I just watched a campaign commercial paid for by the Democratic Party saying how Bush kept the minimum wage in Texas down to 3.25/hr.
WTF? Isn’t the minimum wage set by the federal government? What does a governor have to do with this?? I believe the exact words on the commercial was “minimum wage in Texas”. How can Texas have a different minimum wage LESS than that set by the Federal Government?
Could someone please explain how this is possible.
Or is this just more garbage and ‘fuzzy math’?
The federal government has a minimum wage for federal employees, but states set the minimum wage in their state. California (I think) just set one of the highest ever - somewhere around ten bucks. W probably doesn’t have a whole lot to do with it; it’s a matter of legislation. But it’s very easy to blame whatever a legislature does on the cheif executive at the time.
The minimum wage in California is $5.75. Recent legislation is going to raise it to $6.75 over the next two years.
It’s not $10/hour.
According to this site from the US Dept. of Labor,
http://www.dol.gov/dol/esa/public/minwage/america.htm
the higher of the state or federal minimum wages applies. Several states don’t have any minimum wage at all. The site has a handy map indicating whether each state is higher or lower than the federal wage.
Washington and Oregon are both higher than California, at $6.50/hr. Oklahoma is $2.00/hr for small companies.
Arjuna34
More political campaign garbage???
Yes, Bear.
So no matter what the state minimum wage is, all employees must get paid at LEAST the Federal Minimum Wage, Right? If the minimum wage only applied to federal employees then why bother requiring ALL employers to post the Department of Labor rules at the work place.
Can someone REALLY legally be paid just $3.35 an hour at a McDonalds in Texas??? Why bother making shoes in an overseas sweatshop when we have Texas??
Because overseas there’s no OSHA. Because overseas you can pay them 3 bucks a DAY as opposed to 3 bucks an hour. Because McDonalds and manufacturing are very, very different.
Well, Oklahoma is $2/hr, and some states don’t have ANY minimum, so Texas isn’t a sweatshop haven.
BUT, according to the DOL website, everyone must get at least the federal minimum wage. I’m not really sure what the point of the state minimum is, if it’s lower than the federal. Perhaps at one point they were higher, and they never bothered to change it when the federal changed.
Arjuna34
Texas checking in. It’s more political garbage from the Gore campaign. When I was 15, minimum wage was $5.75/hr. I know it’s gone up at least once since Bush took office.
Addition:
They could be talking about wages for waiters/waitresses. I believe they make about $3.25/hr. It’s because they’re compensated by tips or something like that. I thought all states were tlike that, though.
Servers make $2.13 an hour.
Yer pal,
Satan
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Some jobs, mostly agricultural, are exempt from the federal minimum wage, and thus are controlled by the state’s minimum wage. Since at least 1997, the Texas state minimum wage has been $3.35 an hour, according to What Minimum Wage? from the Texas Observer.
This ad apparently has been running for a few months. A September Associated Press review of the ad is posted at: Ad watch: Dems hit Bush on minimum wage, children’s health.
friedo wrote:
You’re referring to Santa Cruz, CA, which in the last week or so set a “living wage” in the $10-$12 per hour range. There are two separate wages, one for employees who get benefits, and a slightly higher one for employees without benefits.
There have been other living wage movements in CA, but Santa Cruz is, as far as I know, the only locality that has acted.
According to this article, the wage applies only to city employees, social service agencies, and anyone providing services under contract.
OK. I failed to take into acount agricultural wages. The campaign strategy is still misleading.
The campaign strategy is stillmisleading.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Right. That’s the purpose.
