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View Full Version : Alabama's minimum wage restriction challenged as racially biased




Suzanimal
04-28-2016, 02:21 PM
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Civil rights groups and fast-food workers in Birmingham, Alabama, filed a federal lawsuit on Thursday claiming a state law that prohibits cities from instituting higher minimum wages is racially discriminatory.

The lawsuit, which names Governor Robert Bentley and state Attorney General Luther Strange as defendants, says the legislation is tainted by "racial animus" and violates the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection.

The city council in Birmingham, where three quarters of the approximately 210,000 residents are black, had passed an ordinance raising the minimum wage from the federal rate of $7.25 an hour to $10.10 an hour.

Within weeks of the council's formal adoption of the law in February, the state legislature approved a bill precluding municipalities from passing their own minimum wage laws, thus voiding the Birmingham statute.

Plaintiffs, including the Alabama NAACP, Greater Birmingham Ministries and several fast-food workers, in their lawsuit called the state law "the most recent chapter in a long history of the Alabama State Legislature discriminating against predominantly African-American communities."

A spokeswoman for the governor's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a conference call with reporters, Antoin Adams (stet), a 23-year-old worker at Hardees, said the state "stole" his badly needed pay raise.

Alabama is among more than a dozen states that have barred municipalities from raising the minimum wage on their own.

The minimum wage has become a key political issue, as states like California and New York have recently passed legislation raising their rates beyond the federal level.

...

https://www.yahoo.com/news/alabamas-minimum-wage-restriction-challenged-racially-biased-170431124.html?nhp=1

Thaddaeus
05-08-2016, 10:00 PM
This is an interesting issue -- not for the racial aspect, which is BS, but for evaluating which is the better course of action. While certainly not a fan of minimum-wage hikes, I'm less a fan of Montgomery's top-down meddling in local matters. The state constitution is riddle with county-specific amendments.

juleswin
05-08-2016, 10:08 PM
I wish there was a way to make the minimum wage individualized. Then we would watch and see how fast he begs for it to be removed. Also I interpret the bolded sentence differently.


In a conference call with reporters, Antoin Adams (stet), a 23-year-old worker at Hardees, said the state "stole" his badly needed pay raise.

I think he is talking about the state govt when he talks about the state. I don't think he is referring to govt in general when he uses state. To him, the city govt raised his wage and the state govt took it away from him.

juleswin
05-09-2016, 12:24 AM
Look who else supports Antoin Adam's desire to raise/keep minimum wage high.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8mmbzExud0

FindLiberty
05-09-2016, 06:19 AM
... not exactly. I picked up Trump does not want to have/raise minimum wage.
He was interrupted a lot and then cut off at the end so it is hard to say...

He said "bring jobs back so people could earn a whole lot more". Well, IDK how that's
possible, but it does not involve a minimum wage. Trump thinks big, uses the best words.

It would be interesting to see this play out. I want to see America great again and think Liberty
is the best path. I do not think tyranny can work, no matter how well intentioned, but
a strong positive message can win hearts and minds, for a while. Liberty may have to rise from
the ashes, again.

Trump is a wizard of persuasion and I look forward to the efforts, results and entertainment ahead.

juleswin
05-09-2016, 06:39 AM
... not exactly. I picked up Trump does not want to have/raise minimum wage.
He was interrupted a lot and then cut off at the end so it is hard to say...

He said "bring jobs back so people could earn a whole lot more". Well, IDK how that's
possible, but it does not involve a minimum wage. Trump thinks big, uses the best words.

It would be interesting to see this play out. I want to see America great again and think Liberty
is the best path. I do not think tyranny can work, no matter how well intentioned, but
a strong positive message can win hearts and minds, for a while. Liberty may have to rise from
the ashes, again.

Trump is a wizard of persuasion and I look forward to the efforts, results and entertainment ahead.

talking about the minimum wage, he said "I am different from most republicans" where most republicans are against raising the minimum wage. Also says that "I am open to doing something about that". I don't know why he is being very vague on the subject but it seems to me interruptions aside that the compassionate republican is open to raising the minimum wage.

tod evans
05-09-2016, 07:10 AM
When people start suing for a minimum amount of production for a dollar spent come see me...

osan
05-11-2016, 08:39 AM
https://www.yahoo.com/news/alabamas-minimum-wage-restriction-challenged-racially-biased-170431124.html?nhp=1

I hope they prevail and cities start raising the minwage to no less than $20/hour so businesses like McDonald's will put in their automated systems, thereby crushing labor market demand. Then let those same people go on about how this is all an evil conspiracy of crackers to commit genocide on the Victim-Group-du-jour as they die piecemeal of starvation or at the hands of those defending that to which the criminal class feels entitled to take by force.

At some stage, stupidity must be its own reward and I am thinking that such people need to get that for which they so shrilly whine... to a point. Let them bury themselves and let the rest of the world turn its back to them when they reap the fruits of the bitter seeds they now so wantonly sow. I would not lift a finger to help them at this point, save those who fully acknowledged their faults and errors and pledged to walk the better path and forsake their dangerously childish parasitism, gratuitous hatred of just about everything including themselves, and learn to accept the premise that work, freedom, and making one's own way in the world are not causes for shrinking away into a corner while shrieking "<FITB>-ism!" at everyone they ID as their oppressor.

That, or lets get this silly "civil war" stupidity over with, thereby scrubbing the gene pool of a goodly portion of the pond scum that has rendered the waters so very toxic these days. At this point I almost don't care which because either is preferable to all the noises issuing from those quarters.