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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

#161

Post by gruez »

wahnfrieden wrote: post #135
gruez wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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

Shouldn't it be easier to look for new jobs if you have a financial buffer? If anything being more pinched => more time being stressed out and/or more time at work (trying to rack up OT) => less time/energy to spend looking for new jobs.

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

#162

Post by rpmisms »

freeone3000 wrote: post #141
aluminussoma wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. He is not the only person thinking this; he was just the only one who put his thoughts on paper. I remember when American capitalism was about succeeding by making other people successful. This kind of business - succeeding by sucking the blood out of your employees - should never be tolerated.

When, exactly, was American capitalism about anything other than extracting maximal value from labor?

Henry Ford, capitalist extraordinaire, famously paid his workers $5 a day, double the average automaker's wage at the time. This extracted maximum value from said labor.

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

#163

Post by jabbany »

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 idea is that they think of themselves as a labor monopsony. They are foreseeing an increase in supply (due to higher living costs forcing more people into the labor market, either those not previously working or those who are now taking on second jobs) and thus plan to accordingly reduce the price (wages).

The main fault in their reasoning is the belief that higher living costs necessarily results in more people getting into the labor market.

At some point the marginal benefit to a worker becomes zero or negative, where higher living costs can actually result in a reduction in the labor pool. Whether we are at that point though, is not known yet without more information about the localized economy.

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

#164

Post by ALittleLight »

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

I think there should be an exception for people who are financially dependent on someone else. If you're a teen living at home you should be able to work for whatever someone will pay.

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

#165

Post by InitialLastName »

eatonphil wrote: post #26

I don't think it's an Applebee's exec it's an Applebee's franchise exec. Unless I'm misunderstanding.

Actions of the franchisees reflect on the brand (that's the point of franchise agreements). In case I want to avoid giving this guy money (as is my right as a consumer under capitalism), how can I easily confirm which franchises his company owns? I can't, you say? Well, next time I want to eat mediocre food in a bland corporate environment, I'll have to go to Chili's instead.

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

#166

Post by vlunkr »

grover35 wrote: post #5

Hopefully this is the moment we realize that capitalism is really not serving us in any meaningful way. As long as we have enough people brave enough to quit and take to the streets the working class might have a fighting chance at ending their exploitation.

One guy that works for a franchise of an increasingly irrelevant restaurant chain has a bad take in a private email conversation and you think this is the end of capitalism?

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

#167

Post by imgabe »

gunfighthacksaw wrote: post #157
imgabe wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mass confusion. Every location has to have a custom minimum wage based on the local real estate market? How are you going to enforce that? How about people figure out how much money they need to afford the lifestyle they want and then get a job that pays that much?

> Every location has to have a custom minimum wage I think the federal structure of the USA lends itself nicely to that problem. There would be an issue in extremely heterogeneous states like Washington or California, where the big cities on the coast are known for being expensive while the interior is often cheaper, less desirable and subject to snobbery, as in the case of Bakersfield which I have never heard anythi…

States and even cities already do set their own minimum wages. I don’t see how further complicating the issue by requiring each individual building to consider the apartments available within a 1hour drive radius to figure out what their minimum wage needs to be.

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

#168

Post by dlp211 »

bjterry wrote: post #35
WestCoastJustin wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your suggested title is too long for submission. Sometimes you need to use your best judgement in applying the HN guidelines.

The headline is deceptive as written. It's an executive at an Applebee's franchisee with 47 restaurants, not the chain itself.

This is a distinction without a difference. I don't care that different Applebee's are managed by different groups.

It never ceases to amaze me the way that people with any type of power treat and think about people with less power.

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

#169

Post by bobro »

ALittleLight wrote: post #164
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

I think there should be an exception for people who are financially dependent on someone else. If you're a teen living at home you should be able to work for whatever someone will pay.

why?

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

#170

Post by InitialLastName »

subpixel wrote: post #156

If I were King of America, the tax code (and other financial instruments I can't think up on the spot) would reward companies based on the degree to which they enrich their rank and file employees.

Start off by charging them extra in taxes to cover any welfare their full-time employees qualify for.

edit: with a 200% penalty for administrative fees.

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