SF Billboard Says Higher Minimum Wage Means iPads Will Replace Workers
When it comes to threatening workers into accepting poverty wages, a new billboard erected in San Francisco knows just how to do it. The advertisement, prominently displayed on a downtown building outside Pando's offices, warns workers that they'll be replaced by iPads if San Francisco's voters approve a $15 minimum wage in November.
Their claims are bullshit, really: iPads won't replace janitors, cooks, doormen, or any of the other low-wage jobs out there. At least, not anytime soon. But it's just the sort of technological bullying that Silicon Valley specializes in.
The billboard is being put up by the Employment Policies Institute, an organization masquerading as a Washington think tank with deep ties to a restaurant industry public relations firm. The organization's president, Richard Berman, tactics has earned him the nickname "Dr. Evil" from 60 Minutes. EPI is also advised by Kevin Murphy, Silicon Valley's go-to corporate fixer when firms fuck over employees.
So keep smiling while you struggle to feed your families, minimum wage workers of the world. Or else your employers will replace you with a luxury Apple product assembled by people working for slave wages in Asia.
