Skip to main content

On Day Starbucks Conducts Racial Bias Training, Miami International Airport Employees Fight For $5/Hour Minimum Wage Hike


As many readers are likely aware, yesterday, Starbucks closed approximately 8,000 of its stores in the afternoon to conduct racial bias training for its employees.  Coinciding with this training was an impromptu press conference in Miami held by Unite Here, in which minority employees at a Starbucks at Miami International Airport demanded a $5/hour minimum wage hike.  A Unite Here spokeswoman, Rachel Gumpert, implored the company to raise wages for its employees to prove its commitment to racial justice.  (The Starbucks workforce is approximately 43% minority).

Now bear in mind that the Miami-Dade County Commission passed an ordinance on May 15th by a 7 - 5 vote that would require wage hikes for all businesses that rent space from the county. (This would include retail space at Miami International).  Under this ordinance, this mandatory minimum wage hike would only apply once an employer’s current lease expired.  That wage hike would amount to a cost of living increase which would see workers earning about $13 - $15/hour.  (The current hourly minimum wage rate in the state is $8.25/hour, with many workers at the Starbucks at Miami International thought to start at approximately $8.50/hour).  However, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez subsequently vetoed the ordinance on May 23rd on the grounds that it would put employers in the county at a competitive disadvantage and would hinder attempts to have for-profit companies rent space from the county.

At the press conference, Unite Here pointed to Broward County (which encompasses the Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport) which has approved a cost of living increase to wages for workers.  Unite Here suggested that in essence, it was inequitable for workers at the Starbucks at Miami International to earn ‘significantly’ less than workers at the Starbucks at Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International, given that the workers at each location did the same thing (and were separated by only 30 miles).

With that being said, for now, the Mayor’s veto stands.  To override it, the Miami-Dade County Commission will need 8 votes...which means they need to find one more vote after originally  approving the ordinance with a 7 - 5 vote.  Interesting to see how this plays out.


For additional information:  http://amp.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article212119179.html

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NLRB: Discussion Among Employees About Tip Pooling is Protected Concerted Activity

  This Advice Memorandum from the National Labor Relations Board’s Associate General Counsel, Jayme Sophir, addressed whether employees which discussed and complained about tip pooling at work constituted protected concerted activity. In relevant part, an employer in New York operated a chain of steakhouses.  While tip pooling was in place at these steakhouses, some of the employees objected to it on the grounds that it was not transparent and improperly divided tips among the workers.  Employees were told not to complain or talk to each other about the tip pool and were told that doing so would endanger their jobs.  Despite the employer later attempting to provide some clarity as to how the tips were being divided, rancor still existed among some employees.  At one point, the employees were told by a general manager that some employees that had been talking about the tip pool were “cleared out” and the employer would continue to do so. In the Advice Memorandum, it was noted that emplo
Post a Comment
Read more

Happening Tomorrow: Connecticut’s Minimum Wage Increases

For those employers and employees alike in Connecticut, mark your calendars as tomorrow, the minimum wage rate increases in the state from $13/hour to $14/hour. This wage hike comes after Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont had signed Public Act 19-4 into law in 2019 which progressively raised the state’s hourly minimum wage rate every year for five years.  In fact, next year, the hourly wage rate will top out at $15/hour.  Beginning in January of 2024, the hourly wage rate will be indexed to the employment cost index. For additional information:   https://portal.ct.gov/Office-of-the-Governor/News/Press-Releases/2022/06-2022/Governor-Lamont-Reminds-Residents-That-Minimum-Wage-Is-Scheduled-To-Increase-on-Friday
Post a Comment
Read more

What I’ve Been Reading This Week

A few years ago, I remember when the “Fight for $15” movement was taking off around the country.  Lo and behold, it appears that a $15/hour minimum wage is not the stopping point, which should be no surprise.  As the below article notes, New York is aggressively moving to ramp up hourly wage rates even higher.  While all the  below articles are worth a read, I called particular attention to that one. As always, below are a couple article that caught my eye this week. Disney World Workers Reject Latest Contract Offer Late last week, it was announced that workers at Disney World had rejected the most recent contract offer from the company, calling on their employer to do better.  As Brooks Barnes at The New York Times writes, the unions that represent about 32,000 workers at Disney World reported their members resoundingly rejected the 5 year contract offer which would have seen workers receive a 10% raise and retroactive increased back pay.  While Disney’s offer would have increased pa
Post a Comment
Read more