[image-1]Cleveland City Council will introduce an ordinance on May 16 that would hike the minimum wage in the city to $15 per hour. The legislation will be discussed in committee meetings over the next few weeks.
The move comes after thousands of signatures were gathered by Raise Up Cleveland, an advocacy group backed by the Service Employees International Union. Supporters brought in 28,782 signatures from voters in support of an ordinance from council. 11,900 were valid; only 5,000 valid signatures were required.
If the ordinance is ultimately approved, the minimum wage would be increased on Jan. 1, 2017. (The minimum wage in Cleveland is currently $8.10.)
Council also has the option of rejecting the ordinance or adopting it in a different form. “If the petitioners are not satisfied with council’s legislation, they can require the original legislative proposal to be put to a vote of the public,” according to a statement from council.
“The ultimate question is coming right here to 601 Lakeside,” Councilman Jeff Johnson said during Monday night’s council meeting. “I support the immediate implementation of a $15-an-hour minimum wage in the city of Cleveland.”
This article appears in May 11-17, 2016.
Stupid idea. Wage goes up so will everything else. The dumbest shit ever. And for all dads who are paying child support. That too will go up… Honestly think about this shit..
Nelson, think about moving out of city limits; it doesn’t affect anyone in Brooklyn and surrounding areas.
Cleveland City Council are the dumbest bunch of assholes in the state. Fucking moronic piles of shit.
Paying people more at the bottom of the economy is good for everyone in the end—most mom & pops already pay above minimum already, and forcing corporations and franchises to pay more will put more money to spend in people’s hands, which offsets the hike—studies have shown that higher minimum wages don’t kill jobs. For people who get the raises, many are finally able to support themselves and no longer rely on the system—so it saves taxpayers money on food stamps, welfare, and so on. So don’t expect everything to close up—because usually its corporate employers who have the money who hate higher wages. Mom & Pop already know they gotta pay good help to stick around.
Does that mean you will also increase teacher salaries? Because $15 an hour for a burger flipper is more than your education system.
This is a joke what about people who grew up and worked hard for a lot less there are several jobs out there that don’t pay 15 an hour that u need skills working in the service industry (Burger King Wendy’s McDonald’s) is not suppose to be a life long job just a launching pad this is just another parcipition trophy that we have been giving out so now the government is going to give in to this and in certain cities u will have mcburger flipper making more than military personal who risk their lives and teachers who have to educate them plus might I add there are several other jobs that don’t start at that much an hour like skilled factory jobs that are much more physically demanding
If you support this than you obviously have not been through a drive through at your local fast food restaurant! You want to pay those fools who can not even get your order right 15 dollars an hour!!! I worked on million dollar aircrafts in the US marine corps and worked 50-60 hour weeks and made less than minimum wage still!
If you don’t support this, please just get out of the way of progress. This is essential and a complete no brainer.
If a small company has to pay $15 an hour for non skilled labor then the employees who have degrees and skills will want a proportionate increase as well which would cripple many companies. Our two largest expenses right now are salaries and health insurance. Many companies would put people on part time to save providing benefits. Some companies would have to cut pensions and other perks for their employees.
Yea raise min. Wage and clevelands low cost of living is gonna sky rocket… dumbest shit ever! Keep it how it is, want a higher paying job get a damn skillset! You dont have to go to college, stick at ur job get experience and better yourself… stop relying on the government to help u along the way! I dint go to college, started in sales and now work in the backend of a big corporation making $12 a hour which is enough to raise my 2 toddlers off of. Hard work and dedication
For the phony elected officials and alleged titans of industry who love to pontificate on assisting those who live paycheck-to-paycheck — and do next to nothing on the issue…..it’s your move.
Raising the minimum wage to $15.00 an hour is fine if EMTs, teachers and police and fire all get raises. Where do you think the money is going to come from? Please use some common sense.
I recall when I was in high school that it was time to seek my first job
opportunity and so {following in the footsteps of my brother and sisters}
decided to apply at McDonalds. The first time I applied the store manager
asked me the proverbial question: “why should I hire you?” My response:
“because I need the money.” Wrong answer. The following year I applied to
the same place and this time when asked the same question answered “because
I can get the job done.” Result: hired. I only worked for this particular
franchise for one summer because another store {closer to home} was opening
and it was owned by the franchise owners who had employed my siblings.
With the small amount of experience I had attained {at the previous store} I
was actually able to take charge of the rookie grill team and pull order out
of chaos. This eventually resulted in my promotion to “swing” manager when
I transitioned from high school to college {1981}. A “swing” manager is
essentially someone who will manage any shift {often times with little or no
notice}. Exploitation of my services was the furthest thing from my mind as
the goal was to earn enough money to pay for college. My coworkers were
all my age with the exception of the “day ladies” who worked the morning
shift. The commonly accepted idea was that this was a temporary stepping
stone to better career opportunities once you graduated from college. I
would certainly agree however that my experience at McDonalds allowed me to
utilize some of the talents and abilities I possessed by exercising various
skills in particular situations. In other words; it wasn’t all just about
“flipping hamburgers.” One time the owner of the franchise put his hands
on my shoulders {while I was seated} and stated “I want this man paid $4.00
per hour.” It never happened and I spent the remainder of my time there
earning just a smidgen above what the crew earned.
Today we recognize the dramatic demographic changes that have occurred in
the fast-food industry {over the last 30 years} with most positions being
filled by adults rather than their teen-age counterparts. Consequently the
industry has transformed from being a “temporary stepping stone” to a full
time career opportunity that still pays very little relative to the profits
posted by McDonalds, Burger King and Wendy’s {now comically referred to as
the new “Big Three”}. One could argue that there is very little
opportunity in our economy for someone with a high school diploma {or
perhaps no diploma at all}. It could be further argued that economic
opportunity has been so slimmed down that these types of retail jobs are the
only ones available and it will {in all likelihood} be that way for a long
time to come. In the meantime people employed by these companies still
qualify for public assistance because of the low pay and lack of medical
benefits. We also read daily of the failure to teach people to read and
write upon graduating college not to mention high school. If this whole
situation doesn’t smack of a deliberate and carefully planned booby-trap
then I don’t know what does. Accordingly I am in favor of increasing the
minimum wage to $15.00 per hour at restaurants such as McDonalds, Burger
King and Wendy’s as well as the provision of medical benefits. There is no
evidence that doing so will cripple these major chains in any form
whatsoever. It may reduce the amount of money flowing into the top of these
companies but it is doubtful that it would alter their lifestyles. Of
course there are those who will argue that the price of the food served will
increase and result in less business and therefore less employment. But
this is the accepted thinking of a outdated paradigm. Even Henry Ford was
wise enough to pay his workers more so they could afford to buy his cars
although {in this case} a diet consisting primarily of fast food has been
proven to be unhealthy. No the major chains can “afford” to increase the
pay of it’s employees without having to increase the price of it’s food. So
let this be written so let this be done.
So does that mean all of us that make more than minimum wage will get a $6.90/hr raise too??!
I don’t get it?
According to the commenters above, corporations are just sitting on piles of money (not investing it in R&D, improving their buildings, upgrading their equipment, hiring and training new people, etc), so why if $15 an hour is good wouldnt $20 an hour be better?
And $30 an hour be even better yet (since there are no consequences to raising the wage).
How about we pay everyone $100 an hour and then won’t everyone get rich?
It sure is nice to know that the laws of supply and demand do not apply once you get inside the Cleveland city limits.
Def. gonna move my company there!
This is crap. I have to wait 15 minutes at the local McDonalds for a burger and fries only to get it wrong each time I’ve gone there. Also, there are well skilled claim Triage Reps in my team who make just under $15. What’s going to happen to their pay???? Also, if they raise everyone’s pay the same amount, then we will just lose staffing, price of products will also go up. That’s to big of a jump in pay.
It Does it matter if you flip burgers or work at McDonald’s it is hard to struggle especially if you’re a single mom with two kids without child support so yes they should raise the minimum wage and who cares if they raise everything else if people are complaining and bickering about that because the prices are going up like gas and food how do you think other people that struggle with a low income job and at the same time going to school full-time so yeah it’s not that easy yes they should raise the minimum wage
The best way for those non skilled, minimum wagers to better themselves would be through acquiring a skill. Higher minimum wage will create a boom a rang that will catch up with them, again. Cleveland City Council may be seeing increased tax revenue, which will be negated when they have to pay more for contracted and other services. I’m just now seeing the long term benefits.
Clevelanders need a raise that is long over do. Let’s stimulate the economy and get Cleveland back on the map. If we have more money in our households then we have buying power. It’s time for the big business people like Cleveland Clinic, and University just to name a few to pay the people hired help. A lot of these corporate companies are tax exempt. Time to make them pay. American is called the land of milk and honey for a reason. People get your icecream ready because I am smart enough to know that I want a slice of the American pie.