Commentary from KVI morning show producer Phil Vandervort:
“One job should be enough”.
It’s a slogan that labor unions–including one in Seattle–are introducing as a way to justify higher wages.
The problem is, the concept doesn’t reflect economic reality.
In the above picture, King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci is holding the union picket sign that declares, “One job should be enough”.
Enough for what, exactly, I asked?
And Balducci responded to my inquiry.
Today I’ve been asked what “one job should be enough” means: It means people should not have to work two or three full time jobs just to keep a roof overhead and food on the table! I was proud to join my colleagues and other unions to stand to @UniteHereLocal8 on Labor Day. https://t.co/QZhMSWhaQT
— Claudia Balducci (@claudia4kcexec) September 3, 2024
The kicker to this loopy slogan is that it really is a disservice to the union members its ostensibly trying to help. It falsely portrays the skills that the union members have (i.e. the hotel workers union in Seattle) and hides the economic reality that Democrats have created in Seattle, King County and the State of Washington. It distorts the promises that were made by Democrats and supporters when the minimum wage was jacked up to $15 an hour, which is now closer to $20 an hour in Seattle and some suburbs. The higher minimum wage supporters said if the wage went up, more people would be able to afford to live close to where they work in Seattle.
Now the complaint is that working more than one job to keep “a roof overhead and food on the table” is too much for one person. But these are the economic and financial conditions the labor union(s) and Washington Democrats told us would make Seattle (and surrounding areas) more affordable because the minimum wage was going up (and up and up).
Were they lying or just economically illiterate?
Democrats and their labor union supporters claim, “one job should be enough”, but when the majority Democrats at every level of local/county/state government make the cost of living so excessively high (higher property tax levies to expand the size/scope of government, climate agenda laws that affect gas and home energy prices, higher gas prices that result in higher grocery/transportation prices, higher sales tax, mandated payroll deductions for Long Term Care, etc) most people can’t afford it on one job. Nevertheless, the labor unions and Democrats ignore the economic realities they have imposed and then, predictably, complain about the results.
Councilmember Balducci has been in lockstep with every one of these tax hikes, minimum wage hikes, sales tax hikes and payroll deduction increases over the years that have contributed to the Seattle/Puget Sound affordability problems.
I worked three jobs for about 9-months in the late 1990s to advance my radio career. I worked one full-time job and two part time jobs between Everett, Bellevue and Seattle (while I was living in Seattle). But according to the 2024 Democrats “one job should be enough”. Working three jobs helped me acquire new skills and hone my existing ones which eventually provided me with a more lucrative job. But if I would have obliged the modern motto of the Democrats and Seattle labor unions, I would probably still be working for less pay and almost certainly be working more than one job. I would be stagnating if I followed the “one job should be enough” advice.
The economic reality that the “one job should be enough” slogan overlooks is that you’ll get paid what you’re worth. That’s the reality check that Washington Democrats and service industry labor unions need: you’ll get paid what you’re worth. Most people have the skill set to clean a hotel room. Fewer people have the skill set to repair a car or truck. But according to Councilmember Balducci and the labor union: one job should be enough.
On the Local 8 union’s own website they write: These corporations are more than big enough to create jobs that provide enough.
Wrong. You’re confusing a business with a charity. A business (i.e. owner/manager) is not obligated to “provide enough” to the worker. The business is obligated to pay a mutually agreeable wage/benefit. If you think the compensation is too low, take your skills somewhere else. If a business can’t attract and retain any employees with their paltry compensation, the business will invariably have to increase the compensation to fund sufficient labor or supply the labor from ownership/management.
It’s called a paycheck, not a gift.
This union/campaign slogan is more evidence that Democrats fundamentally don’t understand economics. And this is a problem for Democrats on the national as well as local level.
If you’re tired of the Seattle cost of living being so exorbitantly high, vote accordingly in November. A vote for a Democrat in November is a vote for higher cost of living and you’ll definitely need to work more than one job to pay for that higher cost of living.
Phil Vandervort is producer of The Commute With Carlson on KVI and speaks for nobody but himself.
