BACKGROUND
A "yes" vote supports this measure to raise the minimum wage to $10 in 2017, and then incrementally to $12 by 2020, and to create a right to paid sick time off from employment.
A "no" vote opposes this measure, keeping the minimum wage at $8.05, adjusted for cost of living, and retaining employers' ability to decide whether or not to offer paid sick time off.
The actual text of Prop 206 can be found here: PROPOSITION 206
A quick start to understanding this proposition can be found at ballotpedia.org
The following is a summary:
The measure retains Arizona's law
regarding tipping, which permits employers to pay employees who receive tips up
to $3.00 less than the minimum wage.
Proposition 206 would also
guarantee 40 hours of annual paid sick time to employees of large businesses
and 24 hours to those of small businesses. Employees would be entitled to
accrue one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked. The measure would
permit earned paid sick time to be utilized for an employee’s medical care, an
employee’s need to care for a family member, a public health emergency, or
addressing domestic violence.
A “yes” vote shall have the
effect of increasing the minimum wage from $8.05 per hour in 2016 to $10.00 per
hour in 2017, and then incrementally increasing the minimum wage to $12.00 per
hour by the year 2020; entitles employees to earn 1 hour of paid sick time for
every 30 hours worked with limits based upon the size of the employer; broadly
defining the conditions under which paid sick time may be taken, including
mental or physical illness, care of a family member, a public health emergency,
or absence due to domestic violence, sexual violence, abuse or stalking;
prohibiting various forms of retaliation against employees for exercising any
rights under the law; and requiring employers to provide various notices to
employees about the law.
A “no” vote shall have the effect
of retaining the existing minimum wage (along with the existing method for
annually increasing the minimum wage for inflation) and retaining employers’
existing ability to determine their own earned paid sick leave policy
According to the Arizona
Department of Administration, 706,845 workers earned a wage of $12.00 or less
during 2015.
The committee warns that increasing
the minimum wage could increase labor costs for employers, who would pass on
costs as price increases to consumers or decrease employment. However, the
committee also notes that research on how minimum wage increases impact
employment often contradict. Therefore, "the impact that Proposition 206’s
minimum wage increases would have on employment in Arizona is highly
uncertain."
It is interesting to note the top 3 financial donors in support of Prop 206 are:
LUCHA $1,000,000 The Fairness Project $300,000 UFCW $25,000
LUCHA is "Living United for Change
in Arizona" is primarily a group organized to help Latino social causes.
The Fairness Project is a group
organized to address minority social issues through state ballot initiatives
across the United States.
UFCW is United Food and
Commercial Workers Union
Are some well written opinions both in favor and in opposition at Ballotpedia
ANALYSIS and MY OPINION
Without hesitation I recommend VOTE NO.
1. The
State should not interfere with the free market economy. There are better ways to deal with poverty
than to take further steps in the direction of a Socialist agenda where big
government controls everything. Artificially inflating labor costs will force business
owners to lay off workers, reduce hours or increase prices.
2. Labor Unions push Prop 206 because Prop 206 would not apply to Union Workers.
Under Proposition 206, if a
business agrees to be unionized, it would not have to pay the minimum wage or
comply with the paid sick time requirements. They will be exempt, just like the
unions. Guess who will collect more union dues out of the union worker
paychecks? You guessed it: the union bosses.
If passed, the very people the proposition’s out-of-state labor union
supporters claim to help will be the most harmed. The poor, young people and
those with few skills who would benefit most from an entry-level job will find
themselves shut out of the job market as employers will have fewer dollars to
devote to new hires.
3. Proposition 206 is 20 pages long with language that is difficult to understand and will surely be twisted, contested and fail to accomplish its purposes
The foundation principle used by those who push this type agenda is that there is Inequality in America! Hillary Clinton's focus is to soak the rich and give to the poor, because there is Inequality in America. Read this article from the Cato Institute that debunks this theory.
For those who want to pass Prop 206, I would ask if raising minimum wage is so good, why stop at $12 per hour? Let's make minimum wage high enough that a person can make a decent wage. Why not make minimum wage $20 per hour or maybe even $30 per hour? Why wouldn't you do that? The reasons are obvious.
1. The people you are trying to help will loose their jobs because no employer can afford to hire them.
2. If businesses raise the price of products to cover the cost of higher minimum wage, nobody can afford to buy the product--the business fails and the people you are trying to help loose their jobs.
The truth is that in a Free Market economy there will always be Inequality. Inequality is not a bad thing. The Free Market economy is the only way we are going to be able to raise up the poor. If there were no motivation to climb the economic ladder, there would be no inventors, no innovators, no risk takers, no freedom to try and no freedom to succeed or fail.
The result of achieving "Equality in America" is to make everyone equally poor!
Milton Friedman (July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist who received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and the complexity of stabilization policy.[4] (Wikipedia)
Type the name Milton Friedman into Google and watch any of his lectures on youtube. He masterfully defends the virtues of a Free Market Economy.
This is by no means a simple matter, and I almost despair to say anything about it because it is so difficult. Human suffering, bondage, and despair (the real words hidden by the word "inequality") are not something we can glibly gloss over saying that we have faith in the invisible hand of the market. But we also all DO know from experience that market freedom is a powerful force given all the other assumptions of the kingdoms of this world. And market freedom at its core means "no price or wage controls".
ReplyDeleteI see my people on my left saying "we need to address bondage, despair, and suffering". I see my people on the right saying, "wage controls are harmful". And they are all right!
Whether I vote Yes or No, my vote doesn't address the underlying issue, which frankly I am not smart enough to address, and I don't see anybody else wrestling with it. Yes, we must not rest easy at night while there is inequality. And yes, we must end wage controls.
Can you see why I don't know what to do? Apparently there is something wrong with our system that puts workers at a disadvantage. That needs to be fixed. Are minimum wages harmful band-aids? Yes. But what else are we going to do?
I am clear that market freedom does NOT mean freedom from good rules. It is NOT okay to sell hot merchandise. But I don't know what are the rules that will put the balance of labor trade power more on the side of the worker masses.
Your question on how to address poverty in America is a good one. I hope to address this in a future blog. I have some ideas starting to come together.
DeleteGood thoughts. I don't think we will have a solution until Christ comes and we truly accept his teachings. However, considering all the economic systems of the history world, a free market economy has elevated the poor more than any other system. Even the poor of America are richer than the average citizen of any other country. The Free Market economy works, socialism doesn't. I intend to write a paper some time on my feelings of how to truly help the poor and disadvantaged. But I feel pretty strong that taking jobs away from the poor by passing Prop 206 is not the right way to do it.
ReplyDelete