The Cry Wolf Quote Bank chronicles the false predictions and hyperbole by opponents of these laws and protections. While the issues and specific policies change over time, the rhetoric and themes remained the same. You can search the Quote Bank for what opponents said to prevent these laws from passing. Using the drop down menus on the right their statements by issue, by specific law, by who said it and by the core themes they evoke. Elsewhere on the site, you can find articles, studies, and other material that debunks their claims.
The bottom line remains that employers will have little motivation to hire low-skilled workers—those whose inexperience and lack of productivity does not warrant a wage meeting or exceeding the proposed living wage amount. These workers, who most desperately need experience, will be the ones left most vulnerable. Instead of being able to establish a foothold in the job market, they will have to rely on other means to provide for themselves—most often state-assisted.
The increased cost of labor is folded into a bid for a state contract that is then passed on to the state government (which is funded by taxpayers).
I can tell you that as of right now, we are not looking to expand in San Francisco. It’s a labor-intensive industry, and the last thing we need is to get dinged for it.
Where we are headed for, you are not going to see those cool, little local restaurants. You are going to see a bunch of corporate restaurants, and the rest of the city is going to look like the restaurant dynamic on Fisherman’s Wharf.
I’m going to have to raise prices for all my drinks and appetizers a dollar and entrees two dollars. I don’t know how else to do it. We are known as the best restaurant city in the world, but we are going to start lagging because there will be a lack of service, a lack of staff in the dining hall. Something has to give.
Small businesses can and do fail because of this. There is a cost, both in dollars and in disruption. The cost in dollars is the cost of a temporary worker for which the company pays a premium, the training of a replacement worker and the overtime paid to remaining workers who help fill in for that absent employee.
How can we afford this? You can only charge so much for a hamburger, and then people will stop coming. I'm 52 and was hoping to do this until I retire, but the city is going to force me out of business.
Now, what is the effect of this law? Indeed, I admit, some will have a mandated pay raise in America. Those will be the lucky ones. Many more will have their hours cut, Mr. Speaker. Many will have their benefits cut due to this law, and many will lose their jobs. And again, thousands, thousands will be denied that opportunity to climb on that first rung of the economic ladder in America and, instead, be condemned to a life of poverty. This should not happen in America.
If we take this route, we would eventually have the tools to cut carbon emissions, instead of misguided near-term initiatives like RGGI where an attempt to meet even the modest targets will only disrupt energy markets at great cost to consumers and the economy as whole. Programs to curb other GHGs can proceed such as measures to reduce methane releases from coal mines, but it is absurd to impose any meaningful limits on carbon emissions when so much of our energy comes from coal.
'San Franciscans have a history of voting their social conscience as long as someone else writes the check.’… He said consumers would be hurt, predicting that restaurants would raise prices… The higher prices, he said, might cause some restaurants to lose business — and perhaps close. ‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch on something like this.’
