Judge rejects request to stop wage increase

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Dec 29, 4:21 PM EST
Judge rejects request to stop wage increase
By RACHEL LA CORTE
Associated Press

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) -- A Kittitas County judge on Wednesday rejected a request to halt a 12-cent increase to the state's minimum wage that takes effect this weekend.

Superior Court Judge Scott Sparks ruled against the summary judgment request made by a coalition of business groups that sued the state last month over the decision to raise the minimum wage to $8.67 an hour.

The groups opposed to the increase argue that the minimum wage can't be increased in 2011 because this year's Consumer Price Index did not reflect a net increase in the cost of living since 2008. A voter initiative ties the state's minimum wage to the index.

The coalition opposed to the increase includes the Washington Farm Bureau, the Washington Restaurant Association and the Washington Retail Association. Messages left with the groups Wednesday were not immediately returned.



Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WA_MINIMUM_WAGE?SECTION=HOME&SITE=AP&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[Crazy Dave]

1. The super rich just got a super tax break but no minimum wage increases

Thank you sir! May I please have another?

[bluerum]

2. Fighting for every penny. Their next evil business trick will be to amend that law.

[bluestateguy]

3. This is a good policy

Tying the minimum wage to the CPI takes the wage out of the hands of politicians and ties it to the cold hard data. That way we need not wait around for the politicians to think about considering maybe raising the minimum wage if they feel like it.

[DJ13]

5. It would be a good policy if only the CPI measured the real rate of inflation

As Social Security recipients know all too well, it fails to adequately measure inflation because it fails to include those sectors of the markets that actually inflate on a regular basis, like energy and food prices.

[xchrom]

4. Right. Groceries haven't gone up, gas, heating oil, etc.

Oh and there's a man in the moon.

I'm beginning to hate the CPI.

[earth mom]

6. 12 fucking cents. The rich will never stop until they have nickled and dimed us all to death.

:grr:

[GiveMeFreedom]

8. Yea, What earth mom said!!! n/t

[Downwinder]

10. They won't stop then. They will go cannibalistic. Working on each other.

Just like a school of sharks. There should be some way we can throw them some chum and sit back and watch the feeding frenzy.

[dballance]

7. 12 Freaking Cents? Really? 12 Cents?

Please tell the Washington Restaurant Association I'm HAPPY to pay 12 more cents an hour on my bill so people who wait on me can afford to eat and have heat and other basic needs met. And yes, I live in Portland, OR so my money can go to WA businesses or NOT.

[Tanelorn]

12. I read the original as 12 percent not 12 cent

The rich do not endear themselves do they? They could made
this a PR coup ,but no.

[Posteritatis]

13. Heh, the restaurant association in my neck of the woods keeps fighting to not pay staff *at all*

Every year or so they complain to the government about the fact that it's so unfair that they have to pay their employees less than minimum wage.

It stuns me how petty those guys can get.

[Newest Reality]

9. Just when will be the right time for the dialog to

point to what group has acted as an enemy to the rest? That group appears to be headed chiefly by certain factions of the rich who own a significant part of the wealth that we all produce and even depend on.

Now, I do not suggest or need even a modicum of hatred for that group; that is simply an indulgence in emotion that can be both distracting and unhealthy. Knowledge is enough. In fact, knowledge and consensus is vital. Even if you don't like the term enemy, sometimes you are put in a position where the relationship is defined that way by your opponent(s). So, even the use of terms is within your scope as a tool. The most significant , self-avowed purely by contempt and actions, enemy we have are those who have seized power over what we hold dear and that which we effort for commonly. Then, the first question is not about an enemy, per se, but an opponent. The second question is, is that opponent worthy to engage in the sense of the threat they present and in relation to the degree that they are dangerous or destructive to our best interests.

To not recognize the undeclared class war is to dwell in a well-designed matrix of ignorance based on the very principles of wealth-building and cancerous capitalism. It seems that the time has come upon us to break free of the divisive dialects forced into our mainstreams and turn to look, with as much unity as is possible, at who and what is influencing and directing the results we see on all platforms and levels. What tendrils sweep and reach out to infest and poison the common wealth and structures we have all participated in creating for our mutual benefit?

Then, my fellow humans, something can happen and, most likely will.

[underpants]

11. This is the only time in US history that a raise in the minimum wage did not raise all wages

we are being ripped off

[buckrogers1965]

14. 4% annual payraise.

If you don't get at least a 4% annual payraise, you are getting paid less for the same work than you got paid the year before.

Adjusted for the rate of inflation, people in 1970's got a lot more money at minimum wage than they do today.