15 minimum wage lawsscholarly studies show B u s i n e s s F i n a n c e

You are a manager at Maria’s Catering in Pensacola. Maria’s has thirty minimum-wage employees, and all of you are closely following the Florida debate about raising the minimum wage to $15/hour, as articulated in Amendment 2, on the ballot for this November, 2020.

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Your employer, Maria Herrera, has a three-year-old catering business that provides exceptional meals and top-notch service. The catering service markets to businesses and individuals looking to cater exclusive events, weddings, and other large parties. Though they closed briefly during the COVID shutdown, Maria’s secured government assistance and is now back in business with more demand than ever, especially since you helped introduce new distancing measures for the operations and you’ve increased marketing. You see the budget is healthy. But the staff is struggling with low wages.

Your staff’s job as a “cater-waiter” is high pressure because Maria’s demands efficient, versatile, and personable help. And while your staff sometimes earn tips, they mostly rely on their hourly wage ($8.46), which is the minimum required by law. Turnover at Maria’s is high because many employees just don’t think the job is worth it, and with the recent COVID scare, several of your co-workers quit unexpectedly, feeling the risk too great for the wage.

You want her to increase the minimum wage she pays the staff. You feel the timing is right with Amendment 2 on the ballot before voters. You research the issue and find some facts:

• Many economists say an increase in the minimum wage will spur consumer spending and help the weak economy.
• Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia already have higher minimum wages than the federal level.
• California, New York, Illinois and a few other states have already enacted $15 minimum wage laws
• Scholarly studies show that the cost increase to employers is offset by lower turnover and higher productivity.

• Florida lawmakers have introduced Amendment 2 to increase the minimum wage from the current $8.46 up to $15, graduated over five years. Voters will decide this in November.

Your task. Write a persuasive request letter (in memo format) flowing upward, to Maria Herrera, in which you ask her to consider raising the minimum wage at Maria’s Catering to $15/hour now. Include the amendment for timeliness. Do additional research if it will help your case.

Consider all the ways in which persuasive messages are effective, study the facts, and present your case in memo format. You should have several well-developed paragraphs, according to the strategies we’ve studied in Chapter 10. You may wish to revisit the AIDA strategy for persuasive messages, and review the best approaches for employee messages flowing upward, which are in Chapter 10 of your textbook. They are also in the Panopto tutorial, and in the collaboration slide show we are building this week.