Pantagraph.com | News | Survey: Coliseum attendees support living wage

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

My proposal wrote on Mar 26, 2007 9:46 PM:

" How about, each time people purchase tickets for events at the Colliseum, they are asked if they would like to pay more money for the tickets so the Colliseum employees could make a "living wage." If the Colliseum gets more money for the tickets, their employees get a bonus; if not, they don't. I think the results would be quite different from the skewed poll cited in this article. "

To MHarris and Responding... wrote on Mar 26, 2007 1:12 PM:

" MHarris - what you are talking about is complete socialism!!! Just because someone works a full-time job does not entitle them to a certain level of income or guaranteed healthcare/benefits. The demand for their occupation must determine their pay and benefits. To: Responding... - I am blessed. I have a family that I love very much; an education and desire to work hard; and a job that I enjoy, in which I primarily do physical work outdoors - year-round. If I did not have an education and had a family that I had to support, yes, I would work 4 jobs, clean toilets, do whatever I needed to do to support my family. But, that would be my responsibility for making the choice to not get an education or desire to apply myself earlier in life before I had a family. If I did not have a family or an education, I would definitely go back to school for an education. There are plenty of scholarships,school loans, or the military for anyone who wants to put in the effort to get an education and apply themselves. "

Responding to "Outsourcing Makes Sense" wrote on Mar 25, 2007 8:04 AM:

" Since when did description become prescription? Lucky you that you have a post-graduate degree and a salaried position. If you love your job and want to put in extra hours, you are truly blessed. Would you want to put in those extra hours if you were working 4 part-time jobs cleaning toilets and stacking chairs? And if you were stringing together multiple part-time jobs to make rent, where are you going to come up with the money and time to afford an education? Maybe you're the one who needs an education. This time in the school of real life. "

DG to MHarris wrote on Mar 24, 2007 11:05 PM:

" The living wage is not a simple idea, it's a simplistic idea. The formula used to calculate the "living wage" is arbitrary. Most (admittedly not all) people earning the curent minimum wage are not full time workers, and in fact, are not the primary breadwinner for their family. Most minimum wage earners are entry level employees or even students living at home, and do not stay at this level for any extended period of time. It is ironic that the primary reason that the minimum wage is so low is the infllux of illegal immigrants willing to work for minimum wages or even less. To drive up the minimum wage, restrict illegal immigration, and the law of supply/demand will take over. "

MHarris wrote on Mar 24, 2007 6:50 PM:

" The living wage idea is a simple one: A person who works full-time should earn enough to live above the poverty line. That means a minimum income floor below which no working person should fall. The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., talked about this idea a lot back in the 1960s. It's a sad state of affairs when so many people in this country who do work are still living in poverty, cannot afford health insurance and other basic necessities. This proposal will not solve these problems, but it does point in the right direction. It's also unfortunate that so many people here raise such false arguments against what ought to be a matter of basic fairness. "

wow wrote on Mar 24, 2007 6:08 PM:

" okay so how many nights did they have to be at the coliseum to get 375 people to respond. and since a whole 200 plus want to raise the pay, lets make an article out of showing a majority are in favor of it. like the majority who wanted the coliseum in the first place? oh wait there wasnt. "

To: Furthermore wrote on Mar 24, 2007 5:31 PM:

" I disagree with your theory that employees do not have an influence on the success of a business. In fact, the Coliseum is attempting to distinguish itself as not only a place to see hockey, indoor football, and concerts, but also as a great place to party and socialize. The facility is somewhat upgraded as arenas go, as is the food service. A big part of the Coliseum's success in distinguishing itself from other concert and sports venues will be based on the quality of the customer experience. I think it's a good idea to give employees, especially those with direct customer contact, some kind of incentive to improve the service they provide. The practical problems are how to measure customer satisfaction, and whether to pay any kind of a bonus if the Coliseum isn't meeting operating goals. "

to: reader wrote on Mar 24, 2007 5:28 PM:

" and that's why we all love republicans. "

reader wrote on Mar 24, 2007 5:09 PM:

" How about you''ll get paid what they decide to pay you.Maybe, they can get illegals to do it for less. "

facts wrote on Mar 24, 2007 11:13 AM:

" In all honesty, having the Coliseum adopt a minimum wage would force the management to reduce staff like ushers, ticket takers, sellers etc in order to offset the higher costs...that would mean few workers and less service to the patrons..it is simple as that "

Furthermore wrote on Mar 24, 2007 11:11 AM:

" Even the profit sharing idea which has been tossed up as some sort of compromise is not appropriate in this situation. These hourly workers don't have any risk in how profitable the coliseum is. The nature of their work is such that they don't have a direct influence on its success. (Please spare me the "clean floors are important" replies. Clean floors are an expectation.) Therefore just as they shouldn't be penalized when profits are down, they shouldn't be rewarded with bonuses to the extent management's actions result in the profits. "

Ummmm... wrote on Mar 24, 2007 10:22 AM:

" I';d think for the most part, the CIOP is talking about the "Usher Staff" and the attempt ti get the a better minimum wage. What part of this am I just not seeing??? It is a PART TIME JOB!!! Most of the ushers there, just do that for mad moeny in the pocket, and yes, to socialize with the folks that they know who attend events. I'd do it to see a free hockey game, that is, if they could actually get a team that would really play hockey there. Why make a stink over the part time jobs. If someone wants a real wage, they'll get a real full time job, right?!?! "

Time to Fight is Right wrote on Mar 24, 2007 10:08 AM:

" This not about helping the arena workers. This is about local labor unions trying to force up the underlying wage rates at the lower end of the skill range. In other words, when unskilled, unorganized labor is worth $9 or $10/hour, then skilled or organized labor is worth that much more. This allows them to raise their hourly rates. It's offensive to me that a City Council member is one of the driving forces behind this scam. He couldn't get what he wanted through his councilman position, so now he's trying to get it through misleading surveys and intimidation. Ward 2 needs new representation. "

Survey? wrote on Mar 24, 2007 9:11 AM:

" I would like to see the entire survey published. Show us the actual questions. Show us the raw data. Pantagraph? Did you look at the questions and the raw data or did you just take their word for it? "

Time to fight wrote on Mar 24, 2007 8:30 AM:

" The CIOP is an activist organization, with strong Labor ties, all about getting high paying Labor jobs. At $9.00/hour; this means high school kids would qualify for the part-time jobs; but there's much more to this. Business leaders and community leaders really need to speak up on this one and not be railroaded by bogus polls and activist groups getting the media headlines on a slow news day. These organized groups know how to play on the media and public sentiment for the quick sound bite. It won't stop at the Arena labor; we are pricing ourselves out of the market, and businesses will NOT come to Bloomington. This is not an affront to the "poor"; if you give and give to folks, they learn to take and take. I grew up knowing that I had to work to make a living. At 16 I worked two jobs; and I learned the value of hard work; you show up on time, work hard and are honest, you move up to higher paying positions. We must stay strong on this, it's vital for our businesses in mcLean County, and our workers. "

CIOP wrote on Mar 24, 2007 8:28 AM:

" I just wonder why CIOP is picking on the City to provide a living wage while seemingly ignoring every other business in town. There are far more people working minimum wage jobs in fast food joints, markets, the malls, etc. Why aren't they earning a living wage? What makes the Coliseum employees so special that they deserve higher pay for the same low skilled work as many other employed people in town? To me, it's almost like CIOP is trying to force the Arena to fail financially. "

Attorney wrote on Mar 24, 2007 7:44 AM:

" Using a temp agency to cover for regular employee absences and peak needs is a good move. Even big companies like State Farm do that because it eliminates the need to have extra employees on the payroll to cover short-term needs. As for the pay rate, the indirect compensation costs such as SS and insurance funds will add 20-30% to the cash wage, so paying a temp agency $10 per hour is equivalent to about a $8.00 cash wage. By the way, I was one of the people called in the survey, which took about 12 minutes and also asked about the smoking ban and was mostly about national and international affairs. The wage questions were only a small part of the survey. Although the question itself was not especially biased, I qualified my answer to say that the employees should get consideration for higher wages only if the coliseum makes money, but it was counted as a “yes” answer. I think the issue is more complex than that. "

Surprise wrote on Mar 24, 2007 7:32 AM:

" The folks with an agenda come up with numbers to support said agenda. This must be some kind of first. "

Agree w/"To Outsourcing... wrote on Mar 23, 2007 11:42 PM:

" Living wage is an attempt at creating another social program (hmmm - welfare worked, lets try this...). Free market = workers are paid what their job is worth (or at least minimum wage). If someone cannot make enough money to support themselves, they should get an education so that they can get a job that pays more. If they do not have the ability or motivation to do that, they can work 2 or 3 jobs to pay the bills. I have a Masters Degree and work a lot of 75-85 hr. weeks and a lot of 65-75 hr. weeks - but that is my choice! Also, the so-called outsourcing is necessary when you have employees who are supposed to show up, but don't. It would be poor management to have 10 extra employees standing around in case someone does not show up. Plus, hiring temps from places like First Staff is more economical, even though the colliseum pays $10-11 to the agency, they are not paying workman's comp. or other expenses on those employees. "

Woodford Pundit wrote on Mar 23, 2007 11:36 PM:

" If you want a real poll on "the people" to see if they are "ahead of the politicians" put it on an advisory referendum and see the CIOP crushing results. If you poll the folks footing the bill you might see different results. "

Former Employee of Coliseum wrote on Mar 23, 2007 11:27 PM:

" Is anyone really aware of the turn-around that is present at the Coliseum because of the lower pay scale. I started out to be there for the benefit of the 'socialization' aspect of meeting people within the community, however I found out by working there that the pay was not worth my time after feeling the weight of power & control by supervisors. The money was not worth it to stay under that type of micro-management for me. However for some who have to work two or three part-time jobs in the community to meet the cost of living, I say 'more power to the living wage'! OR adjust the cost of living in our community so that these businesses here aren't just trying to 'cater' to State Farm & Mitsubishi employees. There are many individuals in our community who suffer because of the high cost of living. "

Think Big! wrote on Mar 23, 2007 11:04 PM:

" Since (according to this survey) people don't care how much tickets cost, why not just bump them $5/each? That way, workers could make at least $10/hr, AND we can pay for the Coliseum out of ticket revenue. We could add $10/ticket, and avoid the Unit 5 tax increase. Come on people, think BIG! "

To Outsourcing is Pathetic wrote on Mar 23, 2007 9:51 PM:

" If you have a problem with how management is running the Colliseum, why don't you make a proposal to the city on doing it better? Like it or not, they have the contract to run it and make a profit. You can cite all the social reasons why they're not doing it right, but in the end, the employees can leave if they're not happy and the management will have to raise the wage via the free market if it can't get a supply of workers at the lower wage. Since the management has found an ample supply of workers willing to work at the current wages, maybe you can start a business and offer them some jobs that pay what you think you should pay. You're free to do that, you know. "

Give Me a Break wrote on Mar 23, 2007 9:44 PM:

" "People are ahead of the politicians,” Bergner said. No, Ms. Bergner. They've just been fed a lot of hooey by CIOP and Majteka. Fortunately the elected officials know that it's the citizens that they are accountable to, not to CIOP. Even you, Ms. Berger use the term "politicians" in your quote since that term has a negative connotation to it and you want to cause a rift. The employees freely took the jobs that were offered. Not one has ever complained in these stories and message boards. Why don't you have IWU survey these employees and ask them how many of them took these jobs expecting that it would be enough to live on? "

What a Joke wrote on Mar 23, 2007 9:29 PM:

" It's interesting they limit the survey to "Bloomington residents who plan on attending" events at the Colliseum. That's one source of unfair bias in favor of the "living" wage already. Secondly, if this survey is like the one IWU did a while back, its questions are flawed by being worded to cause the respondent to answer in favor of the wage. Example "Can big business afford to pay...." Pollsters know that coloring the questions gives you the answers you want. Let's see the actual survey questions and ansers published, rather than CIOP's own assessment of the results. "

Scooter wrote on Mar 23, 2007 9:20 PM:

" Forget the living wage. I favor the so-called "country club wage." That means that workers would be paid $35 per hour, at a minimum, so they can earn $70,000+ per year if they work full time. The affluence it guarantees would be a great "shot in the arm" for our economy. Just think how packed our malls would be if the country club wage becomes law. "

ummm.. wrote on Mar 23, 2007 8:53 PM:

" How many people actually work full time at the coliseum that do not make a living wage? We are talking about very party time work here people......I don't want to pay anymore to attend....already this year I went to buy tickets for the rodeo..3 people $70.00....so I looked at the prairie capital convention center..3 people $30.00...so I guess I'll drive...eat at Imo's ..attend the event and still save money over this waste of money. "

E. Wessels wrote on Mar 23, 2007 7:46 PM:

" Why should Coliseum and city workers be given a living wage when other Bloomington residents are not given a living wage. What is the special distinction? Shouldn't wages be based on the type of work you do and your qualifications and performance? Are those positions going to be filled with "special interest" people? "

outsourcing is pathetic wrote on Mar 23, 2007 6:41 PM:

" The arena is "betting the house money" (meaning tax payer money) to enter into whatever agreements they want to. The city should demand to see the contracts, why are they secret? Maybe the arena management should just buy the arena from the city so they can use their own capital - but they won't, why should they if we'll pay for whatever they want? Living wage just makes sense, heck the arena will actually SAVE money by doing it! And, lets not forget about the school crossing guards that protect our kids and city hall janitors who clean up after the councilmembers. "

Attendee wrote on Mar 23, 2007 6:31 PM:

" No one asked me but I do go to lots of events and would be happy to pay a few cents more. It's good to see that most people agree. "

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