Monday, February 01, 2016

Stomp the Worker

City Councillor Pat Davis is calling for support to squash Mayor Richard Berry's support for a bill introduced by his GOP handlers in the Legislature that  would lower Albuquerque's Minimum Wage.

I have been mostly a critic of Berry for his inability to handle tricky issues like APD's shooting sprees and hiring weak leaders for the department.  I think he is somewhat lost on many issues that require a Mayor's touch.  But, I had never really suspected that he would do something that could harm those people who work hard for minimum wages.  How does he think this helps our city?  While most jurisdictions debate raising the minimum wage, our Mayor supports lowering it.

We pretty much know who pulls the Mayor's strings.  The business community, the right wing GOP, the editor of the Albuquerque Journal, and his own Chief Administrative Officer Rob Perry.  One might think they have no consciences.

Quite frankly, if New Mexico doesn't start electing some smart and compassionate leaders it is doomed to the cellar in terms of decency and prosperity.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is hard to imagine you are surprised. We have no one in the Mayor's office, or anyone who is pulling the strings, who really cares about our city or state. They couldn't and be doing all the things they have been doing for the past 6 years. Kent Walz is truly a psychopath- and I don't use that word loosely- and enjoys inflicting pain. He looks at people with disgust and arrogance. Truthfully, they are all losers. It doesn't take much to tear something down, but none of them have what it takes to build something worthwhile and enduring.

Anonymous said...

It looks like Berrywinkle and the Jay boy machine have re written the play book. It is now titled " Why strive to be first when it's so damn easy to be last". What happened to the republican mantra of create business and jobs? Why would lowering the minimum wage entise any business other than call centers or restaurants? We have gone through six years of that already and are no better off. Maybe the ABQ. Free Press could dig up some of Berrywinkle and Susanas first campaign pledges to improve on Marty and Bill . We then could see how far the city and state have fallen. I think we have past the bottom of the barrel.

Anonymous said...

The mayor has done nothing but cut in his two terms. Cut salaries, cut city workforce, cut service all while enabling his contracted buddy's to benifit under the guise of saving money! Why has no one asked the simiple question, How much money have You saved Mr Mayor? Because spending has actually gone up ?? Does one think that all these private contractors are doing the work for free? When all is said and done they charge more per man hour than the mayor was paying the employee they replaced. How can you have less employees and still have the same monetary expenditures? Contractors Don't Work For Free !!!

Anonymous said...

What people don't understand is taxpayers' still pick up exactly the same portion paid to private contractors as they did when the jobs were done by government employees....EXCEPT now taxpayers also pay the "for profit" portion as well. Those private contractors pay lower wages, few, if any, benefits, so that the CEO's get rich at taxpayers' expense. But try and explain that to the uneducated Republicans, it's like talking to a wall. They just don't get it.

Anonymous said...

Well said 2/03/16.