24 Temmuz 2008 Perşembe
When Minimum Wage Isn't Minimum Wage
California legislators can't decide on a budget. The Republicans want to cut spending to come up with the $15.2 billion. The Democrats want to increase taxes, specifically on the wealthy. Governor Schwarzenegger's solution? Stop overtime allowing overtime, lay off 22,000 employees, freeze hiring, and drop pay for 200,000 workers from the state minimum wage to the federal minimum wage. The first three are good business sense. The last one, while technically legal by a court ruling (so long as the government makes good on the difference once the budget has been settled) seems highly unfair. For one, it's unfair to the employees who have no control over a legislature that is currently out of session (but being called back for an August 4 vote). Secondly, why can the state of California pay less than state minimum wage when other businesses are required to pay minimum wage. If a private company tried to do this, they would be slapped with fines. Thankfully, the one group that can do something about this, the legislators and their staff, aren't getting a dime of their pay or per diem until they come to a resolution on the budget. More on this here, though it reads as a partisan article.
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Seems like a "paper tiger" move to me. Do something bold to put more pressure on the Legislature (who has to look the minimum wage workers in the eye at lunch and in the hallways) to force them to act. That way, they can't escape the results of their actions. But it probably is never intended to actually last for any period of time.
YanıtlaSilThen again, maybe the Governator is tougher than I think he is.
My opinion of Arnold is that he feels now that he's the governor, people have to follow his lead - at least when it comes to his party - regardless of what the party members actually think. Doing this would make it hard on his approval numbers, but he is also the one who called nurses a special interest group. Which, they most certainly are, at least here in CA, but you don't go and say that publicly about a profession such as nursing that people hold in high regard. So, while it seems like political suicide to do this, I also wouldn't put it past him.
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