In the big picture, no one would argue that everyone deserves a decent wage and decent benefits for a decent job and decent work effort. It’s what’s euphemistically referred to as a “living wage.”
What is hard to find is agreement on just what constitutes a living wage and what that impact would be on the price of, say, a Big Mac. In other words, what are your principles worth?
Yesterday, fast food workers and their supporters in 60 cities across the country held a one-day strike for an increase in their wages, though they were more rallies than strikes. Workers in fast food restaurants such as McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, KFC, and other national chains walked out around lunch time in an effort to spur a hike in the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour. The average fast food worker makes $9 an hour.
The rallies, many of which were organized by unions such as the SEIU, have drawn politicians looking to throw their lot in with the workers. A rally on Boston Common drew five of the 12 mayoral candidates, who took to the microphone one by one pledging their allegiance to the plight of those who serve.
““We should never in a country as prosperous as this one need to say someone is working poor,” City Councilor and mayoral contender Felix Arroyo told the crowd. “You work. You should not be living in poverty.”
It was the same in other cities as well, with candidates relishing the chance to buff their labor bona fides in the run-up to labor’s biggest day.
Huffington Post ran a piece that claimed the cost of a Big Mac would only rise 68 cents – about 17.1 percent based on an estimate that McDonald’s spends about that percent on wages and benefits for its employees. Not so fast, they found later. The research was based on a faulty analysis that only looked at company-owned restaurants. More than 80 percent of McDonald’s are franchises and those owners, on average, spend as much as 35 percent of their income on labor. So, HuffPo wrote in a follow-up correction, your Big Mac would cost you $5.27, a healthy increase of $1.28, fries and drink not included.
But on the flip side are those who say a doubling of the minimum wage is a draconian dictate that could decimate small businesses with the costs being passed onto consumers in the form of vastly overpriced commodities. Some argue raising the minimum wage to that level would force teenagers out of quickly disappearing summer jobs as more adults would look to take those positions. Some even say the doubling of the minimum wage will lead to robo-servers pushing humans out of work.
It is a never-ending argument every time there are efforts to raise the minimum wage. One might say it is a “living debate.”
–JACK SULLIVAN
BEACON HILL
Now we know why Tim Murray resigned his job as lieutenant governor and returned to Worcester. Murray agrees to pay $80,000 to settle charges that former Chelsea Housing Authority official Michael McLaughlin and another unidentified individual raised money illegally for him. The Telegram & Gazette reports that the unidentified individual is E. Bernard Plante, the chairman of the Millbury Board of Selectmen. McLaughlin, already facing a federal sentence for concealing his housing authority salary, is indicted again, the Lowell Sun reports. Murray can tap his campaign account for most of the $80,000, but he has to pay a $10,000 personal fine out of his own funds. Gov. Deval Patrick feels good about Murray’s punishment, but Howie Carr does not.
House Speaker Robert DeLeo restricts access to the rostrum and particularly the bin holding pending bills during House sessions, the State House News Service reports.
State Sen. Dan Wolf is no lone wolf in potential conflicts of interest, according to a CommonWealth review of financial disclosures by legislators. You can look here on our site for nearly 500 of the latest disclosures from state and county elected officials as well as select judges, authority heads, college presidents, and policymakers. Gubernatorial hopeful Steve Grossman takes a veiled shot at Wolf, urging the Legislature not to alter ethics rules.
The software services tax continues to cause much consternation for business owners.
The population of homeless families living in motels has soared, raising doubts about the state’s ability to end the program, as planned.
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
Gloucester sells an empty school to a developer for $120,000; the developer plans to convert the building into 12 condominiums, the Gloucester Times reports.
Philadelphia, meanwhile, is trying to sell 31 schools, the Inquirer reports.
Four workers at the South Shore Housing Development Corp. in Kingston were fired after a state investigation found they issued housing assistance vouchers to friends and family as well as other lapses in internal controls.
Attleboro shuts down a private wastewater treatment plant because it smells terrible.
MARATHON BOMBINGS
A third college friend of accused marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is indicted on charges related to lying to investigators.
The brother of a Boston man charged last month with trying to scam The One Fund Boston for marathon bombing victims has also been charged in connection with the alleged scheme.
NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON
The Department of Justice says it will not block the opening of retail marijuana stores in Colorado and Washington state where voters legalized the recreational use of pot. Talking Points Memo asks if this decision is the beginning of the end of the war on drugs.
ELECTIONS
CommonWealth continues its look at the Boston mayoral field with a piece on “the natural,” Felix Arroyo.
The special election for the 6th Bristol House seat in Fall River heated up with accusations by GOP contender David Steinhof that his Democratic opponent, former governor’s councilor Carole Fiola, could face conflict of interest violations because of her husband’s job.
Maine Gov. Paul LePage is well on the way to destroying his chances for reelection and any hopes at playing a role in national Republican politics thanks to his penchant for outrageous comments.
CASINOS
Mohegan Sun promises Palmer $3 million in upfront payments, more than $16 million in annual revenue, and $23 million in infrastructure work, NECN reports.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
Keller@Large says the empty seats at Fenway Park are more a reflection of the economy than reaction to the last two painful seasons.
EDUCATION
Westfield State University president Evan Dobelle is striking back at the school’s trustees over a report raising questions about his spending habits with university funds, calling the report “defaming” and “illegal.”
HEALTH CARE
Don Berwick, the former head of the federal Medicare program who is now a Democratic candidate for governor, says a fix is needed for regulations that leave many seniors without coverage for high-cost rehab care.
TRANSPORTATION
If the decline in driving in the United States isn’t due to the recession, then why are Americans driving less? Governing asks.
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
Officials had to clean up two oil spills in New Bedford Harbor that occurred within hours of each other.
Marshfield residents aired their concerns to Sen. Edward Markey over a change in federal flood maps that could cause their flood insurance premiums to skyrocket.
In its editorial on the Vermont Yankee closing, The Berkshire Eagle argues that a number of factors conspired against nuclear power including fears about accidents in the post-Three Mile Island-Chernobyl-Fukushima era and the failure of Washington to establish a nuclear waste site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Meanwhile, the decommissioning process is complex and will take decades to complete.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Newark Mayor (and US Senate candidate) Cory Booker calls for prison reform, including the end of mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders, decriminalization of marijuana, and more spending on prisoner reentry, the Star-Ledger reports.
SPORTS
A $765 million settlement is reached in lawsuits on behalf of more than 4,500 former National Football League players who claim to suffer from debilitating brain injuries as a result of their days in the violent, bone-crushing game.
MEDIA
The Globe’s page 1 look at the decline of sports station WEEI has some problems because it seems the writer, Callum Borchers, apparently quoted random people he did not identify as his friends saying why they no longer listen to the station. Dan Kennedy weighs in on the issue as well as some interesting thoughts about a growing Globe-Herald battle as a subtext.
Jerry Remy will not return to the Red Sox broadcast booth for the remainder of the season, NESN announced. Remy has not been on the air since his son Jared was arrested earlier this month and charged with murdering his girlfriend, Jennifer Martel.
