BRET BAIER (HOST): The economy of course will be a big issue in tonight's debate. A little later, the big upheaval in the job market here in Michigan, but first a preview of what could be coming to a fast food restaurant or shopping mall near you. It involves new rights for workers that could end up costing you and your family big bucks. Correspondent Dan Springer tells us about it from Seattle.
DAN SPRINGER (CORRESPONDENT): Seattle business owners already pay a $15 minimum wage, sick leave and can't use applicants' rap sheets against them. Now the Democrat controlled city council is working on a livable schedule law aimed at making restaurant and retail jobs more predictable.
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Councilwoman Lorena Gonzalez wants the very union like ordinance to give workers set schedules a week in advance, extra pay if late changes are made. Guarantee at least 11 hours between shifts, and give access to more hours before new employees are hired. In the crosshairs is an Emerald City icon, Starbucks, under fire for “clopening;” having some workers close down at night then open the next day. The business community is firing back.
PATRICK CONNOR (National Federation of Independent Business): The city of Seattle seems hell bent on these one size fits all, cookie cutter approaches to wage and hour issues. And I think that this is going to be one more straw that may soon break the camel's back.
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SPRINGER: But some economists and public policy experts warn that shifting more risk on to employers has a serious downside.
JACOB VIGDOR (University of Washington): It makes it more expensive for them to get business done, unless they find a way to get the business done using fewer workers overall.
SPRINGER: Despite the threat of unintended consequences, the city council is expected to pass a living schedule ordinance later this year. Further entrenching the role of government in the middle of the relationship between employers and their employees.
