1) The day before the city proposes a giant tax hike doesn't really seem like good timing for arguing the city should move to pay workers more.

2) Dan Saltzman is in favor of the wage hike because there is zero political risk for him - because of the state law, he literally can't do anything about it other than send a couple cheap letters to Salem half-heartedly lobbying for it.

3) I thought Caleb was more than just a one-trick pony? If that's true, than isn't it disingenuous to count every single person who voted for him as being in favor of the hike?

As much as I would like to see a higher minimum wage, it is kind of pathetic to see the Merc pretending this issue isn't functionally dead for the foreseeable future.

I'm sure the Union's would love a 15 dollar minimum wage. Two 15 dollar an hour workers would be more way expensive than one Union job at 20 an hour.

I think you're missing the most salient point here: What the hell is that inflatable thingie in the second photo???

Looks like a fatcat banker stranglin the workin man, Stu. Duh.

It's ridiculous that we live in an era of record profits, and yet the economy is completely bust for the working class. A $15 living wage is long overdue. If the minimum wage had kept up with inflation since the sixties, we'd have a ~$25 minimum wage -- and we probably wouldn't have had this constant series of recessions, brought on by... drumroll please... people not being able to buy anything in a consumer economy because they're broke.

15 an hour for a teenaged fry-cook just ain't right.

I'd still like to see Caleb try his noble experiment on the city he grew up in, K Falls, first - and watch what happens.

I'm all for better pay for the masses, but this feel-good attempt is just plain laughable.