It's good that they added the salary requirements.  Texas, as a whole, is an employers paradise.  Nice to see someone coming down on the side of employees for once.

Hooray! So everybody wins.

I submit that this is NOT the job of the Austin City Counsil, this is usually nicely managed by something we like to call the "Free Market" system. I submit that the city councilmen can barely find their backsides with both hands, a map and a flashlight - to sum up the knowledge they possess in determining wages in a High Tech Industry can usually be found at the bottom of a typical birdcage.

Competition sets the wage - that's the way it's supposed to work. When you have a group of clowns arbitrarily setting wages, nothing good will come from it. If Apple is no-competitive in wages and benefits, people will leave Apple and go to Samsung, IBM, Intel, Freescale, Texas Instruments, Schlumberger or a host of other competitors in the immediate area.

Apple, and just about anyone else, knows the salary range for a given job far better than some idiot who got into politics because he was too inept to compete in the free market system. Let the free market system work, it's worked well for centuries; it only gets screwed up with know-nothing politicians start screwing with it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hodar 

I submit that this is NOT the job of the Austin City Counsil, this is usually nicely managed by something we like to call the "Free Market" system. I submit that the city councilmen can barely find their backsides with both hands, a map and a flashlight - to sum up the knowledge they possess in determining wages in a High Tech Industry can usually be found at the bottom of a typical birdcage.
Competition sets the wage - that's the way it's supposed to work. When you have a group of clowns arbitrarily setting wages, nothing good will come from it. If Apple is no-competitive in wages and benefits, people will leave Apple and go to Samsung, IBM, Intel, Freescale, Texas Instruments, Schlumberger or a host of other competitors in the immediate area.
Apple, and just about anyone else, knows the salary range for a given job far better than some idiot who got into politics because he was too inept to compete in the free market system. Let the free market system work, it's worked well for centuries; it only gets screwed up with know-nothing politicians start screwing with it.

Well said.

-kpluck

Quote:

Originally Posted by WelshDog 

It's good that they added the salary requirements.  Texas, as a whole, is an employers paradise.  Nice to see someone coming down on the side of employees for once.

What is good for the company is usually pretty good for employees (as a whole), too.  When a company is doing well, they hire people.  Successful companies want to hire good people, so they also pay well.  Companies that are not doing well will start cutting costs, often meaning downsizing or salary cuts.  I'd rather be looking for work in a low-unemployment, lower-salary state like Texas than a high-unemployment, high-salary state like NY any day.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hodar 

I submit that this is NOT the job of the Austin City Counsil, this is usually nicely managed by something we like to call the "Free Market" system. I submit that the city councilmen can barely find their backsides with both hands, a map and a flashlight - to sum up the knowledge they possess in determining wages in a High Tech Industry can usually be found at the bottom of a typical birdcage.
Competition sets the wage - that's the way it's supposed to work. When you have a group of clowns arbitrarily setting wages, nothing good will come from it. If Apple is no-competitive in wages and benefits, people will leave Apple and go to Samsung, IBM, Intel, Freescale, Texas Instruments, Schlumberger or a host of other competitors in the immediate area.
Apple, and just about anyone else, knows the salary range for a given job far better than some idiot who got into politics because he was too inept to compete in the free market system. Let the free market system work, it's worked well for centuries; it only gets screwed up with know-nothing politicians start screwing with it.

Congratulations on making some breathtakingly broad generalizations about people you have never met.

Quote:

Originally Posted by melgross 


I'm not so sure. I agree with the idea of minimum wages. Otherwise business would be paying a large percentage of their staffs with a just barely livable wage. Competition is just part of it, and that only covers the more skilled portion of the staff, those who can shop themselves around.
Unfortunately, many workers don't have that luxury. In my two businesses, we had people from very skilled, and very expensive, to messengers who earned minimum wage. I know how it works.

Minimum wage is one thing. Requiring an average salary of $35,000 for the lowest paid 10% is another thing entirely.

What will happen? Well, Apple will undoubtedly outsource all the low paid jobs. Janitors, receptionists, grounds maintenance employees, etc will all be subcontracted - which means that they may not get any of Apple's benefits - which are typically generous.

The city should stay out of it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hodar 

I submit that this is NOT the job of the Austin City Counsil, this is usually nicely managed by something we like to call the "Free Market" system. I submit that the city councilmen can barely find their backsides with both hands, a map and a flashlight - to sum up the knowledge they possess in determining wages in a High Tech Industry can usually be found at the bottom of a typical birdcage.
Competition sets the wage - that's the way it's supposed to work. When you have a group of clowns arbitrarily setting wages, nothing good will come from it. If Apple is no-competitive in wages and benefits, people will leave Apple and go to Samsung, IBM, Intel, Freescale, Texas Instruments, Schlumberger or a host of other competitors in the immediate area.
Apple, and just about anyone else, knows the salary range for a given job far better than some idiot who got into politics because he was too inept to compete in the free market system. Let the free market system work, it's worked well for centuries; it only gets screwed up with know-nothing politicians start screwing with it.

I never thought I would say this but...

In this case I have do not have a problem with one of the local governments requiring this. Why? Apple is getting a taxpayer funded incentive to build this. Don't like the strings attached? Don't build it then.

Personally, I think states would do better with a low and consistent tax rate. I think to many times local and state governments go to far to seal the deal and end up giving away far more then they can recoup from landing that big name factory/office/whatever/