McCain Sticks It To Organized Labor: Visits Company That Refused To Pay Minimum Wage
McCain Sticks It To Organized Labor: Visits Company That Refused To Pay Minimum Wage
Today, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) visited Worth & Co., a contracting company in Bucks County, PA, where he held a town hall. The visit is a slap in the face to the state’s unions, since Worth & Co. has been investigated by the state Department of Labor and Industry for “intentionally failing to pay the predetermined minimum wage” to its employees. The Intelligencer reports:
McCain, who has already drawn the ire of union leaders throughout this country, will be visiting a company that earlier this year was under investigation by the state’s Labor and Industry Department over employee wages. At the time of the investigation, company founder Stephen Worth said he was being targeted by union interests who were going after his non-union shop. Union members plan to protest McCain’s visit.
Part of the state’s investigation focused on a subcontractor Worth had hired, that ultimately admitted to having underpaid its employees by nearly $26,000. The state has accused the company of cheating employees out of $142,000 in wages for government projects.
McCain’s visit fits squarely within his anti-labor record. The AFL-CIO emphasizes that “there is nothing moderate about McCain,” who they call “a loyal ally of Bush who has consistently and perniciously voted against the interests of working families in his decades-long career in Washington.” Highlights of that long career:
– Helped block minimum wage hike in 2005 with John Kyl [LINK]
– Voted to filibuster minimum wage hike in 2007 [LINK]
– Compared unions to monopolies, during a presidential debate [LINK]
– Voted to block the Employee Free Choice Act in 2007, allowing workers to form unions [LINK]
– Skipped the vote on the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2008, which would have made it easier for women workers to sue for equal pay [LINK]
Just last week, McCain didn’t even bother to show up to vote on a war supplemental that extended unemployment benefits. He was the only senator besides Sen. Ted Kennedy — who is undergoing treatment for a brain tumor — who didn’t vote on the measure.
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll
Keeping with the pattern of his campaign, the candidate from bizaro world will give a speech favoring the minimum wage tomorrow.
June 30th, 2008 at 3:28 pmThe only labor McIIIrd suports is child.
June 30th, 2008 at 3:31 pmIt’s been pretty clear that he’s more interested in NFIB than laborers.
June 30th, 2008 at 3:33 pmDR MATT, you got it, except the college part. Make sure you have cash on hand, as grants are pork, loans are now impossible to get, and the damn teachers are unionized.
June 30th, 2008 at 3:34 pmGrampy McSame says – My friends back in the day we would pay companies to work for them, yes sir reeee, we all knew that we needed to make corporations rich and profitable so that we could afford to pay them for our jobs, those CEO’s need those huge bonuses so that they can have more and bigger boats and cars, it is the working mans job to see that those CEO’s have more and more, sometimes a CEO would throw a bone to us and we would fight for that, and be darn glad we got it, now a days, we got sissy workers who want to eat and support a family, well, tell them to get three jobs, because that is what it is gonna take to buy gas just to get to those jobs…ooops…I think I sat on a very warm banana.
Yeah, we don’t need no stinking jobs that feed and house our families, now do we…besides you have it so rough and all, you are the one who really understands how it is to be working on minimum wage, uh John.
June 30th, 2008 at 3:41 pmRaising minumum wage beyond inflation hurts the majority, and only helps those at the bottom of the barrel.
June 30th, 2008 at 3:41 pmMcCain Sticks It To Organized Labor: Visits Company That Refused To Pay Minimum Wage
A pathetic, desperate attempt to regain some maverickiness.
June 30th, 2008 at 3:41 pmEverytime the economy is really bad, in the 1980’s or further back the only choice was the military. Makes one wonder the correlation between needing cannon fodder for Iran and lack of jobs, or even loans for education.
June 30th, 2008 at 3:42 pmTo be fair, McCain also sticks it to disorganized labor.
June 30th, 2008 at 3:43 pmAh, some good old fashioned, IGOTMINEGOFU CKYOURSELVES sentiment from our pesky, buzzing troll.
June 30th, 2008 at 3:43 pmDr. Hussein Matt Says:
prove otherwise that buiseness isn’t hurt.
June 30th, 2008 at 3:47 pm“only helps those at the bottom of the barrel.”
…and we all know that has nothing to do with compassionalte conservatism.
June 30th, 2008 at 3:47 pmprove otherwise that buiseness isn’t hurt.
Ouch! OW, dammitalltohell, when are you going to stop torturing the English language? Put that spelling waterboard away!
June 30th, 2008 at 3:49 pmmccain went from rich homelife, military, rich wife. He has never had to live within a budget…so how can he relate ? Not knowing the price of gas is the tip of the iceberg. So what are his qualifications… war ? People he hasn’t bothered to even vote this year. Come on..another bush.
June 30th, 2008 at 3:49 pmI want to respect Sen. McCain, but the man must have staff with serious problems. I’ve also got to agree with the supposedly ‘attack dogs’ that are questioning his claiming his military experience qualifies him to lead our nation. He is in fact an American Hero – but being a hero does not make you a leader and certainly not a President. Certainly this gaff is an indicator of how wrong-headed his campaign is.
June 30th, 2008 at 3:51 pmOle Gramps McContortionist wants to turn our American middle class into an enlarged serf class of peasants to wait on his ruling class members hand and foot (and to pump the gasoline with the unknown price). Some American peasants are so brainwashed by right-wing crap that they will happily vote for their own enslavement, as they did in 2000 and 2004. Bush just repeated his mantra, guns, god and gays, and the yahoos ate it up… Can Ole Gramps McContortionist repeat this act? Stay tuned…
June 30th, 2008 at 3:52 pmrozerze Says:
Raising minumum wage beyond inflation hurts the majority, and only helps those at the bottom of the barrel.
There’s a barrel? A real barrel out there with poor poeple sitting on the bottom of it? Who sits above them in the barrel? If I was in the lower part of the barrel, could I move higher in the barrel, will they let me?
I thought we should all be climbing ladders, now Rx2 tells me I should be looking for a barrel. Its all very confusing to me.
June 30th, 2008 at 3:53 pmWaltB Says:
I want to respect Sen. McCain, but the man must have staff with serious problems. I’ve also got to agree with the supposedly ‘attack dogs’ that are questioning his claiming his military experience qualifies him to lead our nation. He is in fact an American Hero – but being a hero does not make you a leader and certainly not a President. Certainly this gaff is an indicator of how wrong-headed his campaign is.
Why is he an American HERO? I know that he served and such, but millions of other men and women served too. Tell me again why McSame is a hero. Crashing five planes makes him a hero? Making propoganda films for the vietcong makes him a hero? Leaving his ailing wife makes him a hero? Not paying taxes on his house makes him a hero?
Why is Jon McCain an American hero?
June 30th, 2008 at 3:56 pmDr. Hussein Matt Says:
The definition of a “hero” has been completely perverted by the reich-wing GOPigs.
Pat Tillman was a hero and look what the reich wing did to him and his family. Why is John McCain an American hero? Did he save his bussies from a mortar attack or a sniper? Did he rush to locate and transport a wounded soldier? Was there a grenade which needed to be defused? I don’t get it.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:02 pmWalt, if mccain can’t even get good staffers now, what will he do if he gets in office ? We have had 8 years of loyal friends running departments. Plus how many soldiers which are all heros in my book, would continue to put others in the hell of war they have seen ? Most cannot even talk about the horror let alone subject others to the same. Military yes, war no.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:04 pmWay to behave like a Gilded Age Robber Baron, Gramps!! YAY!!
June 30th, 2008 at 4:04 pmrogerez believes in the Reagon theory of trickle down, hey it didn’t work then either ! Well I guess it depends if you are the trickler or tricklee.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:08 pmDo we really need another bubbleboy as POTUS?
June 30th, 2008 at 4:10 pmDr. Hussein Matt Says:
paying people more for nothing decreases revenue, resulting in higher prices, or worse service.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:11 pmIf McIIIrd is a hero then so am I. I got a Bronze star for smoking copious quantities of Ashau valley green, and was in numerous fire fights. I didn’t have the luxury of being thousands of feet in the air dropping bombs, we had to shoot people who were roughly ten to twenty yards away and shooting back.
I didn’t get captured, so wouldn’t that make me more of a hero?
BTW, you can write in RUCerious instead of voting for McIIIrd, I’d appreciate that, but am not accepting donations.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:12 pmFlag the trolls…
June 30th, 2008 at 4:16 pm#29 rozerze Says:
Dr. Hussein Matt Says:
paying people more for nothing decreases revenue, resulting in higher prices, or worse service.
Who is saying what here, rozerze? And where the hell does that economic crapola come from?
June 30th, 2008 at 4:17 pmThe minimum wage in 1970 was $1.70. Adjusted for inflation today’s minimum wage should be nearly $10. Why did we have a better economy when the minimum wage was 40% higher in real dollars?
June 30th, 2008 at 4:23 pmDr. Hussein Matt Says:
your wrong, so you flag.go ahead.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:23 pmrozerze Says:
paying people more for nothing decreases revenue, resulting in higher prices, or worse service.
Odd. In the UK, no one needs to tip restaurant and bar help because they already receive a living wage far above the US minimum wage. And service is great and the country’s economy is booming. So, clearly, your “theory” is bunk.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:24 pmgummitch Says:
and what are the resturant meal prices.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:26 pmrozerze Says:
paying people more for nothing decreases revenue, resulting in higher prices, or worse service.
Your trolling skills are appallingly bad; did you learn them at summer camp?
June 30th, 2008 at 4:26 pmgummitch Says:
…they already receive a living wage far above the US minimum wage. And service is great and the country’s economy is booming.
Damn Socialists.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:27 pmrozerze Says:
gummitch Says:
and what are the resturant meal prices.
Essentially identical to what we pay here, other than the fact that there money is worth twice what ours is — thanks to the Republican administration.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:30 pmyour wrong, so you flag.go ahead.
WOW! Two sentences, including one misspelling of your instead of the contraction you’re, and a failure not only to space after the period at the end of the sentence, but also to capitalize the G in Go.
This must be some kind of anti-grammatical award candidate.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:32 pmshoeless, you reminded me that when I got my first job post military in Dec 1970, it was at $1.70 an hour. Packaging health food stuff in the back of a ‘Nutrtition’ store.
Good times! Low pay. But my college tuition was only $1200 a year…
June 30th, 2008 at 4:33 pmgummitch Says:
Essentially identical to what we pay here
“essentially identical”, huh?.Any actual figures on your story?.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:35 pmRUCerious Says:
#43
Yep, no one was getting rich on the minimum wage back then. But, in today’s dollars, you would have only been making about $1/hour.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:37 pmrozerze Says:
gummitch Says:
Essentially identical to what we pay here
“essentially identical”, huh?.Any actual figures on your story?.
I’ll try to use words that are small.
“Identical” would mean that all prices are exactly the same, and only a loon would make blanket statements like that. I was there a year ago and paid what I would expect to pay here for a meal, or a sandwich, and less for a pint of (better) ale. But the prices were in pounds sterling, not dollars.
If you want to disprove me, take your own trip.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:39 pmgummitch Says:
Essentially identical to what we pay here, other than the fact that there money is worth twice what ours is
Ah ha! So, a meal in a British restaurant would cost twice as much in US dollars! See what their high minimum wage and their Socialism has caused!
June 30th, 2008 at 4:41 pmHereford Road £36.00 British Kensington
3 Hereford Road, London W2 4AB Tel 020 7727 1144
This newcomer is all about good, honest cooking. The former Victorian butcher’s shop in the backwaters between Bayswater & Notting Hill has seen its counter replaced by a long open kitchen, from where… More
Online Booking Virtual Tour
Thirty six pounds ‘the indicative entree cost of a single, two course a la carte meal (dinner) including starter, main course, vegetables, coffee, cover charge, service & VAT, plus half a bottle of house wine.
Sounds pretty much equivalent to a nice dinner at Applebies, except there’s no salad bar…
June 30th, 2008 at 4:41 pmOops! I meant, at today’s minimum wage, you would have only been making about $1/hour in 1970.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:43 pmgummitch Says:
gee, don’t they also have high fuel prices/taxes?, not that you’ve proven anything.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:45 pmSHOELESS! Yeah, but the real point is that in 1970, the minimum wage was $1.70, 1.7 times higher. Today’s minimum should be somewhere around $10.00, shouldn’t it?
June 30th, 2008 at 4:50 pmSomeone needs to ask Old man mcflipflopper if minimum wage would fill the gas tank and put food on the table and a roof over your head? Does he even know what minimum wage is? Does he not understand inflation and what him and his neocon friends have done to the $$$$$$$$$$$(dollar for you trolls out there)and how the devaluation of our $$$$ has put this country on the edge of financial disaster? Who needs another four or more years of this crap? I don`t and neither does the rest of the country…………
June 30th, 2008 at 4:50 pmA converted (to Democrat) republican after a 4 year stay in England as an engineer. Now believes in having a National Health Plan such as in England. He participated in it for surgery and was totally converted with the excellent timely care. Curious about the food, will check, how nice that waitstaff be paid a living wage instead of depending on generous diners.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:52 pmrozerze Says:
gummitch Says:
gee, don’t they also have high fuel prices/taxes?, not that you’ve proven anything.
The pound is worth $2, dumbo. The Euro is worth a buck fifty. I don’t have to “prove” anything. The UK, Ireland and Europe all have much more robust economies than the US, in spite of higher taxes and better wages. It’s up to you to explain how this proves your contentions about the minimum wage.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:54 pmCut to the McChurian Candidate’s commercial:
I am the pro-economy president seeing that we all enjoy prosperity (on 50 cents and hour). I am the candidate who will see that every worker earns an honest wage.
No, don’t pay any attention to the man behind the screen.
And remember, you can’t trust what Obama says.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:58 pmRUCerious Says:
SHOELESS! Yeah, but the real point is that in 1970, the minimum wage was $1.70, 1.7 times higher. Today’s minimum should be somewhere around $10.00, shouldn’t it?
Yes, it should be almost $10/hour just to keep up with inflation. And another thing, we didn’t have an immigration problem in 1970 when the minimum wage was approximately 40% higher than it is today.
June 30th, 2008 at 5:04 pmgummitch Says:
minimum wage results in higher prices, or worse service.the value of currency has nothing to do with anything.
you have yet to prove anything.
June 30th, 2008 at 5:06 pmgummitch Says:
and brittian has a lower gdp per capita, i.e. average wage.
June 30th, 2008 at 5:09 pmrozerze Says:
gummitch Says:
minimum wage results in higher prices, or worse service.the value of currency has nothing to do with anything.
you have yet to prove anything.
I have provided clear evidence that higher wages for service jobs does not have a negative effect on the economy and that an economy that pays a living wage for these jobs can be robust and vibrant. You, on the other hand, have simply repeated your assertion without any supporting evidence at all. Why should an increase in the minimum wage result in poor service?
If you think the value of currency “has nothing to do with anything” you are even more ignorant than I had imagined — which is pretty damn ignorant.
June 30th, 2008 at 5:12 pmrozerze Says:
gummitch Says:
and brittian has a lower gdp per capita, i.e. average wage.
In other words, they have a more equitable distribution of income?
June 30th, 2008 at 5:15 pmDr. Hussein Matt Says:
rozerze Says:
minimum wage results in higher prices, or worse service.t
Prove it.
He doesn’t have to prove it, he just has to repeat it. Again and again.
I’m waiting for him to substantiate this: “the value of currency has nothing to do with anything.” That probably explains why Europeans come to New York and LA and shop the expensive stores as though they were in a third world country.
June 30th, 2008 at 5:20 pmgummitch Says:
hiking minimum wage for a buiseness with more cost, or cut, to that service isn’t great, and nothing has been proven either way about it for the u.k or europe.
June 30th, 2008 at 5:22 pmgummitch Says:
geees….I haven’t claimed to be proven, but your the one claiming how higher minimum wage has been good for the service sector, and how service, and prices, remain the same, which haven’t been proven.
if your just saying economy over all, that has nohing to do with what i pay when i go to a resturant, or what the service is.
June 30th, 2008 at 5:27 pmHe’s a troll. he doesn’t have anything besides GOP talking points which don’t explain things…they only tell him what to say and don’t give him solid evidence to back those statements up. Okay, they tell him to say COMMUNIST, SOCIALIST, why do you hate capitalism? talking points.
June 30th, 2008 at 5:27 pmHey Rog2, guess which state has the highest minimum wage ($8.07) and one of the best places for business growth?
Take a guess.
June 30th, 2008 at 5:31 pmMcSame is a Republican. A lifelong Republican.
Therefore there is no labor in the USA — only losers who aren’t “entrepreneurs.”
Don’t believe me? Ask the Military Industrial Media. If they don’t cover labor, it don’t exist. Whether it does or not.
June 30th, 2008 at 5:31 pmupside99 Says:
your right about the minimum wage, but just like gummitch, I see no relevant proof as to its effect.
June 30th, 2008 at 5:37 pmMinimum wage hike will result in job losses and discourage job creation. Conservatives commonly argue that increasing the minimum wage will negatively affect the economy, resulting in stagnating job growth and higher unemployment. However, numerous studies have examined recent increases in the minimum wage at both the federal and state level and found that higher wages do not result in job loss. One recent example is Oregon, which increased its minimum wage to $7.50 in 2002. Four years later, “Oregon’s experience suggests the most strident doomsayers were wrong,” according to a November 3, 2006, Wall Street Journal article. Indeed, private, nonfarm payrolls have increased there at twice the national rate, industries that employ many minimum-wage workers have experienced considerable job growth, and unemployment has dropped to 5.4 percent from 7.6 percent in 2002.
Rozes, here’s the link, go look…
June 30th, 2008 at 5:38 pmfor yourself
rozerze Says:
gummitch Says:
geees….I haven’t claimed to be proven, but your the one claiming how higher minimum wage has been good for the service sector, and how service, and prices, remain the same, which haven’t been proven.
You just keep repeating the same claim over and over and you can even bother to defend it. Why would service go down if wages go up? If you can’t substantiate your claim, stop making it and admit you have no idea.
June 30th, 2008 at 5:38 pmOh, then come back and apologize to everyone here for wasting their time engaging you.
June 30th, 2008 at 5:40 pmYeah, but they’re a bunch of socialists in Oregon.
June 30th, 2008 at 5:45 pmRUCerious Says:
nice try, think you can give a link to a reliable source, not the admitted anti-conservative site?.
June 30th, 2008 at 5:48 pmRazorhead, at least I posted a fu cking link, which is one less that you did.
How about
This One
Awaiting you apology for wasting our time…
June 30th, 2008 at 5:55 pmTrippleKick Says:
Union dummies, get a real job.
What’s your “real job”? Cleaning mommy’s basement doesn’t count.
June 30th, 2008 at 6:00 pmOK, now it’s two links to zero, so I suppose Brozere is caving in and calling it a day…
June 30th, 2008 at 6:01 pmRUCerious Says:
http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/about
“EPI was the first — and remains the premier — organization to focus on the economic condition of low- and middle-income Americans and their families”.
they “claim” to be objective, but you’ll have to do better…
June 30th, 2008 at 6:05 pmRUCerious Says:
Oh, then come back and apologize to everyone here for wasting their time engaging you.
Being a wingnut means never having to say you’re sorry. You can just move on to the next piece of propaganda without worrying about your last humiliation. Cognitive dissonance is the wingnut’s most valuable tool.
June 30th, 2008 at 6:06 pmRUCerious Says:
OK, now it’s two links to zero, so I suppose Brozere is caving in and calling it a day…
He’s just going to belittle your links as “anticonservative” and continue not producing any evidence to support his claim. Why should he? The “conservatives” have been making the same claim without evidence for decades. For them it’s simply a matter of faith, no evidence is required, and any evidence to refute it is Satanic.
June 30th, 2008 at 6:07 pmMe: He’s just going to belittle your links as “anticonservative” and continue not producing any evidence to support his claim.
See?
they “claim” to be objective, but you’ll have to do better…
Sure, sure. We should come up with a study from a right wing institute that proves the point, otherwise it’s just not credible.
You have yet to provide a single iota of evidence. Put up or shut up.
June 30th, 2008 at 6:09 pmhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/09/AR2007010901572_pf.html
both economic theory and history suggest that small business will, in time, pass on its increased costs to its consumers. Small businesses that pay low wages tend to compete with other small businesses that pay low wages, so they will all face the same cost pressures and respond in similar fashion. The worst that can be said is that a higher minimum wage will add, very modestly, to overall inflation.
June 30th, 2008 at 6:17 pmTrippleKick Says:
gummich,
Unions are outdated in this country and simply increase costs for consumers. There’s really no need for Unions in the USA anymore. Unions know this. Their membership here is way, way down.
One of the reasons for a reduction in union membership over the last few decades is that the US has been bleeding jobs, especially manufacturing jobs. But things are changing.
June 30th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
Here’s another goddamn link for our elitist troll. Tell me that this University study is biased, go ahead.
Asshat.
Look Here
June 30th, 2008 at 6:22 pmTriple-Thick Says:
Unions are outdated in this country and simply increase costs for consumers.
No need for unions when you can get paid to copy-and-paste them talking points!
June 30th, 2008 at 6:22 pmFrom RR’s link:
Baucus is a Democratic senator from the Republican-leaning state of Montana, which means he is on the political equivalent of the endangered-species list. So you can understand Baucus’s need to vote with his constituents on things like sugar subsidies and gun control and grazing fees on public lands.
This reporter claims democrats like Baucus are an endangered species in Montana, yet Democrat Jon Tester was just elected to represent Montana in the Senate.
I think it’s safe to quit reading right there. The rest is bound to be cherry-picked bunk.
June 30th, 2008 at 6:34 pmShorter TippleSick:
Workers, bend over and grab your ankles! No Vaseline for you!!
June 30th, 2008 at 6:35 pmMaverick
1- A flip flopper
2- The right hand that knows not of the left hand.
3- One who is so arrogant doesn’t listen to facts and
July 1st, 2008 at 2:07 amreason to make decisions. Does arrogantly what one w
wants.
.
I see rogerse got him some Special McRecruiting Points with TrippleKick.
Great work there rogerse! Der McFuehrer must be prouwd uf yoo… Nien?
.
July 1st, 2008 at 2:26 am