Do employees have a right to a living wage?

[elsporko]

Where was you friend living where there are no apartments under a 1,000 dollars, no places where you can only rent a room, and no roomates?

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

Where was you friend living where there are no apartments under a 1,000 dollars, no places where you can only rent a room, and no roomates?

Assume you work full time for a minimum wage of $7/hr. That's $1120/month before deductions so let's assume a take home pay of around $900 or $450 per paycheck.

Of that $900, you're going to need some of it for expenses (food, gas, car note, etc). Even if you cut to the bone, you might have $500 a month leftover for lodging, but it's probably going to be somewhat less than that.

There are many places in the country that you can't find much in the way of lodging for $500/month so unless you find a roommate or take a second job or just survive on ramen noodles all the time. Decent affordable housing is virtually impossible.

Low rent places are that for a reason, they are typically "roach motel" style accommodations with very few amenities (think no washer or dryer) and in many cases, an incomplete kitchen.

[elsporko]

Federal minimum wage is 7.25 an hour, and many places have it higher then that. A car is not a necessity unless you live in an extremely rural area with absolutely no public transportation and everything is out of walking distance, which is unlikely. In the rare case of this happening then rent is going to be pretty cheap. The area I live in is like that and you can find places to live that are less then 200 plus utilities, and even around hear you can take the transit bus to a few places in town. Minimum wage is not ideal but its livable.

[Fryk]

Chalk me up as living in one of those "rural" areas. Although I didn't know the outskirts of Toledo and Detroit were "rural". There's no public transit running to my small town, and guess what? Rent around here is at least $500/ month. And by the way, that's RENT. That doesn't include electric and water. And a lot of places use gas, too, so that's even more extra.

[protege]

Out where I live, we don't have much in the way of public transportation. The Port Authority (which handles all of it in and around Pittsburgh) has been cutting back service because of their cashflow problems lately. Even if they still ran all of their buses out my way...it would still be easier to drive to work. If I didn't, I'd have to take two buses to get to work--one downtown, and then another out to my job. Miss the first bus, or if it's running late, you miss the transfer, and then you're SOL. Sorry, but fuck that.

Also locally, there aren't many apartments for less than $600 a month. If there are any, they're usually tiny, and in shitty neighborhoods. Sorry, but I'm not paying $600 per month to live in a crack-infested ghetto. Again, fuck that. Throw in insurance, utilities, a parking space (many neighborhoods inside the city limits make you get a parking permit or two...depending if you live or work in two different zones), food, etc. and it all adds up. With all that in, you're looking at $900 or so per month.

[muses_nightmare]

I have to comment about the public transit thing. Sometimes depending on where you live the cost of public transit is getting out of hand. Where I'm living our transit system is separated into 3 zones, 1 zone monthly passes are $81, and the 10 ticket books are $21, a lot of people need to go into at least 2 zones to get to work, a 2 zone pass is $110/month. Or you can pay $31.50 for a book of 10 tickets. Now remember these are just the two zones, the 3 zones are $151 a month, and $42 for a 10 ticket book.

So a 1 zone monthly pass for a year? $972
2 zone? $1320
3 zone? $1812

So even if transit is your only option it can get expensive.

[Plaidman]

Ah thank god. I get rides alot to places, cept school. Costs 2.30 to get there. 2.30 to go back. I mean, I could sneak on the max, seeing as the transit police are rarely on, but it still theft to me. So 4.60, twice a week, four weeks is $36.80. Easy enough I'd say.

But oy, end of year cost is $441.60.

Eh. Still cheaper then driving.

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

I have to comment about the public transit thing. Sometimes depending on where you live the cost of public transit is getting out of hand. Where I'm living our transit system is separated into 3 zones, 1 zone monthly passes are $81, and the 10 ticket books are $21, a lot of people need to go into at least 2 zones to get to work, a 2 zone pass is $110/month. Or you can pay $31.50 for a book of 10 tickets. Now remember these are just the two zones, the 3 zones are $151 a month, and $42 for a 10 ticket book.

So a 1 zone monthly pass for a year? $972
2 zone? $1320
3 zone? $1812

So even if transit is your only option it can get expensive.

Amen to this. In the city I used to live in, the cost of bus passes went up EVERY SINGLE YEAR. The transit system was run by the city of course so I guess the just decided on an annual rate increase.

Also I've used public transit in Pittsburgh before and I was NOT impressed!

[KellyHabersham]

A car is not a necessity unless you live in an extremely rural area with absolutely no public transportation and everything is out of walking distance, which is unlikely.

This isn't necessarily true - here in the Phoenix area, one pretty much "has" to have a car in order to get around to all parts of the city......our public transit system is NOT the quickest, most convenient way to get around. (especially on weekends or after 7 pm)

[protege]

Also I've used public transit in Pittsburgh before and I was NOT impressed!

I live here, and I'm not impressed by it. The city has had some serious problems with our mass-transit system--buses that are poorly maintained, leaking subway (which is an odd term...since most of the system is *above* ground!) tunnels, and the billion-dollar "tunnel to nowhere" under the Allegheny.

For those who don't know, rather than extend the light-rail system out into Oakland (where Pitt, CMU, Carlow, etc. are located, and where there's quite a bit of traffic)...they're extending the system so people can ride to football games on Sundays.

[Fryk]

Sounds about right for most Pittsburghian sensibilities.

[BookstoreEscapee]

This isn't necessarily true - here in the Phoenix area, one pretty much "has" to have a car in order to get around to all parts of the city......our public transit system is NOT the quickest, most convenient way to get around. (especially on weekends or after 7 pm)

I don't live in a rural area (despite it being "the Garden State"). I have a bus stop right behind my apartment complex. If I were commuting to New York City every day it would be damn convenient. But I don't go to the city and getting to where I work on public transportation would not be a reasonable proposition.

[jackfaire]

Educated self interest should have this being a resounding yes.

If people can't afford to live they will lose their homes end up in shelters and on welfare being a drain on the rest of us and less people keeping the economy going. If there is less money in your employees pockets there is less money in yours. It is a cycle.

You can horde all the money for yourself but since it is merely a mutually agreed upon means of transferring goods and services it becomes worthless if you have a lot of it and the people that buy your products don't.

[protege]

Sounds about right for most Pittsburghian sensibilities.

Most of the people in town didn't want it at all. However, the Woy Blunder (aka our idiot mayor...who recently was on some junket at a Seven Springs resort, instead of dealing with the massive snowstorm back in February) somehow forced it through because we "needed" it. When the master plan (of which this massive waste of money was a part of) was unveiled, the idea was to improve the areas around the stadiums. More people, was supposed to mean increased (tax) revenues at the various bars and clubs nearby. In reality, all it did was take money that would have been spent in other areas. Net result? A big fat zero.

Back on topic here, no matter what you make the minimum wage, some people will always be struggling. Also, prices of goods and services do not exist in a vacuum--you raise the minimum wage, and the cost of everything else goes up.

[powerboy]

Yes everybody does have a right to a living wage. If someone is working full time and not able to live on it. Then it is a problem.