Scranton drops all employees down to minimum wage

[Bear]

The city of Scranton, Pennsylvania has slashed all city employees salaries down to minimum wage which is $7.25 an hour. This includes firefighters and police. Here is an article about it. Could you survive if your wages were suddenly cut down to minimum wage?

 

[Kina]

This has to be a real blow to people with families. When I read this the first thought I had was' I wonder if the politicians dropped their salary." But from everything I have read, It doesn't seem so. It looks like the mayor did this as a ploy to get the city council off thier butts to do something.

 

[Andersson]

I really do not know many towns that could do that. It seems like PA gets a ton of bad news, I still remember when they had issues with the old coal mining I think it was if memory serves me correct.

 

[Bear]

This has to be a real blow to people with families. When I read this the first thought I had was' I wonder if the politicians dropped their salary." But from everything I have read, It doesn't seem so. It looks like the mayor did this as a ploy to get the city council off thier butts to do something.

According to an article in the Huffington Post, no one is making more than minimum wage including the council members and the mayor. I wonder how long it will take for the trash to pile up, and houses start to burn to the ground because no one will go to work ?

 

[polamalu43]

I am sure this is not permanent right? I know I could not make it on minimum wage. I would not be able to pay my mortgage. Seems like a silly concept but we will see how long it takes for people to get off their butts.

 

[BigPapa]

Maybe it is just me, but I think these people should just be happy that the city decided to keep all of their jobs and only slash wages. In my area, we have had deep cuts in public safety with over half of our fire stations being closed and many police officers and firemen being laid off indefinitely or fired. Yes, it will be tough with lower pay but think about what it would be like with no pay at all. These are tough times for everyone and everyone needs to learn how to live within their means.

 

[Dan]

A lot of places depend on volunteer firefighter so at least those guys get paid but I can't imagine wanting to put your life on the line for minimum wage like cops do every day.

 

[Bear]

Maybe it is just me, but I think these people should just be happy that the city decided to keep all of their jobs and only slash wages. In my area, we have had deep cuts in public safety with over half of our fire stations being closed and many police officers and firemen being laid off indefinitely or fired. Yes, it will be tough with lower pay but think about what it would be like with no pay at all. These are tough times for everyone and everyone needs to learn how to live within their means.

I have to completely disagree with you on this. First of all, a majority of these workers had a contract for a set amount of pay. The city is legally obligated to pay them whatever wage was in the contract until such time as the contract can be renegotiated. Second of all, these employees did not do anything wrong...what do you mean they need to "live within their means"? They had a job that is supposed to pay "x" amount of dollars per week, and they went and found housing, vehicles, childcare, and groceries based on that figure. Lastly, I am currently unemployed, but I'll tell you right now I am not getting out of bed for $7.25 an hour. There would be no point to busting my tail for that small amount of money. I could not come close to paying my mortgage, utilities, or buy groceries for that amount of money on a 40 hour week. Thankfully, when I was employed we lived considerably lower than our means would have allowed and we had a cushion to buy me a little time.

 

[Michael]

I saw this on the news. I do understand that it's only fair for everyone to share in the cost-cutting. Government and its services are not free. Someone has to pay for them. Unlike Bear, I would get out of bed and work for whatever I was able to make. We are living in tough times, and they may get tougher.

 

[BigPapa]

Bear, what you just said sums up the current economic crisis perfectly. My mom was a single parent and she got out of bed every day and busted her tail working two jobs at minimum wage for quite a long time just to put food on the table and a roof over our heads. I guess I was raised to believe that when you aren't making anything no job should be beneath you. I think that a lot of people are like you though and even though minimum wage jobs are available they won't even deign to take them. So we have record unemployment not because jobs aren't available but we think we are too good to take them.

 

[Bear]

Yes, but what is the point if it is not going to pay the bills anyway? Working for $7.25 an hour is not going to keep the lights on and the mortgage paid, or groceries in the cabinet. Making that little would very quickly put us in danger of losing our home, and constantly having utilities cut on and off for being behind on the bills. We have decided that it would be in our best interest for me to take the unemployment money while it is offered, and go back to school to train in a completely different field. One where I will be able to make more than $7.25 an hour and might be able to keep the house and all that goes with that. The first thing I did when I was let go was to apply for unemployment and take all the money out of my 401k. We put enough to the side to pay the house payment for a year, and we use the unemployment to pay the rest of the monthly bills.

I don't think that I am too good to take them, and if it comes down to it I will. My kids will never go hungry and you can bank on that. I just feel that the best option for us is to try and make a better future for the family instead of one where I work 2-3 minimum wage jobs, never see my family, and we are still just robbing Peter to pay Paul each month.

 

[Bryant]

I have to completely agree with you Bear. There is no point in working a minimum wage job (or two or three of them) if at the end of the day you have nothing to show for it. The system is in place as a safety net and there is no shame in using it. There are also other ways to keep food on the table for those with an open mind and the resources and know how to use them.

 

[Jatelo2]

The city of Scranton, Pennsylvania has slashed all city employees salaries down to minimum wage which is $7.25 an hour. This includes firefighters and police. Here is an article about it. Could you survive if your wages were suddenly cut down to minimum wage?

Were they made aware of the cut before it was done? If you weren't prepared then the most difficult thing to do is to effect such sudden adjustments on lifestyle.

I deeply sympathize with these people.

 

[Mel]

What a pathetic state of affairs. No one wants to pay taxes, so I guess people are getting what they want. Every man for himself, I guess. I didn't think that was what a democracy was all about.