Most of the articles linked at Google rehash the same Ms. article that quotes a single former garment worker who said “I’ve driven four Chinese women to get abortions here”. You could find a taxi driver in New York who could say the same thing.

I still don’t understand why Democrats think Samoan people are 2nd class citizens. Maybe they just hate brown people.

William, the question I posed (and you dodged) was “Why is labor law protection being extended to NMI?”

Try this. Google “Marianas Islands” and “forced abortion”.

Because they have an exepmtion from SOME US labor laws. It will be intersting to see what happens to their garment manufacturing sector once the new minimum wage laws take effect. Many citizens of NMI may be out of work. Will they qualify for US unemployment benefits?

That still begs the question, why NMI and not Samoa?

Samoas minimum wage is $3.66/hr (2004) and NMI is $3.05/hr. Shouldn’t they all be entitled to the US minimum if we are going to go down this road?

Close, Mike, but you’re stretching on a couple of points.

Before this minimum wage law, there were two territories where federal labor laws (not just minimum wage) didn’t apply: NMI and American Samoa.

This new law brings NMI under federal labor law. It does not “exempt” American Samoa. It does not include American Samoa. It doesn’t mention American Samoa at all.

Now the pertinent question is, “Why is labor law protection being extended to workers in NMI?”

Any clues, Mike?

Hey Doc! Is that crickets I hear?

“I am shocked,” said Rep. Eric Cantor, Virginia Republican and his party’s chief deputy whip, noting that Mrs. Pelosi campaigned heavily on promises of honest government. “Now we find out that she is exempting hometown companies from minimum wage. This is exactly the hypocrisy and double talk that we have come to expect from the Democrats.”

On Wednesday, the House voted to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour.

The bill also extends for the first time the federal minimum wage to the U.S. territory of the Northern Mariana Islands. However, it exempts American Samoa, another Pacific island territory that would become the only U.S. territory not subject to federal minimum-wage laws.

One of the biggest opponents of the federal minimum wage in Samoa is StarKist Tuna, which owns one of the two packing plants that together employ more than 5,000 Samoans, or nearly 75 percent of the island’s work force. StarKist’s parent company, Del Monte Corp., has headquarters in San Francisco, which is represented by Mrs. Pelosi. The other plant belongs to California-based Chicken of the Sea.”

…

What was that you said Oliver, “Same crap, different smell”?

You obvoisly aren’t in business. I am in the apparel business. I manufacture better men’s apparel. I make as many items in the US as possible. However, if either the fabric (mostly union labor in the Carolinas & Canada) or sewing labor (increasingly unionized) here is too expensive, I move the item to China, Taiwan, or Korea.

A $1.00 move up in manufacturing price translates to a $4.00 increase at retail. Can I afford to be $4.00 more than my competitors who make garments overseas? NO!

Ignorance…bah! Get a job.

*snicker*

See: EBStop.

Good grief, what ass backwards history books are you reading??

They didn’t make the middle class larger. They just made their money worth less.

Who’s with me?

.. go out and spend it? And that’s bad because why?

Well, I admit I have to agree with you on that score.
My point was if most employers start new workers above the min wage, what net effect would raising it have on them? None. Raising it to $15, well, that’s just silly.
I agree with you that it is mostly a state issue and should be handled as such, but the federal min wge is set so that it is the minimum you can pay someone (legally). Kind of like MAP pricing. It’s the Minimum Advertised Price, set by the manufacturer. You might see an ipod selling for less at some stores, but you won’t see it less than MAP.
That is how I see the federal Min wage.

No, I won’t shut up about it when the conversation is in the context of the federal minimum wage.

Congress has gotten what, 5 pay increases in that time?

Let me tell you something. If you got a minimum wage job TEN YEARS ago and are STILL making minimum wage then you’re a loser with a big fat ‘L’ and don’t deserve a raise.

Even if every business in America started new workers above the minimum wage, it wouldn’t effect any of them.

Nonsense. If minimum wage laws have no effect on business, then why stop at $7.25 an hour? Why not make the min wage $15.00 an hour?