Massa Bevin: Slaves Were Just Apprentices

When your racism and White Privilege are so ingrained that you can't even pretend any more.

Joe Gerth at the Courier:

When Master Matt Bevin thinks of the “good ol’ days,” who knew he thinks about the late 1700s?

Marse Bevin — according to WFPL — went to the Kentucky Registered Apprenticeship Summit on Monday and extolled the virtues of indentured servitude as being something akin to an early form of an apprenticeship.

According to the radio station, Marse Bevin said that a couple of his ancestors came to America as indentured servants, learned how to make bells from their master and went on to form their own company after they were freed.

He hailed the harsh practice of keeping people in bondage as a way to give workers hands-on experience.

Well shackle me up and teach me to cast bronze.

Indentured servitude, of course, was the practice of paying one’s way across the pond by selling oneself into bondage for a prescribed number of years — essentially a form of slavery.

It differed from the enslavement of Africans practiced throughout the South, though, in that with Southern slavery, there was no contract and the prescribed number of years was the rest of one’s life, and the rest of one's children’s lives and the rest of their children’s lives, and so on.

So, slavery was far worse. But indentured servitude was no picnic, either.

Sure, a few indentured servants learned trades, but the vast majority of serfs were field workers and household servants, working alongside the African slaves, or doing the same jobs in lieu of the African slaves.

For Master Bevin, this is not to be thought of as a time we should regret and think “thank heavens we’ve gotten past that and don’t allow such a barbarous practice any longer.”

No, for Master Bevin, it is the age of enlightenment. A time of great learning.

(Someone should point out right here that labor unions, which Bevin has harshly criticized and pushed to neuter or kill with right-to-work and other anti-union legislation, run amazing apprenticeship programs that don’t require bondage or a period of servitude.)

Commie No-Tip Restaurants Are Thriving

Huh.  Treat your employees with dignity and respect, let them share in the product of their labor, and you succeed.  Who'd a thunk?

Think Progress:

William Street Common has been open for less than two weeks in Philadelphia, but owner Avram Hornik says it’s already hitting its numbers even with a totally different business model than most restaurants.

The “indoor beer garden,” as he calls it, which serves up comfort food and craft beer at communal tables, pays all of its employees, from the servers to the dishwashers, at least $15 an hour plus paid sick leave and health insurance benefits. The customer experience is unique as well: tips aren’t mandatory and all the prices for different beers are the same. So every drink costs $6: $5 for the drink itself plus a 20 percent service charge.

“We wanted people to compare apples to apples,” he said. “Instead of charging $6 and no tip, we wanted the customers to understand that the staff is being taken care of.”

The service charge also doesn’t go straight to the individual server. It goes into a pot that’s used to make sure everyone is making that $15 wage, although management will make up the difference if what they make in revenue falls short. If there’s money left over at the end of a pay period, employees divide it up based on a point system related to experience and other factors. “We’re projecting, based on our budgeting and depending on the employee, between three to ten dollars an hour in addition from that bonus pool,” he said. On top of that, 5 percent of gross sales gets put in a different pot to pay for paid sick leave and health insurance for full-time employees, but any extra after that will be put toward whatever uses a committee of workers wants.

If This Be Socialism, Make the Most of It

Hmmm. $15 minimum wage, workers' rights, affordable housing ... sounds like a platform that could get someone elected in Kentucky.

Make a Profit By Paying $15 Per Hour

You've heard that McDonald's in Australia and Europe pays workers $15 per hour and survives, but maybe you think that's some kind of furriner cheating.

How about a fast-food chain right here at home that succeeds by paying its workers double the minimum wage?

Bryce Covert at Think Progress:

Michigan’s Moo Cluck Moo currently pays entry-level workers $12 an hour — far above the state floor of $7.40 — but come October 1, that starting wage will rise to $15, co-owner Brian Parker told the Daily Beast’s Daniel Gross.
Asked why the restaurant, which has only been open since the spring, will raise its wages, Parker told Gross, “We always wanted to be at $15 an hour. It just feels human to do it.”

Its previously high wages brought the company better customer service, more skilled employees, less turnover, and free publicity. The time saved from having to hire new workers and train them will save it money. And with five people working at any given time, the increase in wages will mean an increase in hourly costs of $15, the cost of two transactions. The owners are betting that it will be a good investment.

I don't eat fast food, but if a Moo Chuck Moo opened in Kentucky and paid its employees $15 an hour - thus shaming every other restaurant in the state - I'd eat there every day.

Why Repugs Hate and Fear Good Jobs

Because people with good, secure jobs aren't easy to intimidate.

Via under the mountain bunker:

American Exceptionalism: Shit Pay

Via underthemountainbunker: