Liberal run cities across America can pass ordinances and laws mandating a $15 minimum wage. And businesses can then choose to close up shop and move somewhere else. Every action has consequences. The poor people of Chinatown in LA just found out the hard way.
Walmart Closes LA Store Over $15 Minimum Wage
Los Angeles residents of impoverished Chinatown were shocked to learn on January 17 that the Walmart they pleaded for years to get would be shut down at 7 p.m. Sunday evening due to the city’s new $15 minimum wage ordinance, and union harassment.
(Update: The closure was described by the company as one of 154 closures “that took into account a number of factors, including financial performance as well as strategic alignment with long-term plans.”)
Immigrant Hispanic and Asian residents of central Los Angeles campaigned for years for a “big box” retailer to locate in their economically depressed neighborhood to compete against liquor stores that sold a limited number of food items at very high prices. In September 2013, Walmart finally opened a 33,000-square-foot grocery and drug store in the Chinatown area.
Crowds flocked to the store for lower food costs, substantially cheaper pharmaceuticals, and even ethnic offerings. But labor leaders immediately started protesting against the store for refusing to unionize, even though 100 Walmart employees refused to sign union cards.
During the November 2014 Black Friday protests in downtown Los Angeles led by the union-funded Movement Generation’s Justice and Ecology Project, thousands of protestors were bused in to protest against Walmart destroying downtown, even though the company only had the one store in Chinatown.
According to Movement organizer Brooke Anderson, “As people deeply committed to environmental and climate justice, we condemn Walmart as a climate criminal and we stand side-by-side with Walmart’s workers organizing for $15 per hour, full time work, and the respect they deserve.”
During last summer’s union-led “Fight For 15” minimum wage movement in Los Angeles, Walmart was demonized on giant banners proclaiming, “Walmart Wages War on Workers” and “Walmart Wages War on Planet Earth.”
But after succeeding in pushing through a minimum wage that was set to start on January 1 at $10 an hour and jump in steps to $15 in 2018, unions and liberals have begun to panic that spiking wages might actually cause the 15 percent rate of unemployment among those with a high school diploma or less to rise.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office’s most recent in-depth analysis on minimum wage hikes estimated that President Obama’s proposed federal minimum wage increase from $7.25 to $10 an hour would raise wages for 16 to 24 million people, but would also kill 500,000 existing jobs.
Liberals piously called this negative impact a “reasonable tradeoff worth embracing,” whereas conservatives and business owners called it proof that risky government interference would destroy jobs and put more people on welfare. But there are no independent studies of what a 50 percent, let alone 100 percent increase would do.
Furthermore, Walmart’s closure in Los Angeles means that shoppers will still be able to go to neighboring cities to shop at Walmart, taking sales tax payments away from LA.
Breitbart News reported in late July that local union bosses want their locals exempted from the law, since businesses were already making plans to cut employee head count.
The same month, McDonald’sopened its first robotic restaurant in Phoenix, and hotels in L.A. announced they were planning to reduce guests’ daily room cleaning, or charging extra for doing so.
Private sector union membership has plummeted from almost 40 percent of the workforce in the 1960s to a new low of 6.6 percent in 2015.
The “Fight for 15” sounded like a great social justice strategy to leverage liberals’ concern for the plight of the poor into a huge union organizing play.
But the downtown L.A. Walmart’s sudden closure is just the first of what seems destined to be a huge negative blowback that will hurt poor consumers and workers.
You reap what you sow.
Bob.
My guess is they’re closing the stores because they need them for FEMA camps…..
Many bottom end jobs are just not worth more than they pay now.
Force an increase in that pay beyond the point that they no longer produce as much economic return as they are paid and those jobs will just go away.
The only place workers can be paid more than they generate in economic returns is in government, private industry goes out of business if it tries to do that for any length of time.
Larger employers of bottom end jobs will replace workers with robotic substitutes, smaller ones will find a way to do without them or just close their doors. Either way, the workers in that category will no longer have the jobs they do now.
If you want to earn a decent wage learn a TRADE. When I started in construction in the early 80’s the crews were White/Black/Hispanic. Today they are 100% Hispanic. A token white & black here and there. Wages are dam good if you ask me. My lowest paid “grunt” gets $15 per hour and my highest skilled carpenters $40-45 per hour.
We don’t tolerate lateness or laziness. If the laborer can’t produce at $15 we get rid of them immediately. The work takes skilled professionals. We will train anyone. We don’t care about color, gender orientation, prison record….. Just are you willing to work your ass off.
The ONLY people willing to bust their but and sweat today, at least in So-Cal are Hispanics. Everyone else is an entitled little shit who only wants a paycheck. So, they work at wall mart and as baristas at Starbucks.
There are no new speciality contractors coming along. Almost every contractor I know is over 45 and many are over 50. When we retire there will be no one that knows SHIT about building except computers, which don’t do well at solving real world building issues.
My advice to a millennial? Quit college, learn a trade and you will never go hungry. Even in the worst of times people need a roof over there head that doesn’t leak. If you have skills you will always be in demand.
Well, I think that the government should ORDER Walmart to keep that store open and pay that minimum wage or face a big fat fine! How dare they circumvent the will of the people and the labor unions by closing down their business! They didn’t build that business and they have no right to run it the way they please.
I started that as a sarcastic comment and now that I read it, I realize that is EXACTLY what the liberal assholes believe.
I’ve gone Galt. How ’bout you?
Blowback’s a bitch. Hate to say it, good for Walmart. It’s time to fight back against all the lazy idiocy.
Working in retail is mostly a ‘fill in’ job, a side job. These are jobs for someone who needs some extra income. It’s not a profession, not permanent.
I feel sorry for those folks trapped in LA and California – but I sure as hell don’t want them coming to my town.
Union organizers save the day for the local people
@Contsman54
If you are knowingly hiring illegals, aren’t you part of the problem ? Just sayin.
Wow, I don’t know where the author is coming from with this article but he is certainly not coming from Los Angeles. Yes, residents wanted a super market, but not a big box and certainly not a Wal Mart. At the same time Walmart was slithering its way into Chinatown, it was also putting one of their grocery stores in Altadena, a town in the foothills north of Pasadena about 15 miles away from Chinatown. There was a huge protest rally in Chinatown against the Wal Mart. And as you can see from the attached video, there were many protests by residents of Altadena against their Walmart.
So after 3 years both the Altadena and Chinatown Walmarts are shutting down. They simply couldn’t compete. The author is incorrect, Chinatown is not IMPOVERISHED. Close by in downtown Los Angeles there is a Ralph’s, a Whole Foods and a Smart & Final. In Altadena there are several grocers including a Ralph’s.
I say, good bye and good riddance to the Walmart’s in my neighborhood.
Citizens in Altadena Protesting Walmart
https://vimeo.com/46942218
Citizens testifying at LA County Supervisors meeting agains big box stores:
https://vimeo.com/54106468/settings/privacy
Dystopia, the planned chaos is in full forward gear. Bad mouthing Wally World never feeds the multitudes. It is a shame that Walmart makes its’ decisions according to economics, but making decisions on emotion have a very high failure rate. Cutting off your nose to spite your face is what happens in progressive enclaves. They feel good getting even, but the reality sets in!
So the Walfart multi-billionaires can’t afford to pay that wage in ONE store? I think this says more about what pricks they are than the wage (although I think it’s too high).
Everyone we hire has papers. What is amazing is that there are no blacks or whites who are willing to learn a trade. I am only speaking from my personal experience in So-Cal. There used to be some black contractors, but now they are all gone. All the owners are white or Hispanic and 90% of the workers are Hispanic and taking home very nice pay checks.
90% of my employees make over $30 per hour. Yet it is difficult to find qualified workers. My really skilled guys make over $40. And we offer health insurance and pay into a retirement plan. Go figure.
After a 200k edumacation most grads do not come close to that. They could have saved the 200k, gone to work and if they have half a brain been making $30-40 per hour after 4 years and been paid to learn.
So, if everyone, including Walmart’s competitors, has to pay $15.00 an hour, how does this make Walmart any less competitive? Mathematically, it should not change anything. I think the reason they closed up was because of unions. The Walton family has more money that they will ever spend in generations to come, yet they can not find away to pay those who work for them and help create profits, a living wage. Greed is bottomless. It is one of the “Seven Deadly Sins” because eventually it ends up destroying it’s host. The Walton’s mistake is to believe that things will always remain the same when History has taught us something quite different.
Personal story.
I quit college after 2 years. I hated school and only went because it was what a good white kid from a well to do family was supposed to do. So I partied for two years, wasted a bunch of my parents money and quit school.
I went to work as a carpenter. More like a human forklift. I worked my ass off and pretty soon was running my own small crew. I was still a dumb kid, so I would work for a while, save some money and then travel until I ran out of money.
Eventually, I met a girl and that meant time to work for real. Over time I got tired of working for others and got my contractors license. It is really that simple. Anyone can learn a trade. It takes time and is HARD work, but the sense of accomplishment you get from a job well done is immense.
I can drive anywhere in Southern California and point out buildings I had a hand in building. I used to drive my kids nuts when they were little, because I would always point them out on drives. The opportunity to live a great life is still there for anyone who is willing to work there ASS off.
Look at HSF. I believe he is living a great life, but it sure appears to me he is working his ASS off every day. I do too. So what. I actually enjoy hard work.
Ecc 5:18 Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward.
Ecc 5:19 Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God.
Ecc 5:20 For he will not often consider the years of his life, because God keeps him occupied with the gladness of his heart.
@Constman, this interview with Roman may provide some insight as to why you are not finding whites or blacks entering the construction trades:
Kevin:
WTF is a “fair” wage? I almost turned off the video at that point. How much is enough? $15, $20, $30, $40, $50. I pay pay people throughout that whole range.
I have found a way to pay a “Fair” FUCKING WAGE and still stay in business.
$/hr * hr = pay
Your ability and skills is what should determine the first component of that math equation. Not the mandates of some idiot elected, appointed or employed with the government.
Minimum wage laws are immoral and destructive IMO. People who aren’t paid what they “think” they are worth should leave and take their apparent skills to another employer. If they are really that good they should be compensated for it. Trouble is, tons of people have inflated images of self worth that are just not reasonable. So they lobby government to force that vision on employers. That is wrong and not a legitimate purpose of government power.
Kevin: Fair wage. Well with the store gone – there is no wage. They don’t have to take the jobs.
It’s a simple case of supply and demand. Any job that can be done by someone walking off the street, has a very high supply of willing candidates.
Kevin, you are a cunt.
Let’s talk livable . . . In Los Angeles that is $23 per hour. So skilled labor should be able to command more. Now, if you employ people you are not going to want to hear that. I’m glad you didn’t turn off the video and watched it through.
A person like Roman has no desire to be an employer. Rather, he wants to remain a tradesman. As he stated 5 years ago in the interview, systemic changes have pretty much made that impossible. I’ve lived in SoCal for almost 20 years now. Many of the people I count as friends have lived here all their lives and some can trace their California roots back 5 generations. So, I have been blessed with their insights.
A living wage becomes an impossibility when the supply of laborers all to eager to work for less becomes so abundant that they are the preferred choice of many an employer. Roman’s comments are coming at us from the real grassroots. He is the canary in the coal mine sort of speak. We can listen to him and say we need to look at make some systemic changes. Or we could ignore him. But ignoring him imperils us all.
I know a contractor in Arizona who will only hire native born and preferably veterans. But he is rare.
I know contractors back where I grew up in Pennsylvania and they are quickly adopting the SoCal model. They hire illegal immigrants from Mexico and Latin America for 1/3 the hourly wage of a native born and they are reaping bigger profits. But, who among the native born will enter the construction trades at those wages? Not many. And there you have it, why you don’t see whites or blacks (or asians for that matter) on construction sites. It’s why every ad for a foreman state “Spanish speaker preferred.”
In the long run, I cannot believe anyone will benefit from this.
Keep drinking the cool-aid Dutchman. Good doggy, now sit up and listen to your corporate masters.
@Brian. I agree with you that minimum wage laws are a bad idea. Politicians use them to win elections and extort money from unions and business alike. If we enforced our immigration laws, and scrapped bad trade deals like NAFTA and GATT (and coming soon the TPP) they wouldn’t be given a second thought as market forces would create a livable wage.
Consider this. in 1940 roughly 18% of blacks lived above poverty. However, by 1970, thirty years later almost 75% of blacks lived above poverty. Now this is a period of time of Jim Crowe laws and no help from whites as civil rights legislation wasn’t enacted until the late 1960’s and had not time to take effect. SO, WHAT HAPPENED??
What happened was in the mid 1920’s the federal government in response to the Populists enacted immigration reform which created for the first time restrictions on immigration. Overnight, levels dropped from at times of a million new entrants to less than two hundred thousand. And these restrictions were in place up to the late 1960’s. A tight labor force all in itself forced up wages and had a big hand in creating the middle class.
That is all different now. An interestingly, the number of blacks living above poverty hasn’t changed much from 1970. Food for thought.
A “fair” wage is one at which an employer can still make a profit after all the taxes. costs and liabilities as well as the wage itself involved.
If you don’t like that go start your own business and show us how it can be done otherwise.
But when you decide to try, I’ll venture a guess that you’ll end up back working for someone else in rather short order, someone that doesn’t do it that way.
While not a fan of minimum wage laws, if that is the blueprint to crush walmart, good. Let’s get it done. I personally think trump’s plans regarding China will cripple that business model more effectively. Can’t wait
Constman54…in Charleston they have the School Of The Building Arts . If I had it all to do over again I would have gone there after a year or two of having fun at the College Of Charleston .
This place will teach a kid how to make big bucks in the restoration of old buildings
http://americancollegeofthebuildingarts.com/
What do you suppose the “fair wage” would be if the govt. wasn’t subsidizing the US economy to the tune of a trillion a year. This IS ultimately a global economy, the rubber will meet the road if and when this country finds it has to live within it’s means.
Greetings,
Two things:
First, this isn’t an issue about immigration. It is a problem with two competing systems because, in the end, both groups are making the same amount of money. Immigrants have pretty much zero overhead as they are not allowed to be in the system. They are not licensed or bonded. They do not pay taxes, have vehicles that are licensed, registered and insured and do not pay any benefits like health care, vacation and retirement. I would go so far as to say that these differences mean that immigrants can underbid a project by 1/2 and still make out with an equal amount of money.
Any company that wishes to compete must adopt these practices or go out of business – it is as simple as that.
Two: The fix
The worthless pigs that cant wait to ticket us for all kinds of imaginary offenses should, in my opinion, set up sting operations where they pretend to be in need of some construction work. When the unlicensed worker appears, they are immediately arrested and whatever tools they have with them seized. Illegals will be incarcerated until such time as they and their families are deported. Those caught re-entering the country are branded so as to be easily recognizable.
Problem solved.
When I was 21 (1970) if you worked full time, even at a minimum wage job, it was enough to support yourself, even pay for your health care.. Fast forward to today. Minimum wage is about 1/2 of what one needs to just support oneself minus healthcare supporting a spouse or family. Even that is predicated upon living in a low cost area or State and being very frugal.
Due to government intervention which has allowed Wall St. to take over Main St, healthcare, education, drugs and rents have soared, impoverishing workers even more.
If you work in a foundry where I live, max federal tax rate =35%, State tax max= 9%, social security tax almost 8% for a total of 52% max tax rate. The Waltons pay about 17% max tax rate. The system is skewed to the way wealthy people make money. We had enough money to bail out the Banksters in ’08 to he tune of $trillions, but pay someone a wage they can live on and Golly Geez, that is evil.
Starfcker.
You really believe government should have the mission of crushing businesses you don’t like for some reason?
Maybe they should be crushing the firearms industry as well, lots of people don’t like that one either. Or maybe the fossil fuel and coal industries (oh, yeah they’re already doing that)?
Eventually, they’ll be coming after your as well, ya’ know, since there are surely lots of government types that don’t approve of you either.
In a free society businesses, industries, ideas and beliefs survive or fail on their own merit. When government becomes a weapon to used against them by their opponents there is no longer freedom no matter the illusion or lack of it that may remain.
NickelthroweR,
You might want to study this a bit.
Just the first couple of paragraphs should suffice, you don’t need to read the whole thing to get the point.
http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/practices/inquiries_citizenship.cfm
There are court decisions that both support and expand it as well.
When you reach a point in time like today, where there is an oversupply of labor, no matter how hard the mass of people work, their wages and their piece of the pie will shrink. It’s called wage arbitrage. It si working globally now. Left to it’s own devices, this will eventually create a 3rd world economy where no matter how productive the worker, they will eventually be forced to work for just enough to eat. If that is the world you want for us, then help Walmart and Corporate America fight minimum wages and unions.
Steadily, economically eviscerating the masses is the stuff of which revolutions are made. the last time that the disparity of wealth was this great was on the eve of the Great Depression, the social revolution that followed created minimum wage and social security, labor laws and pro union laws. If that had not happened, the Waltons of that day would have had a good chance of ending up swinging from the lamp posts
Anonymous, ever heard of Sherman anti -trust? I’m a big fan
Now this is a feel good story.
Anonymous, you’re a troll. The issue isn’t government, it’s concentration of power, and corruption of government. If Chinatown doesn’t want scum like walmart in their community, God bless them. Walmart is as corrupt as any government on earth. To defend them is patheti . Second amendment? Nice strawman, dirtbag
@Anonymous,
I read the link and what Anonymous linked leads me to believe that everything is working according to plan. I especially like how it is illegal to ask eligibility questions to a potential employee prior to hiring them. Wow.
starfcker says:………….. and nails it
” ever heard of Sherman anti -trust? I’m a big fan”
Monopolization is essential for big profits, essential for stripping the masses. Not much resistance to the trend, as long as (borrowed/printed) billions can be spent placating the idiot masses.
NickelthroweR says: I especially like how it is illegal to ask eligibility questions to a potential employee prior to hiring them.
It’s probably a matter of political correctness. If anybody asked me if I’m legal, I’d want to kick them in the pussy. Actually, nobody asks. (Except for a freaky chick I was flirting with, she thought I was proposing to her, she asked if I had my green card. Nuts.)
One thing all Mexicans know is the story of Juan Gabriel’s reply to a reporter who dared to ask is he’s gay. Rather than baldly confirm it, as the reporter was hoping, he said, what can be seen needn’t be asked. Or, don’t ask the obvious. You really do not need to ask illegals of their status, pochos (American born latinos) tend to be snotty little bitches and choonties (recent immigrants) tend to despise American ways and pochos, they prefer to speak in Spanish and listen to Mexican music.
They are much harder workers than American born Hispanics. They have motivations that we do not have, extreme poverty back home and an investment of time and money which we do not start out with here in the USA.
There was a story once, of a teenage boy somebody found living in an abandoned car. He had come here illegally and he was trying to work and earn enough money to live on in the most meager fashion possible so he could send money back home. When the reporter spoke to him, he broke down saying he was tired of living alone, away from the only people he knew that cared for him. That was hard to watch, I had to change the channel to a rerun of The Beverly Hillbillies.
Life isn’t fair and then you die.
I recall the MM movie Bus Stop. The old cowboy says that with Beau’s inexperience and Cherie’s over-experience, it all balances out. I suppose that with all the things we enjoy in America; food, entertainment, medical care, security, comfort, well-being, work, homes, vacations, drugs, alcohol,etc. and all the things poor folks need in other countries, it all balances out.
I don’t mean to guilt trip anybody. It’s my own outlook. I used to go to a church where one or two people would keep asking for prayers for more money, a raise, more money. I offered this person a little story, I’ve told it before but I never said why it meant anything to me. I made it up but it fit my dad who died in the street without a penny. He was a violent dad, true, but he had taught me two valuable lessons, 3 really, he taught me that one works for his money, don’t be gay and don’t hit girls. Anyway, I got tired of this person always asking for more, more, more. I said, you know, there was a man who had a pair of old shoes with holes on the soles and he wore a suit from the goodwill. He took a newspaper and made himself a pillow on the park bench. As he set himself to sleep, he smiled and said to himself, this is the life.
My old man died at 53 of alcoholism. Loved a good laugh, Old Grand Dad and driving a truck.
When the free shit faucet gets turned off, WallyWorld will be closing the majority of their stores.
EC, my father died at 93 of stinginess. It does balance out.
Anon above says a fair wage is where an moly er dan still make a profit.
No no no no no no hell fucking NO!
A fair wage is set by the market. What the buyer will freely pay and the seller will freely accept.
Nothing more, nothing less us fair.
Businesses have no right to make a profit. None whatsoever.
They only have a right to try to make a profit. Only by their skills and ability to compete should they be able to do so.
And employees have no right to a living wage. If they can’t produce enough to live n, then they starve.
That is what competition s about. And without that basic competition, the incentive to compete disappears, and the system goes to shit.
Sorry folks. The first sentence above should be:
Anon says a fair wage is where an employer can still make a profit.
LLPOH, I didn’t know how to say all that because it really affected me to listen to Roman the tile setter sniveling about his competition. Thank you!
Mexicans thrive on competition. Shit, when we were growing up, we watched them snag the prettiest girls because we had been taught to wait in line and keep our mouths shut and wait for the teacher to say, Simon says. Those fuckers didn’t know the rules of the game and they cheated and won every time.
And still, schools try to instill non-competitiveness. Fuckers.
Prof Pangloss once said, They say money can’t buy love, but give me $5 and I’ll do my own shopping.
@ El Coyote; “. . .Mexicans thrive on competition . . .” Do you really believe that? Pop down to your local government services office that handles services like welfare, food stamps, WIC, etc. and you will hear lots of Spanish being spoken. No, Mexican immigrants are not thriving. They are eager fodder for the corporatocracy. and as a result they poorer than native born counter parts. Don’t believe me? Just start talking about getting rid of affirmative action status for hispanics and see the response you will get. Being the son of immigrants I am quick to dispel myths concerning immigration. A couple of them immigrants are more entrepreneurial and are natural conservatives. For instance and according to the 2015 Annual Social Economic Supplement of the Current Population Survey, immigrants whether it is part time self employed or self employed as a percentage are few than native born. Hispanics favor Democrats 2 to 1. Across a host of issues they tend to favor the environment, helping the poor, Obamacare, etc. According to Pew Research Center 55% of hispanics have a negative view of capitalism compared to 47% for liberal native borns. So keep espousing the myths and remember to keep checking that Hispanic non-white box. Before we stopped enforcing immigration laws and policies and kept down the number of legal and illegal immigrants, both immigrants and native born workers thrived. That is not the case anymore. No one is thriving and all are become more and more insecure.