Minimum Wages Could Be Lowered In Arizona, Florida

[stevethrower]

WASHINGTON -- Republican lawmakers in Arizona are pushing legislation that would lower the legal minimum wage for younger part-time workers and tipped workers such as restaurant servers, just as Florida lawmakers are considering dropping their state's tipped rate as well.

In both cases, proponents of the measures are arguing that the wage floor for such employees is too onerous on businesses.

The Arizona proposal, HCR 2056, would amend state law so that an employer could pay a teenage worker $3 less than the current minimum wage per hour if the worker is employed either part-time or on a temporary basis. The Arizona minimum wage is currently $7.65 -- forty cents more than the federal rate -- meaning that many teenagers could end up being paid $4.65 per hour if voters approve the proposal in a ballot initiative later this year.

An amendment to the legislation would also cut the minimum wage that employers must pay tipped employees by more than $2 per hour. The minimum wage for servers and other tipped workers in Arizona is currently $4.65. If a worker's tips don't add up to the normal minimum wage of $7.65, the employer must cover the difference -- a stipulation that would not change with the legislation.

The proposal, which was sponsored by the House of Representatives' majority leader, Rep. Steve Court (R-Mesa), passed through the state commerce committee last week along party lines. Court could not be reached for comment. According to an article by Arizona's Cronkite News Service, Court said at a recent hearing that the minimum wage for teenagers is "causing employers to employ fewer people. It also makes us a lot less competitive."

The amendment to the Arizona legislation is similar to a proposal in the Florida legislature, where the tourism and commerce committee is considering giving businesses the option of dropping the state minimum wage for servers, currently $4.65, in favor of the lower federal one of $2.13. However, if the employer opts for the lower wage and the employee doesn't earn at least $9.98 per hour after tips, the employer would have to make up the difference.

Since the proposal surfaced in the GOP-controlled legislature earlier this month, some Florida lawmakers and businesses have faced a backlash, with worker advocacy groups denouncing it as an attack on low-wage workers and a boon to the restaurant industry. Members of the Florida AFL-CIO have been leaving literature behind on restaurant tables to inform servers of the potential changes, and the group also put together a protest outside an Outback Steakhouse in Miami Lakes. Organizers encouraged attendees to dress in 1980's garb to mock a minimum wage they described as being from an earlier era.

Outback Steakhouse's parent company, OSI Restaurant Partners, supports the Florida measure, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The Tampa-based company, which counts Carrabba's Italian Grill and Bonefish Grill among its holdings, gave more than $120,000 last year to 32 Republicans running for state office.

Carol Dover, president of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, told The Huffington Post in a statement that the proposal under consideration has been mischaracterized. "There appears to be confusion as to the legislation," said Dover, whose trade group supports the proposal. "No one is having their wages cut. Employees are being guaranteed 130% of the state minimum wage if the employer elects to offer that option."

But Rich Templin, legislative and political director of the Florida AFL-CIO, argues that the measure would simply let employers save money at workers' expense.

"We believe that many people in the legislature, from both sides of the aisle, once they understand what it's about will not be supportive of this," says Templin. "It really is a pretty despicable idea."

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[BIV]

You are bitching about $7.65? Are you shitting me? $4.65 per hour is bullshit. You'd spend more money driving to work than you would make on your shift.

Washington is $9.04 and goes up every year.

 

[jagsfans]

Fine by me, I delivered pizzas part time and didn't care about my hourly wages. Tips were all that mattered. If you are an adult still depending on minimum wage, your hopeless.

 

[Don the Radio Guy]

So in other words, they'd still make at least the federal minimum wage. Why is this a story again? Why is it a piece of legislation? The whole thing seems like a waste.

 

[Party Rooster]

The thing about lowering the minimum wage for tipped employees is fine when you're making over $100 a day in tips. Problem is the only place I've ever seen employers do it is in shitty dive restaurants.

 

[MayrMeninoCrash]

How about lawmakers propose to lower their wages to the minimum?

 

[Party Rooster]

If you can't afford to pay your front line employees $7.65 an hour maybe you shouldn't be in the restaurant business. Since tipped employees are basically commission employees, you're already getting the most bang for your buck as far as efficiency goes.

 

[Stig]

How about lawmakers propose to lower their wages to the minimum, mmmmmmmaaaaaannnnnnnn?

Fixed.



You have to admit, that really was a "mmmmaaannnn" statement.

 

[MayrMeninoCrash]

Fixed.



You have to admit, that really was a "mmmmaaannnn" statement.

Sorry I get tired of hypocritical lawmakers that think they are above everyone else. No health insurance for you, No pension for you, no minimum wage for you, yet they sit back and collect all these perks on the taxpayer's teat.

 

[whiskeyguy]

Sorry I get tired of hypocritical lawmakers that think they are above everyone else. No health insurance for you, No pension for you, no minimum wage for you, yet they sit back and collect all these perks on the taxpayer's teat.

This law isn't forcing anything on anyone else... it's actually giving businesses more freedom, but I agree with your point of the politicians making minimum wage. When our Californian legislature couldn't pass a budget and failed to pay contractors, I always thought that the legislatures themselves should be the last ones to get paid until a budget was passed.

 

[MayrMeninoCrash]

This law isn't forcing anything on anyone else... it's actually giving businesses more freedom, but I agree with your point of the politicians making minimum wage. When our Californian legislature couldn't pass a budget and failed to pay contractors, I always thought that the legislatures themselves should be the last ones to get paid until a budget was passed.

I believe Arnold proposed that, and it created an uproar with the State Treasurer.

 

[Party Rooster]

Wonder if the really good server jobs will be like the stripper industry, where you have to "tip" your employer for the privilege of working there.

I'll have to admit I even worked off the clock a couple of times at my last waiter gig. The boss would keep a separate book of your hours worked like that and would credit you a few hours here and there if you wanted extra time off. And this was in a union house on the strip in Vegas. The bean counters absolutely forbade overtime pay so we had to do it like that to work extra hours when it was busy.

 

[Josh_R]

How about we just get rid of minimum wage laws all together?

 

[d0uche_n0zzle]

How about we just get rid of minimum wage laws all together?

Without regulations, people would have freedom.

 

[BIV]

How about we just get rid of minimum wage laws all together?

Sure, why don't we just go back to slave labor while we're at it.

 

[d0uche_n0zzle]

Sure, why don't we just go back to slave labor while we're at it.

What do you think a fifty percent tax rate is? "whaa"

 

[BIV]

What do you think a fifty percent tax rate is? "whaa"

A myth.

 

[d0uche_n0zzle]

Include all the sales tax and other little bullshit 'taxes' and you'll see that you are a virtual slave. Toby.

 

[d0uche_n0zzle]

A myth.

Hidden taxes

Face!

 

[MayrMeninoCrash]

Let the bears pay the Bear Tax. I pay the Homer Tax.

 

[Motor Head]

How about we just get rid of minimum wage laws all together?

Cool, let companies start building huge complexes of apartments surrounding a central manufacturing plant. Be sure to fence it in, and put up nets to catch people trying to jump off the roof. Ditch these stupid OSHA rules and regs, ditch overtime pay laws, and make an 80 hour work week a standard. Yeeeh, capitalism!

 

[jimmyslostchin]

Let the bears pay the Bear Tax. I pay the Homer Tax.

What if I told you this rock keeps Tigers away?

 

[jnoble]

Whenever raising the minimum wage is in the news, there's at least one study shown or mentioned about "a person supporting a family of four earning minimum wage would now make..." and my reaction is always "Just how many people nationwide have a family and only works a minimum wage job?" According to a genious like Nancy Pelosi, most of America come home to their house and three kids from a long day at Burger King.

 

[stevethrower]

Cool, let companies start building huge complexes of apartments surrounding a central manufacturing plant. Be sure to fence it in, and put up nets to catch people trying to jump off the roof. Ditch these stupid OSHA rules and regs, ditch overtime pay laws, and make an 80 hour work week a standard. Yeeeh, capitalism!

Two sets of fence... as you need somewhere for the guard dogs to patrol.... as orientals do tend to be terrified by dogs. I used to walk our Border Collie at the local high school (in Toronto) at night where a bunch of Korean teenagers hung out... and they were terrified of the smiling wagging tail attack Border Collie.

Methinks they might shit their pants if I walked the GSD in her tracking vest through there...

 

[d0uche_n0zzle]

The slopes stank of dead dog and they knew it.