RI’s
annual battle for a higher minimum wage is stacked against workers
By Steve
Ahlquist, editor of UpRiseRI
 |
| Bob Bacon, owner of Gregg’s Restaurants. He claimed his workers average $22 an hour. If so, why is he concerned about a rise in the state minimum wage to $15? |
I was late getting to
room 212 at the Rhode Island State
House, where the Senate
Committee on Labor, chaired by Senator Paul
Fogarty (Democrat, District 23, Burrillville, Glocester), was
hearing a slate of bills to increase the minimum
wage in Rhode Island. (See below for links to and descriptions of
all three bills.)
Outside the meeting room was Elizabeth
Suever, lobbyist for the Greater
Providence Chamber of Commerce, who told me that the “room was crowded.”
“That’s okay,” I said,
“I have a camera.”
She was right, the room
was packed, but I squeezed my way in and pointed my camera at the woman
speaking in favor of a $15 minimum wage. I then recorded the testimonies off
the next 28 people who spoke out for and against raising the minimum wage
in Rhode Island. (CLICK
HERE for all the videos)
There were no other cameras in the room. The
hearing wasn’t even being recorded on audio.
It was a shame I was
late, because I had missed the testimony of Economist Douglas Hall, director of
Economic and Fiscal Policy at the Economic
Progress Institute, who always does an excellent job debunking the bad
economic policies and flawed studies pushed out by people like John Simmons, executive director
of the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council (RIPEC) or Dale Venturini, president and CEO
of the Rhode Island Hospitality Association (RIHA).
Ever wonder why you
don’t often see the minimum wage being discussed on Capitol Television? I do. When I
ask, I’m told that not all the rooms are equipped with cameras.
To which the
obvious follow up question is: Why?
One possible answer: Legislators and
business owners don’t want their cozy relationships to be broadcast. Of course,
I suggest this as a possible answer only.
Had no cameras been in
the room, no more than 30 people would ever have heard the testimony of Bob Bacon, owner of Gregg’s Restaurants, a Rhode
Island business institution.
“Now some in this body,
some in this group, act like businesses are owned by faceless, nameless
entities,” said Bacon. “If they do realize they’re real people, we’re portrayed
as heartless, greedy, dishonest, etc.
In the event that
minimum wage is increased, Bacon says, “There’s only one cost I can cut that I
have the most control over, and that’s labor. And I could either cut people’s
hours, or I can cut shifts. And that’s against my nature and against the best
interests of my business, because I need people to provide service, but I also
need to be able to pay the people I have.
“The other option of
course is people say, ‘Well, just raise your prices.’ Okay. I need to increase
sales three dollars to cover one dollar in costs. Because no matter what I do,
when I sell you a product, I still got to pay for the food and labor. So
two-thirds of that dollar is gone… So I have to find $1.8 million in sales, 1.8
million extra sales that I don’t have today in order to break even on a dollar
increase in wage.
“I don’t know where I
find it. I don’t know where I find extra traffic. That kind of guest traffic or
that kind of income in a state where anybody with disposable income that can,
has left! They’ve gone to South Carolina or Florida – They come back, they come
back every two or three months every year, they come in, thank God they come
in, but they don’t come in twelve months a year any more. Because they don’t
live here anymore.
“And what we’re left
with is a bunch of people, the guest population, many of them are on fixed
incomes. You want to know what happens when I raise prices? Announce tomorrow
that you’re going to tax social security benefits one percent and see what kind
of outcry you get. I get the same thing when I raise chicken dinner one
percent. I raise coffee one percent. I get the same kind of outcry, except for
me, they can choose to change their buying habits.
“Do I think wages should
never rise? No, that’d be crazy to think that. But I believe they should rise
in a strong economy, based on the skill level and the experience of the
workforce,” continued Bacon.
“Why do people want to
harm a business model like mine?” asked Bacon, wrapping up.
“Mine’s no
different than many businesses in the state. We’re small, local owned
businesses. Why do you want to harm me? I employ almost 500 people. Is that a
bad thing for Rhode Island? I generate about a million and a half in sales tax
every year. Is that a bad thing for Rhode Island?
“Please know that
reckless and overly mandates that increase our cost of doing business at an
unsustainable rate do harm my business and those of my peers,” concluded Bacon.
“I’m not sure what the breaking point is for a little local business like mine,
but I’m not as confident as I was a few years ago that I won’t find out.”
Bacon said that servers
at Gregg’s Restaurants make an average of $22 an hour. EDITOR'S NOTE: If Bacon's claim about what Gregg's workers earn is true, than why is he concerned about a rise in the minimum wage? His workers would be unaffected. - Will Collette
“While we’re hearing
restaurant owners complaining about the struggle, we should also realize that
they are spending a quarter of a million dollars on lobbying, valets and meals
for legislators and the people and members of that organization,” said Michael Araujo, executive
director of Rhode Island Jobs With Justice.
“Workers don’t have that. They simply don’t. They don’t have million dollar
lobbyists. They don’t have offices that are dedicated to doing that. What they
have is each other, when they show up and when they can show up and take the
time out to do that. What they have is their time. That’s all they’ve got. And
when they do that [show up for legislative hearings] they lose their wages.”
See below for
information on the “Annual Legislative
Reception” that took place at the State
House Library on the day the Senate heard testimony on minimum wage
bills.
Here are all the people
I managed to record in favor of raising the minimum wage to $15. Their
arguments range from the practical to the spiritual. Deborah DeBare, from the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic
Violence (RICADV), for
instance, explained how
the tipped minimum wage encourages sexual harassment. Reverend Brendan
Curran, Associate Minister at the Barrington Congregational Church, explained the spiritual argument
for raising the minimum wage.
Here are all the people
I managed to record who were opposed to increasing the minimum wage. More than
half of those who spoke are servers at Sympatico Jamestown,
all of whom spoke against eliminating the tipped minimum wage exception. This
exception allows owners to pay serving staff $3.89 an hour. None of them seemed
aware that eliminating the tipped minimum wage would not eliminate tips.
Aside from the seven
Sympatico Jamestown workers, who spoke to the committee while their boss,
Sympatico Jamestown owner Amy
Barclay was in the room and watching, no other restaurant employee
spoke against raising the minimum wage.
Every legislator in
Rhode Island received the the invitation you can see to the right. Free cocktails and top-notch hors d’oeurves were served.
The library was made
available to the Northern Rhode
Island Chamber of Commerce for free, with only an insurance rider
being necessary (available at the Rhode
Island Department of Administration) because alcohol was being served.
Some of the biggest companies in Rhode Island sponsored the event. This is a
completely legal way for businesses, large and small, to curry favor with
legislators.
Michael Araujo is right:
Low-wage workers don’t have this.
The bills:
S2244 This
bill sponsored by Senator Jeanine Calkin (Democrat,
District 30, Warwick) would gradually raise minimum wage to $15 per hour by
2022, tie it to inflation thereafter, and bring the tipped minimum wage up to
the standard minimum wage by 2026.
S2246 This
bill sponsored by Senator Leonidas Raptakis (Democrat,
District 33, East Greenwich) would increase minimum wage in accordance with
the Consumer Price Index for the Northeast Region for
the four previous fiscal years, effective 2020.
S2247 Sponsored
by Senator Erin Lynch Prata (Democrat,
District 31, Warwick, Cranston), this bill would raise minimum wage to $11 in
2019 and $12 in 2020.
S2476 This bill sponsored by Senator Gayle Goldin (Democrat, District 3, Providence)
would gradually raise the tipped minimum wage until it is equal with the
standard minimum wage by 2023.
S2478 Sponsored by Senator Adam Satchell (Democrat, District 9, West
Warwick), this bill would gradually increase the minimum hourly wage for
employees of employers who provide services to five or more persons with
developmental disabilities.
