Posts: 1,070
Threads: 9
Joined: Mar 2014
Very few of his current employees at Island Naturals make more than minimum wage - but some do make more in management positions.They do though get discounts on food ,so i would surmise it is all a balance.
Perhaps Russel should take the initiative 1st and start paying his entire staff a minimum living wage of $22.00 an hour to set the example for all employee's ,both part time and full time.
Mrs.Mimosa
Posts: 352
Threads: 6
Joined: Mar 2013
quote:
Originally posted by Mimosa
Very few of his current employees at Island Naturals make more than minimum wage
Mrs.Mimosa
From the article in the OP... "He pays his own employees at least $10, and many make more than that, he said. Additionally, no where does it say that Ruderman is for $22/hr. From what I have read, it is other Senators/Reps that are trying for the $22 threshold.
As for the ag park, my understanding (based on the info I have heard and read so far) is that the land being considered is already state owned ag land that has little or no current use at present, would allow for area farmers to expand their current efforts, add more jobs and spending to the area, and has ocean access for aquaculture possibilities. Sounds like a boon to the area in my estimation. I for one, would like to have access to a reasonably priced ag land lease for a few acres that is close to home. More ag is a good thing for everyone.
But I sure wouldn't depend on the accuracy of the Trib's reporting to make an absolute opinion any matter. All of the bills will introduced in another week or so and we can all see for ourselves what the legislation actually entails.
_________________________________________
Don't speak unless you can improve on the silence.
Posts: 4,269
Threads: 98
Joined: Mar 2014
ocean access for aquaculture possibilities
-----
Good luck on negotiating the permit process for that. [
]
Posts: 352
Threads: 6
Joined: Mar 2013
Already being done statewide 'dude, including educational options as well.
_________________________________________
Don't speak unless you can improve on the silence.
_________________________________________
Don't speak unless you can improve on the silence.
Posts: 4,269
Threads: 98
Joined: Mar 2014
Having just read an article about the "success" of the energy lab in Kona - well, the success of companies moving away from Hawaii with their new products because of rules and regulations and permits they have trouble with getting in order to stay here, along with the high costs overall of doing business in Hawaii... (I will look for that article)
Not the one I just mentioned, but same issue presented:
http://www.hawaiibusiness.com/natural-en...-paradise/
"...Those affiliated with NELHA are covered under a master permit system, meaning they do not have to deal with government red tape to gain access to ocean resources. “To go through the bureaucratic process of getting all those permits by yourself can take years,” Bailey says. “Here, you can set up at NELHA in a matter of months and focus on what’s most important – testing your concepts.” "
Posts: 7,754
Threads: 687
Joined: Jun 2011
"Perhaps Russel should take the initiative 1st and start paying his entire staff a minimum living wage of $22.00 an hour to set the example for all employee's ,both part time and full time."
First and foremost, he wants his competitors to struggle with paying these wages.
From the punaweb archives:
"The minimum wage law requires employers to discriminate against persons with low skills. No one describes it that way, but that is in fact what it is. Take a poorly educated teenager with little skill whose services are worth, say, only $2.00 an hour. He or she might be eager to work for that wage in order to acquire greater skills that would permit a better job. The law says that such a person may be hired only if the employer is willing to pay him or her (in 1979) $2.90 an hour. Unless an employer is willing to add 90 cents in charity to the $2.00 that the person’s services are worth, the teenager will not be employed. It has always been a mystery to us why a young person is better off unemployed from a job that would pay $2.90 an hour than employed at a job that does pay $2.00 an hour."
-Milton Friedman, (1976 Nobel Prize recipient)
Fast forward out of the 1970's and the essence of the argument is the same. Except now instead of teenagers, it's older adults, sometimes heads-of-households demanding $15/hour "living wage" for the same McDonald's job that used to only employ teenagers living with their parents who were only looking for a little spending money to buy vinyl records and weed or whatever. Many people seeking $15/hour don't realize that the services they are providing aren't worth $15.00. I knew a pilot for Mesa airlines who made less than that. If one is a low-skilled worker demanding the same wage as a reliable airline pilot, you can bet that if a corporation is forced to pay $15/hour, they are going to hire people who are worth $15/hour. Then what happens to the folks that are "only worth" $8.00/hour ? Now picture the same scenario but we're in a bad recession and the unemployment rate is near 10% and former airline pilots are actually applying for those $15/hour jobs at McDonalds. Then the discriminatory nature of the minimum wage is more apparent. Imagine you are the manager at McDonalds and you have to choose between a single mother who has never operated a fry machine and a guy who used to fly machines. You're not SUPPOSED to think, gee, the single mom is going to call in sick all the time because of her kid... but you know it. And the airline pilot has a solid work history and never missed a day of work. Now do you see the discrimination effect of having a minimum wage that is set too high? Maybe having the ability to offer $8.00 to a new worker isn't such a bad thing. Maybe the opportunity to learn new skills has a value.
Replacing human workers with automation probably has a threshold far below $15/hour. Think about that next time you're at a fast food place and you see all the advertisements about discounts for ordering via the app. They may have paid somebody in India $5/hour so that they could eliminate 1000 employees making $8/hour. Start talking about $15/hour, and it won't be an app, it will be a robot operating the fry machine (hint, they are already 50% automated... the additional 50% isn't a heavy lift).
Posts: 785
Threads: 6
Joined: Apr 2012
terracore, you've hit on the real problem in your final paragraph. When the "minimum wage" real cost of human labor (hourly rate + medical + sick leave + SSN + workman's comp + training time + HR documentation costs + etc.) exceeds the cost of robotics, where will the entry point be to the labor pool for the un- and minimally-skilled?
Posts: 159
Threads: 1
Joined: Oct 2016
quote:
Originally posted by leilanidude
quote:
Originally posted by 2liveque
Who runs Hawaii?
1) Construction Industry
2) Shipping and Transportation
3) Visitor Industry
4) Land holdings and Real Estate (ties directly in to #1)
5) Military
6. The Democratic Party.
Har,Har,Har....One party rule always has a yuge say. Monopoly comes to mind.
Oh and by the way I dont give a tinkers damn about the Republicans either. They both use the whip and chain.
Slow Walker
Posts: 14,125
Threads: 424
Joined: Aug 2012
When the "minimum wage" real cost of human labor ... exceeds the cost of robotics
You mean like this?
http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2016...-hour.html
Technology will probably improve faster than the minimum wage goes up.
This one will be way worse than oursourcing and H1B abuse.
Hooray for America.
$22 / hour for farm labor will make farm laborers more highly paid than degreed computer engineers on the Big Island.
At wages like that, you will see people in rowboats heading here from Mexico and S. America.
There is a point beyond which Progressivism becomes delusional magical thinking.
That point has been crossed in Hawaii.
---------------------------
You can't fix Samsara.
