‘Domestic Goddess’ Joins Fight for Minimum Wage Increase

[Sapphire Blue]

‘Domestic Goddess’ Joins Fight for Minimum Wage Increase
by James Parks, Oct 13, 2006

Yesterday, 650 economists, including several Nobel Laureates, laid to rest the myth that raising the minimum wage would hurt the economy. Now, the “domestic goddess” herself has joined the push for decent pay for hard-working Americans.

Roseanne Barr, who grew up in a working-class family in Utah and coined the phrase “domestic goddess,” will host “Seven Days at Minimum Wage” an Oct. 23–30 video blog event sponsored by the AFL-CIO and ACORN in support of minimum wage ballot initiatives in six states.

(snip)

Frustrated by the congressional refusal to understand that $5.15 is too little to live on, the AFL-CIO union movement has spearheaded America Needs a Raise campaign to raise the minimum wage at the state and federal level. The campaign has provided momentum to put the issue of raising the minimum wage on the ballot in six states—Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and Ohio—Nov. 7.

This year alone, the efforts of union members and their allies resulted in new statutes boosting the minimum wage in 11 states—Arkansas, California, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and West Virginia. Of that number, six, for the first time, increased wages above the federal rate, bringing to 22 states and the District of Columbia where the lowest-paid workers will make more than the federal minimum.

(snip)

Get more info from the AFL-CIO and ACORN, which are partnering to raise the minimum wage, by going to the AFL-CIO America Needs a Raise website and ACORN’s Taking It to the States.


http://blog.aflcio.org/2006/10/13/%e2%80%98domestic-goddess%e2%80%99-joins-fight-for-minimum-wage-increase/

[Poppyseedman]

1. The federal mandated minimum wage should be dropped

and each state should deal with the issue.

Wages will rise faster and be more fair across the board.

Before you flame that idea, do you think we would have $5.15 wages for the last twenty years if the states set the minimum ?

A minimum wage means very different things when compared between NYC and any small town USA

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. States are free to do that now.

There are plenty of states where the minimum wage is higher then the federal minimum wage.

There's a federal minimum wage because there are plenty of states that abuse their citizens.

[Poppyseedman]

9. I am of the belief that the states pretty much don't care about an issue

like minimum wage standards because of the local state politicians aren't pressured to do something since the federal government supersedes them.

Everybody seems to be bitching at the US Congress to change the laws, yet the citizens have the power to make their state legislative raise the minimum yet remain mute.

A NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) political laziness

[Bill McBlueState]

4. if we tried that...

What do you think the minimum wage would be in places like Alabama or Kansas? Would they even have a minimum wage?

[Poppyseedman]

5. The citizens of those states would determine the minimum wage.

I believe the states would be more proactive if the federal government didn't take away the burden of responsibility determining what the bottom line wage should be.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

7. So you're saying...

if the "people" of Kansas want the minimum wage to be a buck fifty an hour than so be it?

[Poppyseedman]

10. Why would the people of Kansas want a $1.50 hr minimum wage?

Do you assume them to be stupid?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

14. I'm saying the people wouldn't want $1.50.

In fact, the overwhelming majority of Americans want a raise to the federal minimum wage.

[Poppyseedman]

17. Exactly my point.

While we wait for the federal government to figure out how to appease small business interests, the general population desires, and the unions, the states already could have addressed the issue.

Another benefit of having the states mandate minimum wages is each state would be in competition for workers which would drive up wages long term.

[Vulture]

18. Pretty irrelevant in Kansas

Even cheap farm labor wages in Kansas are more than minimum, and that is in places with very low cost of living. Therefore I imagine the minimum wage is kind of irrelevant to them.

Were is this notion coming from that there are huge swaths of the country where all sorts of people make minimum wage? Though in some places you could actually live on it, albeit poorly...

[Poppyseedman]

19. Minimum wage earners are 2.5 % of the labor pool

at any given time, most are teenagers who move up the pay scale to be replaced by other temporary minimum wage earners.

Yes, 2.5 % of the country is a huge swath. :sarcasm:

[many a good man]

8. Yer dreamin' !

Whadduya think we live in, a democracy? Where do you live?

[Poppyseedman]

11. a democracy? Where do you live?

Nationally, no, not for a long time.

State and locally, definitely yes.

The faster would devolve the federal power grap over our lives and move it back to the local, state level the more power "we the people" have.

[Vulture]

16. Minimum wage is a union proxy

The whole issue is pretty grossly abused to hide other agendas because minimum wage itself is an unimportant issue. In practice, hardly anyone makes minimum wage so it really does not matter what it is set to. In many parts of the country (especially the ones with higher costs of living) the bottom of the bottom-feeder wages are higher than minimum and not because the anyone is putting a gun to the head of the employers. Hell, illegal alien labor makes $10-15 in these parts. So in a sense they are correct that raising the minimum wage would have no impact, because in any part of the country where it matters no one earns that little.

The only reason this is brought up at all is that some union wages are indexed on the minimum wage, so raising the minimum wage gives union members a nice pay raise but does little to help anyone else. That is almost the entirety of the political motivation around this issue, but it is almost never portrayed that way. And that is why the unions are the primary proponents of raising the minimum wage even though they themselves don't make minimum wage.

I'd find the issue of minimum wage more interesting if it was not obviously a venal political play that has nothing to do with helping the poor. And farm wages are pretty good in Kansas, particularly considering the negligible cost of living. :-)

[Solon]

20. I would agree, but instead it should be replaced with a new system...

Federally mandated living wage legislation, rather than using a set number, which is well below poverty level in some areas(Like New York City), and barely below poverty for others(Rural Kansas). Instead, the Federal Government should mandate living wages nationally, that are based on current data on cost of living in towns, cities, and counties. In other words, the minimum living wage in Kansas City would be less than the living wage in New York City, but both would be high enough for a single worker to at least support themselves.

[sandnsea]

21. It's federal because states don't do that

We learned that states don't protect their citizens in the Depression, and even more so with the civil rights movement.

Why oh why can't people learn from history.

[Omaha Steve]

28. Nebraska would never raise the wage

Keep the federal, but lobby for a state minimum that is above it with some benefits. THANK YOU Sapphire Blue for the AFL-CIO post. I'm glad I'm not the only one doing it anymore.

[calico1]

30. No, you need a Federal minimum.

If you leave it up to the states then a state could have a $2 minimum wage. States can have a higher minimum wage, as mine does. Other states do to. The Federal minimum wage is necessary to ensure that it doesn't go below a certain amount which is what could happen if you just left it up to the states.

[Gormy Cuss]

2. Good for Roseanne Barr.

We live in a media-driven culture and her voice will garner more support with the average American than the opinion of 650 of the leading economists in the country.

[aikoaiko]

26. I hope your wrong...

about more support garnered from Barr compared to650 economists.

[me b zola]

6. I freaking adore Rosanne Barr

Her show, Roseanne is the most under-rated, yet by far contributed the most, sit-com show that has ever been on the air.

:loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya:

[earth mom]

13. I adore Roseanne too!

Though I'm sorry to say that I rarely watched her t.v. show because I'm just not a sit-com kind of person. I love to watch her do standup though and in recent years she's got some good digs in on the PTB on the late night shows-I love it! :evilgrin:

Go Roseanne! :yourock:

[wicket]

22. Me three!

:D

[Jade Fox]

23. Did you know....

that a couple of years into her show (which was a big hit right away) Roseanne went to the producers and said that there needed to be some changes made or she was quiting. If memory serves, she canned the writers, and that's when the show got really good. The first couple of years were pretty standard sit-com stuff, just with a fat, working class heroine. Amazing chutzpah, that woman.

John Goodman said Roseanne had the best instincts he'd ever seen about when a script was bogging down in predictability, and would choose that moment to take it off into a whole other direction.

[me b zola]

24. No, I didn't know...

...but it sounds like her instincts, talent, and business sense is why they press was relentlessly hounding her they way that they often do tough, successful women. She demanded that her show is top shelf, and the whisper campaign of "what a bitch" began. Roseanne taught me that if people are calling you a bitch, then you may very well be doing something very right.

[QuestionAll...]

27. calling in to agree.

one of the very few tv things I paid attention to.
She's a gem in so many ways.

[StellaBlue]

31. Me, four!

"Roseanne" is now one of my favorite programs. Since I was like 9-15ish when it was on, I didn't really appreciate it at the time. In today's TV world of Desperate Housewives and whatnot, it seems almost inconceivable that a show about REAL people was on at all.

I also love Dan's character. The best thing he ever said was when his dad was complaining about Roseanne acting like a "bitch", and his response was "Well, you know, when you treat women like shit, they tend to get angry" or something to that effect. Too bad I have yet to meet a man in real life who would take that stand. Awesome character. Awesome show.

[proud patriot]

12. YAY!!!!!! Rosanne Barr

:loveya:

[faithnotgreed]

15. thank you roseanne barr

while i rarely watch tv and generally loathe sitcoms, i have watched her show on reruns and in that she gave amazingly unencumbered support for a wide range of progressive causes

i appreciate her using her time and fame for important things such as low wages

[Kurovski]

25. K&R!

Thanks RB.

[bobbolink]

29. Good for Roseanne! I've been wondering why she hasn't been heard

from.

This topic is a good fit for her--hope she makes a lot of waves!