| Businesses Not Happy With Proposal for Wage Increase
Waiters and waitresses may soon get a raise. Some state lawmakers want to double the wages for tipped workers, but the proposal doesn't sit well with those who would pay the tab. Paul Sirmeyer works at the Traveler's Club Restaurant in Okemos. Sirmeyer says he loves his job as a restaurant server, but it's hard surviving off his income. Paul Sirmeyer, restaurant server: "Day to day, you really getting paid less than the average American, you're not getting health insurance or benefits." That's why some state lawmakers are proposing a bill to increase minimum wage for tipped workers. Right now, tipped workers make about $2.65 an hour. If the bill were to pass, it would put another two dollars on their plate. William White, restaurant owner: "Bad idea." William White owns the Traveler's Club Restaurant.
City tries to recoup firemen OT pay
A divided City Commission voted 3-2 Tuesday night in favor of reclaiming half of the $122,000 worth of overpaid wages to the Pittsburg Fire Department.
After nearly two hours of debate, Mayor Marty Beezley cast the deciding vote to recoup money that had been overpaid because of a payroll error in the city's human resources department.
"I think this moves the process along," Beezley said after the vote. "Nobody is a winner."
The payroll error, uncovered by auditors, was corrected in May 2006. Thirty firefighters received on average an extra $4,075 over the course of 2005 and the first four months of 2006. Salaried employees, including Fire Chief Don Elmer and the battalion chiefs, do not receive overtime pay and were not affected by the glitch.
Insurance Industry's Profits Rose In 2006
NEW YORK -- The headline numbers were eye-popping: Allstate reported a record $5 billion profit for 2006. State Farm Insurance's profit climbed 65 percent for the year. St. Paul Travelers' earnings rose sixfold in the fourth quarter, American International Group's rose eightfold. A year and a half after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, profits at the nation's major property-casualty insurance companies soared -- and are expected to be strong again in 2007, according to estimates by the A.M. Best Co. rating agency. Critics charge that the insurers are doing well financially by shorting the people who bought their products -- including hundreds of consumers who still haven't gotten settlements for their Katrina claims. The industry, in turn, denies taking advantage of consumers, crediting its growing profitability instead to fewer storms last year and improved business procedures.
Building board grapples with tight deadline
WOBURN - The School Building Committee needs to decide on an artificial surface playing field by mid-April, if there's to be any chance the practice area will be available for double session practices this summer. Despite that shrinking deadline, Mayor Thomas McLaughlin sternly warned the construction oversight board that ongoing deliberations with the bonding company will take precedence over any final decision. The mayor further cautioned the School Building Committee at its recent meeting that the construction of an artificial surface playing field is not a certainty, although $50,000 has been appropriated for the design of the project upgrade. "Nobody should look at this presentation today as any indication that we've made a funding decision on the installation of artificial turf," McLaughlin said last week, before representatives from Weymouth-based Gale Associates unveiled their finished design plans for the athletic area.
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