Minimum wage order sends veterans packing from nursing homes

[JQPublic1]

At first I was a bit reluctant to get involved in this thread; but, as I read more of it, I became increasingly curious. Why was this op article based on the author's experience obtained by interviewing a few administrators of nursing homes in Louisiana? Wasn't this story out there months ago when Obama spoke of his plans in a State of the Union address? Where was all the braying and squealing then?

Nursing homes have been Federally subsidized not only though affiliation with VA but through other Federal programs and agencies as well. I thought it odd that only one nursing home in one state was throwing a hissy fit over having to raise the minimum wage of housekeepers. Lets get to the bottom of this and seek the truth, shall we?

Nursing Home Wages
The average wage of housekeeping cleaners in nursing homes was $10.12 per hour as of 2012, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is the equivalent of a full-time annual wage of $21,050. Most housekeepers have full-time jobs, and they often work in the evening or on weekends. The BLS survey included more than 79,190 housekeepers in nursing homes in 2012, or nearly 9 percent of the 894,920 housekeepers nationwide.

Although the op declares the alleged effect of Obama's executive order on SOME vets as unintentional, I hardly think there was anything unintentional about it. To me,it appears his plan was well thought out and based on sound advice from real experts who knew what the national average wage for nursing home housekeepers was.

WIth housekeeper salaries hovering at or near the minimum wage at the facility described in the op, I can only guess at the quality of cleanliness found there.. You want the best people for any task in your organization, including cleaners, you have to pay for it. The best are not going to waste their time working for slave wages. They flock to companies like those mentioned in the quote below.

Other Institutions
The highest-paid health care housekeepers in 2012 received $33,340 per year on average in outpatient care centers, according to the BLS. Housekeepers working in general medical and surgical hospitals averaged $24,300 annually, while those in continuing care communities and assisted living facilities averaged only $20,980 per year. The largest employer of housekeepers was traveler accommodation, which had nearly half of the jobs and paid $21,490 per year on average. Financial investments, the highest-paying industry, had only 340 cleaners but paid an average an annual salary of $36,700.

Four states and the Disrtict of Columbia lead the nation in compensating nursing home housekeepers. Surely productivity is higher and turnover is lower in those great examples. Granted, all of the mentioned places are expensive to live in but, glancing at the national average wage of $10.12, I couldn't help but wondering what all the fuss was abut over raising the minimum wage for a relatively few workers,. Don't we want the best for our vets?

Top-Paying States
Five states or districts reported average wages exceeding $27,000 annually in 2012 for housekeepers in all industries, according to the BLS. The state statistics don't detail nursing home cleaners separately. However, these statistics provide a good benchmark because nursing home wages closely approximate the industry average. New York had the highest wages of any state, an annual average of $30,960, followed by Hawaii, paying an average of $30,900. In the District of Columbia, average pay exceeded $29,000, while average pay in Nevada was more than $28,000. Massachusetts came in fifth place, with average housekeeper pay of more than $27,000 annually.

This whole affair is becomming nothing more than a contentious strategy for, once agsin, lambasting Obama.
How Much Will I Get Paid As a Houskeeper at a Nursing Home? | Chron.com

 

[francoHFW]

'Shreveport Manor is owned by Gamble Guest Care. Their Chief Operating Officer says if they raise wages for workers there, they have to do that at all eight of their facilities.'

This guy sounds fos...

 

[Mathbud1]

They should be paid more and if the business can't afford it, they obviously don't know how to run a business.

What insight do you have into their business? What do you know about their expenses and profits?

In any business there has to be an upper limit on how much they can afford to pay their employees. Do you know what that limit is for every business in the USA? And what makes you think you know?

You can't just pick an arbitrary number and say, "if you can't afford to pay THIS you don't know how to run a business."

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

If you are a big business, turning over millions each year, then yes, you can certainly afford to pay your employees ten dollars per hour.

Just saying, "they can certainly afford it" doesn't make it so. Obviously they don't think they can afford it without cutting into their profit too much. Do you know their business better than them?

 

[Mathbud1]

'Shreveport Manor is owned by Gamble Guest Care. Their Chief Operating Officer says if they raise wages for workers there, they have to do that at all eight of their facilities.'

This guy sounds fos...

What makes him sound full of it to you? That sounds like a perfectly reasonable statement. Would it be fair to raise wages for only some of their employees when all of them are doing the same work? Fairness is usually so important to liberals.

 

[thereisnospoon]

They should be paid more and if the business can't afford it, they obviously don't know how to run a business.

Well well well...
So government should be run like a business..
How very conservative of you.

 

[thereisnospoon]

So it's Obama's fault that greedy corporations would rather dump old vets out on the street than pay their workers more?

Fucking idiots.

HUH?.....The federal government and the contractor made an agreement. The contractor is being paid a finite amount to perform a service. It now has to absorb the additional cost mandated by government. Do you expect the contractor to operate at a LOSS?
You fucking libs do not know shit about anything.
All you people ever do is complain.

 

[KNB]

What is the company in question? What are their annual losses/profits? Does the company profit, and if so, how much? The raise in workers' salaries can come out of corporate profits. Wal-Mart profits billions. Wal-Mart can raise workers' wages and simply profit less. Wal-Mart will still profit billions every year, just not so many billions, and their workers might actually be able to get off of food stamps.

 

[thereisnospoon]

What is the company in question? What are their annual losses/profits? Does the company profit, and if so, how much? The raise in workers' salaries can come out of corporate profits. Wal-Mart profits billions. Wal-Mart can raise workers' wages and simply profit less. Wal-Mart will still profit billions every year, just not so many billions, and their workers might actually be able to get off of food stamps.

I have no clue. I can assure you though that the budget for that contract is set in stone.
Do you not understand the term "finite"?
Who said anything about Walmart?
Why should a business take "less profit"?..
You are clueless. You think money grows on trees.
Your knowledge of business is "business is evil" . "Profits are evil".
Shut it.

 

[OnePercenter]

Federal minimum wage statements have been included in Federal contracts for decades. The contract reimburses the contractor for added expense of the FMWS.

Makes me think it's been included all along and the contractor hasn't been complying and screwing their employees, or the House Republicans have cut VA spending AGAIN.

 

[KNB]

What is the company in question? What are their annual losses/profits? Does the company profit, and if so, how much? The raise in workers' salaries can come out of corporate profits. Wal-Mart profits billions. Wal-Mart can raise workers' wages and simply profit less. Wal-Mart will still profit billions every year, just not so many billions, and their workers might actually be able to get off of food stamps.

I have no clue. I can assure you though that the budget for that contract is set in stone.
Do you not understand the term "finite"?
Who said anything about Walmart?
Why should a business take "less profit"?..
You are clueless. You think money grows on trees.
Your knowledge of business is "business is evil" . "Profits are evil".
Shut it.

Money doesn't grow on trees? So does that mean that there is a "finite" amount of money on Earth? Actual tangible currency. There is a limited supply? Is that your argument?

If there is a limited supply of money then those who have more money make sure that everyone else has less. This would mean that rich money hoarders and billionaires are sitting on trillions of dollars in cash between them while everyone else gets by on the leftovers.

Obama admits 95% of income gains gone to top 1% - Sep. 15, 2013

 

[initforme]

So the workers taking care of our vets get 7.25 an hour? That's truly pathetic. What a sickly sad wage for an important job.

 

[OnePercenter]

So the workers taking care of our vets get 7.25 an hour? That's truly pathetic. What a sickly sad wage for an important job.

Must be unskilled labor. <sarcasm>

 

[PaintMyHouse]

this should make your blood boil.

What should make your blood boil is the knowledge that people who care for elderly veterans aren't worth a whopping $10 an hour...

 

[DiamondDave]

this should make your blood boil.

What should make your blood boil is the knowledge that people who care for elderly veterans aren't worth a whopping $10 an hour...

Maybe they should up their skills instead of changing bed sheets.. a job that 99.9999% of others can do..

This is not about the workers salary levels, or the corporation not just taking care of vets for free...

jeez.. idiot troll

 

[PaintMyHouse]

this should make your blood boil.

What should make your blood boil is the knowledge that people who care for elderly veterans aren't worth a whopping $10 an hour...

Maybe they should up their skills instead of changing bed sheets.. a job that 99.9999% of others can do..

This is not about the workers salary levels, or the corporation not just taking care of vets for free...

jeez.. idiot troll

Changing the sheets? Sure. And helping vets to eat, and dress, and use the toilet, and take a shower. That's not worth $10 an hour?

Maybe we should pay up, and this issue goes away eh?

 

[KissMy]

this should make your blood boil.

What should make your blood boil is the knowledge that people who care for elderly veterans aren't worth a whopping $10 an hour...

Maybe they should up their skills instead of changing bed sheets.. a job that 99.9999% of others can do..

This is not about the workers salary levels, or the corporation not just taking care of vets for free...

jeez.. idiot troll

Bullshit - Only about half the population has what it takes to show up to work every day. And less than half of them have no will or clue how to care for someone. Even fewer yet aren't ex-convicts. Plus it takes a lot more skill than picking produce.

There are likely only 12% who can do that job.

 

[Mac1958]

So it's Obama's fault that greedy corporations would rather dump old vets out on the street than pay their workers more?

Fucking idiots.

HUH?.....The federal government and the contractor made an agreement. The contractor is being paid a finite amount to perform a service. It now has to absorb the additional cost mandated by government. Do you expect the contractor to operate at a LOSS?

You're trying to reason with people who have absolutely no idea how this particular business works, no understanding of how business works in general. Nor do they care.

Kudos on trying, though.

.

 

[DiamondDave]

What should make your blood boil is the knowledge that people who care for elderly veterans aren't worth a whopping $10 an hour...

Maybe they should up their skills instead of changing bed sheets.. a job that 99.9999% of others can do..

This is not about the workers salary levels, or the corporation not just taking care of vets for free...

jeez.. idiot troll

Bullshit - Only about half the population has what it takes to show up to work every day. And less than half of them have no will or clue how to care for someone. Even fewer yet aren't ex-convicts. Plus it takes a lot more skill than picking produce.

There are likely only 12% who can do that job.

Uhh.. the 'care' positions, such as nurse, doctor, therapist, etc are not the ones making minimum wage.. it is the support staff of the lowest level.. the toilet cleaners, the bed makers, the floor sweepers, the food workers, etc... nice try though

And it is not only 1/2 of the adult populace that can work

 

[zeke]

I can see it now in the nursing home that cares for veterans.

Caregiver; ah shucks honey vet, you done shit yourself a while ago. Someone will come and help you get cleaned up in a little while. Diamond Dave said my skill level which is represented by my 8 dollar an hour pay, is not up to the demands of changing your diaper Mr. Vet.

Caregiver; ah shucks Mr. Vet, you haven't had those sheets changed in a month. Look at those bed sores. Let me get you one of those high paid people to deal with your mess. My 8 bucks an hours just isn't enough pay for me to deal with those sores.

Caregiver; Ah shucks Mr Vet, don't sass me that way. When no ones looking, I'll smack you up side the head. You don't mess with me, I make 8 dollars an hour and won't take no shit from a crippled up vet.

Caregiver; Ah shucks Mr. Vet. Sorry I forgot about feeding you. Again. But what you expect for 8 bucks an hour?

Hey DD, want some more examples of what level of care you get for sick and elderly people when you only pay them MW? Because some CEO of a health care company wants his millions off those Vets. So sure as hell can't pay for quality care.

 

[TimeForChange]

I can see it now in the nursing home that cares for veterans.

Caregiver; ah shucks honey vet, you done shit yourself a while ago. Someone will come and help you get cleaned up in a little while. Diamond Dave said my skill level which is represented by my 8 dollar an hour pay, is not up to the demands of changing your diaper Mr. Vet.

Caregiver; ah shucks Mr. Vet, you haven't had those sheets changed in a month. Look at those bed sores. Let me get you one of those high paid people to deal with your mess. My 8 bucks an hours just isn't enough pay for me to deal with those sores.

Caregiver; Ah shucks Mr Vet, don't sass me that way. When no ones looking, I'll smack you up side the head. You don't mess with me, I make 8 dollars an hour and won't take no shit from a crippled up vet.

Caregiver; Ah shucks Mr. Vet. Sorry I forgot about feeding you. Again. But what you expect for 8 bucks an hour?

Hey DD, want some more examples of what level of care you get for sick and elderly people when you only pay them MW? Because some CEO of a health care company wants his millions off those Vets. So sure as hell can't pay for quality care.

is there ANYTHING you cant make a fool of your self about?