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Let me just say that I don't suffer kiosks well. Produce items don't scan, and I enjoy interacting with other humans. This week I went to Stop & Shop during the snowstorm, and I had the whole store to myself. There was not a single cashier working, only self checkout kiosks. I saw a manager working nearby and mentioned to him that I prefer a real person to self-checkout, to which he replied "it's about to be a thing of the past." Unfortunately, he is right. Robots are replacing retail and restaurant workers right now. As the minimum wage increases, the number of workers decreases, replaced by technology. In this equation, the government is the variable determining how many people lose their jobs.

Seattle has proven this unintended consequence is the reality. In the first year of $15 minimum wage in Seattle, the city’s employment fell by more than 11,000, the number of unemployed workers increased by nearly 5,000, and the city’s jobless rate increased by more than 1 percentage point. Rhode Island needs to attract more businesses and increase the number of jobs so people can get back to work and improve their lives. Throwing tax dollars at rich corporations isn't the way to solve our economic problems, and neither is this so-called "fight for 15." Rhode Islanders will undoubtedly be harmed by a bill like this, just like the people in Seattle who are now out of work.

My only question to Senator Calkin is: What do we say to the average person who doesn't have a job anymore?

Dan Elliott

Greenwood