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Applebee’s exec urges using high gas prices to push lower wages, sparks walkout

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Re: Applebee’s exec urges using high gas prices to push lower wages, sparks walkout

#131

Post by giraffe_lady »

stonemetal12 wrote: post #89
aerovistae wrote: post #9

Quoted post unavailable.

I saw this on Reddit yesterday, the comments were much worse. In this thread there is a mention of Ethics, and even a post that shows the thinking of how someone could write the email without being Satan's brother.

Having someone in here arguing for the ethics of this sort of thing is not better. Just because it looks like we all follow an official style guide in here doesn't make what is said here automatically better. It has to do that on its own merits, and as long as "arguing persuasively for evil, as a thought exercise" is considered a good thing here that can't happen imo.

Civility and debate themselves are not virtues! What purpose do they serve for us? What are we doing here? If you want to make an argument that we're superior to reddit you need to make it on more than the aesthetics of the prose bc that isn't shit in the end.

Re: Applebee’s exec urges using high gas prices to push lower wages, sparks walkout

#132

Post by dlbucci »

endisneigh wrote: post #3

I wonder what the USA would look like if minimum wage was defined as; two people being able to afford a 1 bedroom apartment within a 1 hour drive without traffic. The static (both in the nominal and inflation adjusted sense) for minimum wage doesn't make sense imo. Minimum wage should be tied to some level of living (not necessarily a great living, but something ) This guy smh

Or, you know, have a Cost of Living/Inflation adjustment every year. That's such a simple idea to me and it's sort of insane to me that not only is that not something that happens, but no one seems to be even suggesting it (or at least, no politicians are campaigning on it). Hell, adjusting the 70's minimum wage to today's dollars puts it at like $24, so just hearing that, I don't know how it shouldn't be around there today, but people talk about $15 like it's crazy.

Re: Applebee’s exec urges using high gas prices to push lower wages, sparks walkout

#133

Post by throwaway0a5e »

darth_avocado wrote: post #20

Rising gas prices mean we can lower wages to keep employees? Outside of the moral implication, this doesn't even logically make sense. People are already facing higher costs, if you pay them lower, they will not work for you, because you know, commuting to work at your place will eat into the budget.

The logic only works because we're coming out of a period where workforce participation fell off a cliff.

Rising CoL because of energy and inflation -> people need the jobs more badly -> more labor available -> reduce wages

And before anyone tries to score a few easy points building a strawman, I'm just explaining the logic. I'm not endorsing it or saying it's ethical.

Re: Applebee’s exec urges using high gas prices to push lower wages, sparks walkout

#134

Post by fundad »

Fargoan wrote: post #70

Is this even real? I saw it posted on r/antiwork and it sounded fake.

Right, What are the odds some regional manager is actually putting this out? An investment banker would predict more people taking second jobs as expenses rise and charge a lot for the information. It takes analysis, skills, a budget...

Re: Applebee’s exec urges using high gas prices to push lower wages, sparks walkout

#135

Post by wahnfrieden »

gruez wrote: post #73
jasonhansel wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It will also force employees to look for higher-paying jobs, potentially causing them to leave if Applebees doesn't raise its pay. Normally inflation is associated with higher wages, not lower ones.

>It will also force employees to look for higher-paying jobs ...implying they weren't already doing so? I'm not sure about you, but I don't think applebees is the type of place you stick around for "the good work culture" or whatever.

I think you overestimate the mobility of a lot of these people. For many it will push them out of work if the wages stop covering the costs

Re: Applebee’s exec urges using high gas prices to push lower wages, sparks walkout

#136

Post by PhileinSophia »

endisneigh wrote: post #3

I wonder what the USA would look like if minimum wage was defined as; two people being able to afford a 1 bedroom apartment within a 1 hour drive without traffic. The static (both in the nominal and inflation adjusted sense) for minimum wage doesn't make sense imo. Minimum wage should be tied to some level of living (not necessarily a great living, but something ) This guy smh

[dead]

Re: Applebee’s exec urges using high gas prices to push lower wages, sparks walkout

#137

Post by conductr »

daenz wrote: post #44
metadat wrote: post #2

> Wayne Pankratz, executive director of operations for Applebee’s franchisee Apple Central LLC. > “The advantage this has for us is that it will increase application flow and has the potential to lower our average wage. How you ask? > “Most of our employee base and potential employee base live paycheck to paycheck. Any increase in gas price cuts into their disposable income. As inflation continues to climb and gas pr…

Aside from the fact that this person is a soulless scumbag, how do you ever even get to the position of executive director without realizing what a toxic and abusive attitude that is and should never ever be expressed by anyone in his position? Did he think that what he said was smart business sense? Is he that disconnected from the average employee? I just don't understand how it made it past all of the ethical filt…

I’ve been at executive level for a decade or so and am honestly not surprised at all.

1) their main job is “be strategic” and as such they throw out all kinds of horrible ideas to improve the normal business metrics / profitability. In healthcare, I hear things that clearly and obviously would worsen patient care and the line “let’s run that by Clinical” essentially means I really doubt that idea deserves consideration.

2) they’ve been hit with a multitude of problems. Rising wages is certainly the hottest topic since they were furloughing people in 2020. They begrudgingly raised menu prices. It continues to puzzle them where all the labor went?

3) as much as I hate to admit it, there might be some truth to the point he’s making regarding gas prices. I’d never put that in writing, but it happens and is rather normalized behavior.

Re: Applebee’s exec urges using high gas prices to push lower wages, sparks walkout

#138

Post by aksss »

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #38
wccrawford wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not nearly enough detail for the setting of the wage. Companies would simply assume that they always eat the cheapest food, buy the cheapest transportation, never go on vacation, no luxuries at all, etc etc. If you don't factor all that in, they'll factor it out.

> Companies would simply assume This could be defined by local governments with additional standards not written in to this internet comment.

Nothing stops a local government, to my knowledge, or a state government from raising minimum wage for the unique conditions their locale faces and the ideals they want to reflect. People too often think about federal minimum wage, but think about how diverse the environments are that federal minimum wage affects. If you live in a city/state where the minimum wage is lower than you think it should be, you'll probably have better luck changing local conditions rather than trying to boil the ocean that is the US with 350m people and an enormous landmass consisting of the densely urban and sparsely rural, the rich coastlines and wealthy mountain resorts to the impoverished hill countries.

Re: Applebee’s exec urges using high gas prices to push lower wages, sparks walkout

#139

Post by seneca »

Schroedingersat wrote: post #43
nvahalik wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think one of the overlooked pieces of the email is on the second page. I read it yesterday so my memory isn't super fresh. But he essentially says that: * they've been hiring people at $18-20/hr * the government pandemic aid/unemployment is dropping off and therefore they are no longer "competing with the government" I think a lot of the "progress" with increasing wages was artificially inflated by government overs…

Seller's market is a funny way of saying they're not being held hostage for their lives.

> Seller's market is a funny way of saying they're not being held hostage for their lives.

Sorry, are you saying that expecting people to work to meet their own needs is them being "held hostage for their lives"?

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