Burger flippers rejoice! The fed. minimum wage will go up Tomorrow to $6.55 !!

[Breeze54]

Minimum Wage Goes Up Thursday

http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2008/07/9069_minimum_wage_goes_up_thursday.html

Burger flippers rejoice! The federal minimum wage will go up on Thursday to $6.55 from $5.85. Too bad the minimum wage isn't rising as fast as gas prices. Still, this is an improvement. Congress went nine years without raising the floor for low-wage workers, finally boosting the minimum last year when its value hit a 51-year low.
One more bump next year will bring the federal minimum wage up to $7.25, a far cry from the $10.50 an hour paid in Santa Fe, New Mexico, but a step in the right direction. Another decade, the minimum wage might actually lift someone above the poverty line.

Right now, 25 states have minimum wages higher than what the feds set, so the hike won't have as much impact as it otherwise might, but it's a boon to low-wage workers in stingy states like Louisiana and Alabama that have no state minimum. Now that Congress has come this far, the next step ought to be indexing the damn thing to inflation like many of the states do. I've never understood why poor working people should be made to suffer so much from political gridlock. Making sure that work pays ought to be one thing people in both parties can agree on.

[theophilus]

1. Steps in the right direction.

Does this apply to all jobs no matter how many hours worked a week?

[Breeze54]

4. I believe so! The new minimum is $6.55 !

:woohoo:

When they raised it up back in the 70's & 80's, even though I was making
above the minimum but working hourly, my company gave us all a raise too!

They said they did it to keep pace... and keep us above the new hires.

[ColbertWatcher]

2. About damn time.

When was the last time it went up?

Under which administration?

[Breeze54]

5. 9 yrs. ago when we had a DEM in the WH !!

It's been a long time, that's for sure! :grr:

1999

[ColbertWatcher]

13. Nine years.

That Obama ad just writes itself.

[panader0]

3. If my wages were indexed to inflation

I could quit working.

[VP505]

6. Let the RW whining begin.

Likely that every RW tool talking head will be whining about the sky falling and how much this is going to hurt, blah, blah, blah.

[Breeze54]

7. If you work 40 hrs a week, that's a whole $262.00 gross or $13,624 a YEAR!

:grr:

Before they take out FICA and SS

[indepat]

8. Interesting hearing CNBC's Michelle Cabruso Carbarro parroting RW malarkey

about how disastrous raising the minimum wage is going to be, how it will hurt the little people, how small businesses with eleven employees now might have to cut back to ten, how unemployment will soar. Jeez, Michelle, did I not read the Australian minimum is more than/about twice this new overgenerous US minimum wage? Get a life you silly RW shill. :D

[Breeze54]

9. That's been their argument for years and it's BS!!

Thanks for the RW talking points aka LIES update! :P

[pleah]

10. The first job I had straight out of high school, I made $2.00 an hour.

The minimum wage back then was $2.25 an hour. That was 30 years ago.

[Breeze54]

12. I remember earning $1.55 per hr at age 15 !!

I was a library page and I thought I was rich! :P

But things cost less back then too, I think!

$6.55 an hour is ridiculous today, imho!

[pleah]

14. Yeah, that isn't much of an increase in 30 years is it?

I thought back then I had it made, too. I still lived at home and had money all the time. I was a bookkeeper and also did proof reading at the local newspaper.

[struggle4progress]

24. Adjusted for inflation, it's not actually an increase

[Political Heretic]

11. It's a good step

[zanne]

15. That is so friggin' sad.

After taxes, that's about $200 a week. That's approximately $9,600 a year. That might be enough to live on in a third world country.

[pleah]

16. K&R To keep this going.

[JerseygirlCT]

17. Awfully small steps

Geez, around here teen babysitters get paid more than that an hour!

How long has it been since the minimum was anywhere near a living wage?

[tyedyeto]

18. What does this new Federal Minimum Wage have to say about tipped workers?

Here in AZ, the minimum is now at $6.90, but tipped workers can be paid $3.00 an hour less than minimum. Does this counteract the state law? Are businesses required to pay $6.55 no matter what position a person holds?

[Breeze54]

20. I think waiters across the country get paid less because of tips but

check with your state and/or the labor Board (State & Federal)

[w8liftinglady]

19. well,sigh...my son will be happy

he works 60 hours a week,but isn't "full-time".These fast-food joints screw their people.they've had 6 people quit in one week.

[Breeze54]

21. Has he tried a temp agency to see if he can get something else?

That's what my youngest did and found a job that paid $2.00 more an hour than his grocery/deli job.

[Fire Walk With Me]

22. How much again do Congresspersons make?

[Breeze54]

23. Salaries and Benefits of U.S. Congress Members - Minimum = $169,300 per year + benefits

2008 Presidential Election

Congress gets raise with minimum wage increase

After raising the minimum wage by 70 cents this week, many in Congress
are ready to give themselves a pay increase of roughly $4,400 a year. :wtf:

:grr:

----------------------------------

Salaries and Benefits of U.S. Congress Members

http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa031200a.htm

Congress: Rank-and-File Members' Salary

The current salary (2008) for rank-and-file members of the House and Senate is $169,300 per year.

* Members are free to turn down pay increase and some choose to do so.

* In a complex system of calculations, administered by the Office of Personnel Management, congressional pay rates also affect the salaries for federal judges and other senior government executives.

$$$$$$$$$$$

Congress: Leadership Members' Salary (110th Congress)

Leaders of the House and Senate are paid a higher salary than rank-and-file members.

Senate Leadership
Majority Leader - $188,100
Minority Leader - $188,100

House Leadership

Speaker of the House - $217,400
Majority Leader - $188,100
Minority Leader - $188,100

A cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) increase takes effect annually unless Congress votes to not accept it.

Congress: Benefits

You may have read that Members of Congress do not pay into Social Security. Well, that's a myth.

Prior to 1984, neither Members of Congress nor any other federal civil service employee paid Social Security taxes. Of course, the were also not eligible to receive Social Security benefits. Members of Congress and other federal employees were instead covered by a separate pension plan called the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). The 1983 amendments to the Social Security Act required federal employees first hired after 1983 to participate in Social Security. These amendments also required all Members of Congress to participate in Social Security as of January 1, 1984, regardless of when they first entered Congress. Because the CSRS was not designed to coordinate with Social Security, Congress directed the development of a new retirement plan for federal workers. The result was the Federal Employees' Retirement System Act of 1986.

Members of Congress receive retirement and health benefits under the same plans available to other federal employees. They become vested after five years of full participation.

Members elected since 1984 are covered by the Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS). Those elected prior to 1984 were covered by the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). In 1984 all members were given the option of remaining with CSRS or switching to FERS.

As it is for all other federal employees, congressional retirement is funded through taxes and the participants' contributions. Members of Congress under FERS contribute 1.3 percent of their salary into the FERS retirement plan and pay 6.2 percent of their salary in Social Security taxes.

Members of Congress are not eligible for a pension until they reach the age of 50, but only if they've completed 20 years of service. Members are eligible at any age after completing 25 years of service or after they reach the age of 62. Please also note that Member's of Congress have to serve at least 5 years to even receive a pension.

The amount of a Congressperson's pension depends on the years of service and the average of the highest 3 years of his or her salary. By law, the starting amount of a Member's retirement annuity may not exceed 80% of his or her final salary.

According to the Congressional Research Service, 413 retired Members of Congress were receiving federal pensions based fully or in part on their congressional service as of Oct. 1, 2006. Of this number, 290 had retired under CSRS and were receiving an average annual pension of $60,972. A total of 123 Members had retired with service under both CSRS and FERS or with service under FERS only. Their average annual pension was $35,952 in 2006.

[underpants]

25. Hoooo oooRAY!!!

[Bill McBlueState]

26. some numbers...

If you're lucky enough to work 40 hours a week, the new minimum wage will net you $1135 per month, before deductions.

The federal poverty level for a household of 1 is $867 per month.
The federal poverty level for a household of 2 is $1167 per month.

So if it's just yourself, a full-time minimum-wage job puts you at 130% of the poverty level.
God forbid you be a single parent; then you're below the poverty level (97% for one kid, worse for more). Plus you're going to have to find child care.

But our culture views poverty as a moral failure, so in theory, people in these situations just have it coming to them. :mad:

[Blue_Tires]

27. wow...ten years ago, i was working summers at $5.75...

not much of a change...

[Vinca]

28. So they can buy a meal in their very own place of employment

for a mere one hour of work . . . and have a nickel left over. Whoo hoo! Happy days are here again!