUIRES!
Of course you don't. You are too busy extolling your opinions to do actual research or understand fundamentally basic reality.
Requires?!? If people were
Requires?!? If people were not hired or were fired for not having his/ her personal device with access to the web; that is discrimination. The business should be providing web access to such employees.
uh
no, that is not discrimination in the sense you mean it, at all.
You know what?
Your talking point is worn out.
Having a smart phone with a data plan is the cheapest way to get internet and texts and phone by a long shot. I have two extended family members on my plan for that reason. We costed it all out and there was no other way.
But that means doing math and math isn't subject to your precious opinions.
My son worked for Dunks last summer. Mobile phone and internet access were considered to be required for employment. One of his friends lived with us for a time and both his retail jobs demanded it.
Welcome to the real world dear.
I FIRMLY BELIEVE MATH IS WHY
Bernie lost the primary. People laugh at me for saying this but think about it. Watch any of his speeches or interviews. Within 45 seconds he starts in on "One tenth of one percent own 95 perce..." aaaaannnnd he lost half the country!
If you don't believe we are living amongst a majority of people who are quantitatively and demonstrably dumber than us "elites" in this country its time to wake up and smell the stupid.
Elites?
We are talking people making less than $20,000 a year.
These people are doing that math and concluding that a smart phone with a data plan is the cheapest way to stay connected and employed.
Not exactly elite.
Counter
Yes but now his $15 hour workers have less incentive to not come to work either through malaise or untreated illness. They also have more incentive to work harder. So he, himself, and any additional management staff, needs to do less work covering those stores and tasks. So it's not really lost profit, it's just redirecting payment internally.
Huge amount of bullshit in that 'example'
That article is so much crap.
First, it states that the guy owns two stores..."open ten hours a day, seven days a week, with usually just one employee at each store at a time."
That's 7280 employee hours if he stays open on every holiday. If paying his staff $15/hour will cost him an addtitional $80k a year more, right now he would have to be paying his employees $4/hour:
Second, lesser bullshit - "And he can’t raise prices, because comic books and graphic novels have their retail prices printed on the cover." Any avid comic book reader (like me) knows that a huge part of a comic book store's business comes not from sales of new titles but from resales/collector sales. I'm pretty sure that staff at Boston-area stores get paid more than $4/hour, and yet there are many comic book stores that I go to that have been open for decades.
Just because he sells a "cool product" does not give him the right to take advantage of his workforce. We have laws that say that you have to provide a relatively safe environment for workers, and we have laws that say you have to pay people a relatively fair amount for their time and effort. If he can't run a business without taking advantage of his employees, he's not a good enough businessperson to stay in business.
Payroll tax? FICA?
There's more to that number than just the actual increase in pay to employees.
Numbers don't add up
Current minimum wage in SF is $13/hr; when the article was written it was $12.25.
This store is open 7 days a week, 10 hours a day. So 70 hours a week * 52 weeks a year = 3640 hours. Let's assume 1.5 employees in the store at any given time: 5460 hours of employee time. $2.75 an hour additional wage That's about $15,000 of additional pay. Add in a bit for additional payroll tax, etc, you're still a quarter of the way to $80,000.
Let's say you charged an extra dime per comic book. Just came right out and said "we need to cover $20,000 of employee costs per year so we are raising the cost of each comic book by 10¢." Let's say said store has 150 customers per day, and each buys three books. Do that math and you'd get $22,000 and cover your costs. Maybe there's enough elasticity that a few people balk at the 10¢ and shop elsewhere, but you'd still probably cover your costs.
In other words, this story is bullshit.
Really?
So minimum wage in 1938 was a living wage?
When the federal minimum wage first became law in 1938, it was 25 cents. Adjusted for inflation, that would be worth $4.13 today.
That's $520/year. Average income in 1938 was $1,731/year.
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-cost-of-living-2014-10
*facepalm*
Ooh, scare quotes. Yes, a "living wage," as in "the wage required to subsist in the area without requiring governmental assistance to pay for housing or food." You know, all those section 8 vouchers and food stamps that the conservatives hate? Which we all pay for when employers pay their staff so little that they live beneath the poverty line?
Lots of people! It's below the national median income, but it works out to about $30K/year, which is enough to afford housing costs of ~$750/month if you use the HUD's recommendations. That's on the lower end of what's available in Cambridge/Somerville, but is definitely more tenable than the $550/month you'd be able to afford at $11/hour.
Also, if we're to believe your own argument, we should be advocating for $20/hour, because this is such an expensive place to live. I'm in! Let's meet next week to blockade the Taco Bell in the Cambridgeside Galeria.
No one's talking about a single income supporting a family, but since you asked, pretty much any time between 1950 and 1979. Certainly any time before the loss of manufacturing jobs in the US made it impossible for a blue-collar laborer to support a family without a college degree. Don't worry, though, Trump promised he's going to bring those all back, so in a few years we'll be sitting pretty.
Really?
In 1979, min wage was $2.90, that's $9.66 in 2016 dollars. Median household income in 1979 was $15,177. Income on min wage was $6,032.
Was that enough to support a family?
You do know all those lost manufacturing jobs were making SIGNIFICANTLY more than minimum wage right?
I dunno...
In 1979 you could buy a car new off the lot for $4000, or 2/3 of min wage annual salary (according to you anyways). In 2016 you know what 2/3 of my salary at DOUBLE the minimum wage buys me off a car lot? NOTHING. I can get a used car on CL, sure. You are not considering cost of living sir/madam. Wages have crept up while the price of everything has skyrocketed. If you make Min wage in MA right now about 90% + of your money goes to food, housing, utilities, and transportation. And you likely qualify for gov't programs and benefits. That is basically slavery. I know the government, in conjunction with big business has been trying to get the workforce as close to slavery as possible since the practice was outlawed 150 years ago (and they are real close to getting there) but the uprising and social discord is NOT gonna be worth it.
So would you as a taxpayer rather your money go to welfare programs or would you rather a business pay more, disqualifying many from said programs and letting them choose where to spend their money. Any good conservative/libertarian/douchebag would say the latter. However, being walking contradictions, that is not how they normally side on the issue. THE MONEY HAS TO COME FROM SOMEWHERE or else there will just be slums and shanty towns and panhandlers everywhere. The jobs are gone. Do Trumpsters get this yet? THE JOBS ARE GONE. They ain't coming back. Factory jobs that WERE here 30,40, 50 years ago are now done by machines, even in China. I repeat, THESE JOBS AREN'T COMING BACK. There are 2 options: 1) Stop breeding (which no one will do, or even talk about for that matter). 2) Subsidize the poor. Ignoring either of these options leads to widespread poverty. Just ask India.
Huh?
You lost me after the car comparison comment. Honda, Hyundai and Chevy (these were the first three brands I searched for... I'm sure there are more) all sell BRAND NEW cars right off the lot for $15K:
https://www.hyundaiusa.com/accent/index.aspx
http://automobiles.honda.com/fit/
http://www.chevrolet.com/
$15K is 2/3 of 2017 minimum wage annual salary at 11/hr.
link?
In 1970 the average cost of new car was $3,900.00 and by 1979 was $5,770.00
http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1970s.html
In 1970 a brand new VW
was $1800. In 1979 the cheapest economy cars hover around $4k on the same site you link. (In 79 the VW was available only as a convertible and it was special edition, costing about $6k)
I can't make it work
I haven't found a 2-bedroom apt. with T access within a couple miles for less than $1850/mo. Rents have jumped significantly in just the past couple years.
So, mom, dad, and infant. Mom & dad each making $15/hr. Maybe for a good company that has paid sick time, and requires a college degree for entry level work.
Rent & utilities: $24000/year
Health & Dental: assuming $700/month for employer sponsored family plan (what I'm paying) $8400
Daycare: $17,000 year (MA average cost of infant care)
That's $49,400 before taxes, food, phones, student loan payments (if applicable), transportation, diapers, and setting aside some money for emergencies. And of course, a bottle of whiskey every now and then.
I'm not sure how this works, unless mom & dad can work completely opposite shifts or someone provides free daycare.
My husband and I make more than this, and we can't figure out how to have a kid on what we earn. So, we're moving to a state where we can get more bang for our buck.
Unfortunately, I don't see any easy answers to making life more affordable in the Boston area.
Are you effing kidding me guy?
By your logic WHO THE HELL CAN LIVE ON $10 AN HOUR THEN?! Up until I got a nice raise a year ago I was living soley on $16/hr for 5 years and prior to that, $11/hr. Its called LIVING ON THE POVERTY LINE here in MA and there are millions doing it. It ain't easy either. Come down from your ivory tower dude, see what life is like at ground level....
Universal Basic Income
http://www.vox.com/conversations/2016/10/17/13245808/andy-stern-work-uni...
I worked at McD's as a 15yr.
I worked at McD's as a 15yr. old... it was a job I had during high school to help pay for clothes and tickets to the movies while I lived with my Mom. You can't expect to support a family of 4 while working at McD's unless you're in management.
Attention Whores
This is more about their own ego, than actually doing something for the poor.
Blocking commute traffic sure is a brilliant way to lose support for your cause. But then again, it's not really about that us it?
Apparently it worked
They block traffic, the media reports on it, more people know about it.
The media generally only reports things which are bad (except UHub) so if they had politely protested on the sidewalk and not blocked anything it wouldn't have gotten much if any coverage.
Most of the big cultural movements in this country have historically come from people being disruptive. They are taking the risk the dislike of their cause from blocking the roadway will be countered by the people who support the movement.
Thanks for interviewing each person
And determining that this is their only form of protest and/or community action in regards to raising the minimum wage.
Also, protests are meant to disrupt and attract attention.
Which they did.
Power concedes nothing
Power concedes nothing without a demand.
The awful drivers block their
The awful drivers block their own traffic all the time around here. Storrowing, flipping cars, drag racing, hitting pedestrians in crosswalks, illegally parking, blocking the box. And these drivers kill people, unlike these protesters. Direct your anger towards them instead of people who are fighting for equality and a roof over their heads.
Clap, Clap, Clap, Clap...
We need more people like Kinopio in Boston.
Can you confirm that none of
Can you confirm that none of these protesters are also despicable, murderous motor vehicle operators?
Heck, why just $15? Why not
Heck, why just $15? Why not $25 or $30 while we're at it?
There isn't enough time in the day.
Nor Advil in Massachusetts to begin to try and explain how the world works to you.
Because it would hurt a lot,
Because it would hurt a lot, Warren.
I've Been Boycotting McDonald's For Years
Only because their food tastes like garbage.
Fair play to the people blocking traffic, but how many other low wage workers are getting delayed in getting to work today? Clocking in 30 minutes late today costs you $5 in a day where you might make $80. That sucks. You know its true, because if you are making $10 an hour and working full time on an hourly basis, there is a very good chance that you are not living in Cambridge and you might have to take a bus to or through Central Square for work.
Granted with the labor situation in Eastern MA right now I don't know how McDonald's isn't paying at least $12 to $13 per hour or more. Some places are throwing nets out into the street to get people behind the counter.
A rising minimum wage is good for all around, I just hope all the clergy here remember that they can also pay a little more in income taxes or pay PILOT on their places of worship to help the poor through transfer payments (welfare) as well.
I don't think it's a boycott
I don't think it's a boycott if you wouldn't be a customer anyways.
Also remember that most McDonald's restaurants are franchises run by different people. One owner might be a great boss and pay employees well, while another is a horrible boss who screws over everyone. I don't know how the Central Square McD's measures up. You can usually tell by the employee turnover - if employees stay for a long time, the boss is probably better than someplace employees turn over every few months.
All true, but McFlurry
All true, but McFlurry overrides this reasoning!
I love Jaime Eldridge!
I love Jaime Eldridge!
Why?
Why?
When are we going to start
Billing SEIU for all of the overtime paid out due to their "protest" (attempt to build their base).
I'm so sorry
Why do you hate the first amendment so much?
Or have you ever read it.
Your tory ass would have whined about OMG I COULDN'T GET MY CART UP STATE STREET WITH ALL THOSE DIRTY PEOPLE BLOCKING IT WITH THEIR ANTI-MONARCH PROTEST!!!!!!111!!!
When we start billing you for opining on the internet?
I mean, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly are in the same AMENDMENT in the bill of rights.
Or did you just start and end reading with #2?
Bill of Rights
A practice apparently embraced by our president-elect:
- NY Times
It's always good
To shut the profits of the very place your looking to get more money from. Surrounding businesses always suffer also. When will someone tell these people fast food is not a carrer. It's a stop off for your future.
What color is your unicorn?
n/t
When will someone tell these
Tell that to the guy who's working two or three jobs and trying to support a family.
I'm all for wage increases,
I'm all for wage increases, but I don't know if it's really effective across the board. Industry specific collective bargaining seems to be a much better way to get fair wages for a given type of work, rather than trying to make all jobs pay more.
Since when is working at
Since when is working at McDonalds supposed to provide an individual with an living wage – high enough to make them financially independent? Outside of managers, the vast majority of part time McDonalds positions should be filled by high schoolers and college students who haven't yet earned an education to further themselves in life... you know, the country's endless and ever-renewing population of teenagers and grad students.
Part time employment at McDonalds should not be a career choice. $15/hour for part time employment should not be an incentive for the unskilled workforce.
The way I see it, most McDonalds employees should be attempting to better themselves, to do more with their lives, to move on and find an actual career.
Perhaps we should find a way to make education more affordable or more accessible to the people who really think working at McDonalds for the next 30 years of their life is the only option they have.
You're not supposed to be comfortable working at McDonalds. You're supposed to want more from your life. You're supposed to want to better yourself. Hell, if these folks got an education, yet liked working at McDonalds so much, perhaps you could use that education to get yourself a decent paying manager position! (Also, doesn't McDonalds help pay for employees educations in some cases?)
But, I guess we now live in a society where the more liberal of us think anyone with a job should be able to afford a nice comfy independent living, without having to actually earn that living.
Get a roommate, get an education, and further the expectations you have for yourself. $15/hr for part time employment doesn't solve anything, it'll only create complacency.
Outside of managers, the vast
Thanks for explaining how the world SHOULD work. Now go find all the parents who DO work at McDonald's and explain to them how they're breaking your paradigm.
Come on
Over 60% of those making minimum wage are under 25. That leaves about 1 million people who are over 25 and still make minimum wage. The majority of minimum wage jobs are still filled with those still in high school/college.
http://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/minimum-wage/2015/home.htm
You come on
Almost half of minimum wage earners are over the age of 25? Are you arguing for or against an increase in the minimum wage?
Over 25
I would say 35+% is a pretty significant statistic. And I am guessing that most of those older workers at minimum wage jobs are concentrated in areas where there are not many alternatives to retail or restaurant work for those without benefit of college education or specialized training.
and about half of them
Only work part-time.
Using the '14 study, you're talking about 2.5% of those over 25 and getting paid hourly are making minimum wage. Less than 1% of those are actually making minimum wage, as 1million of the 1.5million are being paid below min wage (tip subsidized industries). So now we're down to 500,000 people out of 61,883,000 workers being paid minimum wage.
Now for some pesky facts
http://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/minimum-wage/archi...
Hey look!
An anon found an infographic with broad statistics that partially relate to the topic at hand. And, not surprisingly, you've missed my point.
We need to make quality education more affordable and easier to achieve. We need to help these folks who don't have any useful skills acquire useful skills, whether its clerical, trades, etc.
Paying unskilled work more will not fix any problems, and $15/hr isn't going to make a non-skilled laborer any more skilled or hirable.
Nor will $15/hr cause a minimum wage worker want to better themselves. Minimum wage is SUPPOSED to be hard, hence the word "minimum". It's SUPPOSED to make you want more from your life.
Most liberal leaning folk have a hard time understanding that – even as great as America is – not everyone can live comfortably above the poverty line. Economics just don't function that way.
I visit the Central Square McDonalds
I work nearby, and swing in once every few months for a biscuit when I get to work super early.
The fact of the matter is that the people who work at the Central Square McDonalds are, by and large, the very same people who worked there 5 years ago, working the same (morning) shifts. My bet is that they're working 30+ hours a week, and that they've got families to help support.
Maybe McD's should be a place for pimply faced teens to make a few bucks to spend on their car, but the reality is far different.
The empire strikes back
McDonalds will respond with plans to put Mcrobots in their fast food restaurants so they won't have to pay their humans a living wage and health care.
They'll do that anyway if
They'll do that anyway if they think they can get it to work right.
Grocery stores tried that,
Grocery stores tried that, remember. There was a whole chain that ONLY had self checkout. People hated it.
In theory, self checkout at stores
can be effective when purchasing no more than half a dozen items. Unfortunately, most people I see using self checkout are buying a weeks worth of groceries for a family of six and think it will be faster because, of the eight-umpteen hundred checkout lanes, only two are actually staffed.
Oh, and they really need to improve the reliability of the scanners and equipment so you don't have to constantly summon somebody to "fix" the inevitable glitches and errors that occur. I gave up on self-checkout for this very reason.
Self-checkout
I only use it if there is no line, even if there are lines of people with full carts at the registers. Experience has taught me that 99% of people doing self-checkout are much slower than the store clerks.
They do this in some places.
I visited my sister in Switzerland last spring, and we walked past the McDonalds in Geneva to gawk. Minimum wage is around $22/hour in Switzerland. The Big Mac meal runs about $18, and the entire front of the restaurant is comprised of kiosks where you enter your order for the kitchen staff to make.
Want to know what the staff count looked like?
Right about where it would be for a comparably sized store in the US, because they needed people to help customers with their orders (the same people who can't use self-checkout at the grocery store are also incapable of ordering a burger from a kiosk), to supervise the kitchen staff, and to handle any customer service wrinkles that arise.
There's only so much you can automate, and that McDonald's sure was doing brisk business.
Can't wait to see it happen
Protesters calling for $15 minimum wage.Protesters calling for jobs to be replaced with robots.