Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for April 04, 2013

Sick restaurant workers could create mass sickness in customers.

Riiiight. At every job I’ve ever worked, most people come to work sick and use sick days for last minute vacation days. OK, how many hands for those willing to pay more money at their favorite restaurant to support the new costs being proposed? Anybody? I’ve worked in the industry and the owners worked their backsides off for profit margins in the low single digits. And no, they don’t do it for the good of their soul, they do it to make money. Want to be a rich owner, go open your own shop and work the 18 hour days to make it a success. But wait, this is just Trudeau being Trudeau.

Why not engage in reasonable discussion instead of posting ridiculous straw man questions?

Good god Gertrude ! the trolls are climbing out from under their rocks early today. Didn’t think we’d have to “flag” wave this early.Obviously, there are idiots who don’t realize that restaurant workers are not paid minimum wage but far less. I will also bet that not only have these “people” never worked as a server or a bartender but they are cheapskates and lousy tippers !

Funny how the minimum wage in Australia is $16.00 an hour and their economy hasn’t tanked.

our own mr pink… kisses

We can easily find out what would happen if minimum wage were $20/hr – that is what Australia has. And the answer is, food, both in restaurants and grocery stores, is quite expensive – about double what it is in the States. But the flip side is, what you see on the menu is what you pay. And another, kids there WANT jobs! That is their goal in life. Here stateside, YOU tell ME what kids’ goals are.

It’s important to remember that this particular strike is against a fast food chain – for which the profit margins are much higher than the independent restaurant. As to sick days and vacation – well, yes, people really do use sick days when they are sick. And many restaurant workers get no vacation at all, so I would be okay with them taking that time. And yes, I’ve worked in retail food service.

I worked as an assistant store manager for a drugstore chain. I was expected to work 6 days a week, 60 hours a week, no overtime, no holidays off. I received the same salary no matter how many hours a week I worked. I wasn’t busting my hump “to make narrow profit” margins. I did it to pay the rent. Through my sciatica out unloading a truck. Still did not miss a day because there was no one to take my place.Lets talk about the restaurant business. How many restaurant servers get sick days or vacation days? Few, if they have a boss with a sense of humanity. Most restaurant workers get paid for the hours they work plus tips. The plan proposed in NYC calls for unpaid sick days for restaurant workers. The main concern there is job security, not lost income. Of course you do not want ill workers handling food, but some will show up for the fear of losing their job. The unpaid sick days guarantees those workers a job if they need to take time off, even if they don’t get paid for those days.Next question, how many restaurant workers are provided with medical coverage? The fact that many restaurant franchise owners are resorting to cutting worker hours to avoid providing health insurance tells you how few restaurant workers get medical coverage. You are more likely to get medical coverage if the restaurant you work is owned by the corporate parent rather than a franchisee.

Eliminate minimum wage, eliminate social welfare programs, eliminate unions, and presto!, you have full employment! People have to eat, and they will take whatever job they can find if they have no alternative but starvation. And all the affluent folks will be able to afford live-in maids, cooks, gardeners, butlers, etc. again. And complain about how hard it is to get good servants. Life expectancies will drop, crime will rise, radical left-wing politics will take hold, as will fundamentalist religion (though not all Christian, now). Retirement will only be for the rich, and the poorhouse for most elderly people without family to take care of. Marriage and birthrates will rise, because having a spouse and children will be regarded as social insurance, having little to do with love or companionship. Divorce will be a luxury that few can afford, no matter how bad the marriage. And the immigration debate will end, and the borders will be open: because there will many fewer who want to come to America, and there will be no need (in the eyes of those now in complete control) to keep anyone out if those who come in cost the taxpayer little, and help keep wages down. The power of employer’s over their employees will become even greater, and to be fired without “references” would be tantamount to utter ruin. In short, society would come to resemble what you find in “third-world” countries, or urban America in 1890 (for American is nearly all urban now). For the the upper quarter of Americans, life might actually become better. This what conservatism is all about: making the future more resemble the past, rather than deal with a future that will resemble nothing ever seen before. Though the latter is ever and always what you actually get.

Some posters want a future that looks like Argentina or Cuba.

Guard SGT has a good point. Why not raise the minimum wage to some huge figure? Levels of minimum wage are always, to some extent, arbitrary. When they are raised too high they drive inflation and bring the value of the wages back down accordingly. Nevertheless, they can compel employers to actually share productivity gains with their employees to greater extent, and they do provide protection against absolute exploitation. Or make workers live on charity (i.e. “tips”). Raising the minimum wage to what it was 20 years ago, adjusted for inflation, and raising it from time to time to keep pace with inflation, is hardy ruinous.

When it come to food service, we already have a servile “tipping” culture, that raises the cost of restaurant food sometimes 20%. That is the “low pay for food servers” tax we all pay, unless we’re lowlifes who stiff the waitress if she’s not pretty. Do you really want to see that culture spread? Would you like to see a sign in every store, every office, that says “Don’t forget to tip the sales clerks (or whatever), they depend on your tips for their livelihood”? Even if it meant a few percent off the price of every item in the store, or every service in the office? (If you don’t tip the receptionist, next time you might not even get in.) If you would not want to see this culture everywhere, why do you think it appropriate anywhere? As tips are not mandatory (then they would be included in the price), as you do not make a contract with your servers, agreeing in advance on what you will pay for service, tips are, in effect, something like bribes or charity.

minimum wage $50,000, Maximum wage $1,000,000

Someone working a full-time job shouldn’t be below the poverty level. Federal minimum wage for a full-time (40 hours a week) employee is $15k. That’s barely rent.

lol, gosh who’d a thunk that there were so many haters out there of working people. this toon seems to have brought out all the right wingers. must be seriously close to the truth if the right wingers are trolling like they are.

who’d have thought Zipper could answer a question, period,much less get it right.

but screwing the 99% has always been capitalism/free and unregulated markets/ goal. here today we begin to see the effects on those who live in such a feudal society.

way to go Zipper, even a “loser” knows the answers.

When Greenspan was asked about the minimum wage he said that it was hard for him to be for something that made the size of the pie smaller.

TIP – to insure promptness. One nice thing about the TIP system is that wait people are pretty generally nice. Actually, the excweptino that prooves teh rule is the one place I go to with lousy service has the TIP built into the check.

I really need to thank the trolls out there for reminding what a third-world nation we’ve become under their rule. I mean, freakin’ OZ is more civilized than we are! Where’s dukedoug when we need ’im/

I noticed the astute answer on the part of Zip too! Way to go Zip! Lack of sick days for workers causes what? Rich owners. Next question.

I worked at a fast-food resturaunt for 13 years on minimun wage. I was verbally abused and once a customer punched me. The Manager wouldn’t let me use his phone to call the police so I went into the lobby and called there. When the policeman came in the customer toldd him, “I’m a customer I can punch all the people I want!” The Officer and I it was all I can do to keep from laughing. I was asked if I wanted to press charges. The customer called me a nothing cashier and said I couldn’t do that. I told him…I take orders, not abuse, i hoped his lawyer has a nice day, because he won’t. And finally, I the nothing cashier who is having him arrested for assault. When the Officer and the irate person was off to jail, the Manager came to yell at me and I told him, “As for you, I don’t know who the moron is that said it was okay to yell at your employees, but it’s debasing and demeaning. And if you don’t watch out you’ll lose some good people.” In front of the lunch crowd I threw my visor on the counter and said, “You already lost one.” And I walked out. There were cheers as I walked out and I never looked back because the week before I was hired by someone else.

Why don’ t the workets at Zonk’s restaurant find a higher paying job at a different place instead of trying to change the business, which they have no capital in.Wonder if we would still have a steel/textile/auto industry if the unions had instead of receiving outrageous pensions and benefits had stock in the companies they ran out of business?

Minimum wage in Australia is $16/hr U.S. see http://www.fairwork.gov.au/factsheets/FWO-fact-sheet-minimum-wages.pdf

‘Liberals seem to always blame their failures on others.’.And cons always take credit for liberal successes, and never acknowledge their own failures. Which are too numerous to detail.

Raising the minimum wage will only cause employers to lay off workers. That’s why the minimum wage should STILL be $1.25 like it was when I started working.

with trolls like these, conservatism is proof enough of the insanity and greed that backfires on a “winning” argument. lol.

let the games continue

conservatism really hates people. like Sarah Palin, dumbing down is all it takes to lose voters..

I think he has a little jar of anti-liberal, anti-Obama, anti-Dem pithy statements all written out, and he just pulls one at random when he wants to comment. They so frequently don’t address the statement he is refuting.

Linguist well said. Great plan for your companies!Something that the LEFT should learn from, Business create jobs, not the ALMIGHTY GOVT!!

The right is all for government assistance when it comes to themselves, just not for the poor or middle class. Judging from the advocates for the corporations and super wealthy on this thread, one would think we had some real aristocrats in our presence. Ironically, I doubt that this is true…LOL

Also, some here are so confused about politics and economics, they think that if you are a progressive, you have no interest in making $.

Doughfoot: Thank you for your foresight and clarity!

Why not just raise the minimum wage to $1,000,000 a year?"

and why not give everyone gold hats? I always wanted a gold hat…

I think Obamacare is at least a step in the right direction, though not far enough. Every other industrialized modern country in the world has a health care system. Even in Canada, which now has a right wing government thanks to a split left wing, the righties wouldn’t dare mess with their health care system. There are countries who don’t have a health care system. If you don’t like it in the US, why don’t you move to Somalia? You’ll fit right in.

No, I don’t. I consider Obamacare a very flawed program but hopefully it is a step in the right direction.

Again, if you were for the war in Iraq, you shouldn’t complain about any spending being proposed in the future. That little fiasco cost us approximately $800 billion, not too mention many human lives.

Great analysis from Doughfoot.

However you look at it, a gold hat is a step up from a tinfoil hat, so, good luck with that.

Thanks so much for the “I know you are but what am I?” rebuttals. Bizarro world stuff.

Guard_SGT has over 1300 comments in about a year and a half, … or an average of 2-3 per day. He also puts political comments on non-political cartoons like Garfield. The same political views regurgitated from right-wing media sources. Over and over. He seems oddly insistent on making his opinion heard when we’ve already heard it. I mean, has he used a single new argument here? Ever? …If he posted any more, I’d think he was getting paid for it.

Healthcare reform is here to stay. I am sorry that the level of debate on this topic from the other side is so juvenile. Then again, in today’s info-rich world, it just exposes them for what they are to hear and see these arguments played out in social media.

And, as I recall, I saw a picture of Donald Rumsfeld shaking hands with him when the republicans sold him WMDs. That liberal Rumsfeld!

Of course, WMDs were also never found in Iraq. Turn off Fox and get some news from just about any other source and you would have learned this long ago.

They had chemical weapons in Iraq, as I recall. I didn’t think the inspectors ever found any WMDs. I wasn’t referring to you in above statement posted, Kaffekuppe.

Thanks, mt, I knew that. Whatever we sold him he used on the Kurds, no thanks to GB the First, and Clinton destroyed the rest by ordering bombing raids.

When I worked in the restaurant biz, the wait staff made $2.15 pr hour. But they generally brought in well over $300 per night in tips. Not bad for six hours work in 1982.

Unions were just as, if not more greedy in the end. Getting overpaid to do ONLY what was in the contract, unsustainable expenses. that is why there is no Stee;/Textile/Auto/Hostess anymore

One of the big lies told is that union or high labor costs caused the collapse of American steel industry. The two biggest problems were obsolescence and dumping from overseas producers.After WW II, the US had a world wide monopoly on large scale industry. Europe and Japan were in ruins. For about 15 years, much of the world depended on the US for everything from cars to food.When many of these countries got their industrial base rebuilt, they targeted the US market.The factories in these countries were newer and more efficient. Most of the factories in the US were built before the war and they were still using antiquated methods.By the 1970s Japan was using the more efficient oxygen furnaces, while most American steel plants were still using open hearth method.Countries like Germany and Japan were also “dumping” steel in the US at prices below cost.We saw a repeat of this in the 90s and early 00s when countries like Romania and China were also accused of dumping steel in the US.Foreign automakers followed a very simple plan. They would aim their initial product at the entry level market. Whether it was VW or Toyota, they would sell at an unusually low price and grab a share of the market. Once they had a reputation and following, they would increase the prices to levels similar to their established competitors. We have seen the Korean automakers follow the same game plan in the last 20 years.Labor unions have become convenient scapegoats for the decline of American industry. But, we have seen American corporations outsource jobs that are not blue collar and unionized. Programming and call center jobs sent to India and the Philipines. Even medical support positions are outsourced.

It almost didn’t. But you don’t read or understand the present let alone the history of this country.

I wouldn’t vote for a contract tied to the minimum wage. It hasn’t been raised in over a decade. I wouldn’t work with a union that has such a clause.

More the pity thast they are not going to do the right thing for thier constituants.. But only a troll like you can really say with such conviction that the government has no place in taking care of its citizens. You truly believe everything that Faux News and the rest of the right wing conspiracy talkers have to say.

Saadam Hussien may have used WMD on his own people, but he never believed in exremist Islam and never back terror as the Afghan Taliban) goverment did. And we put them there, helping the muhahadin against the Russians but we had no idea, no plan for who should take over when the Russians left. The vacuum of power was the extremeists friend. As I said ealier you have know idea about history do you.

I never said Obama was perfect. I have criticized him as well. Politics is a tough business. I don’t compare the prez with the Almighty. I compare him with the opposition.

Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the possible.

I had an idiot friend who said he saw convoys on tv taking WMD’s to Syria. I asked him if he called Bush so he could do something about it. No answer.

I heard that there was a one day strike of fast food workers in NYC today. Very topical strip the last few days.

I believe the green line is the USD and the red line is the CAD. The AUD is represented by the chart. Currently, the AUD is worth US $1.04. Since neither of those lines go above $1 mark, none of them could be the AUD. Since the red line is lower than the green line, the red line is the CAD, because as of April 4 the CAD is worth US $0.99.The chart shows instability in the Canadian dollar, not the Australian dollar.

And you can’t respect the passing of an American icon, and instead use this solemn occasion to bash the President.-Too pathetic.

How did the nation survive without minimum wages? Through slavery, poverty, disease, genocide, economic terror and pollution.

Thanks, but no thanks.

Where has it crashed?