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Paying $25/hr with 20 years seniority is not out of line. To propose paying these same workers half wages doesn’t cut it.

Do you support paying someone $25 an hour for a job that's only worth $13 an hour? Economics does come into play here. Someone making $25 an hour needs to provide much more than that in economic productivity for the company, or the wage is not justified.

I don't care how long someone has been on the job...they are only worth what they can produce for the company. That's not being cold hearted...it's being realistic and honest. What good is making a high wage when the company ultimately fails because labor costs are too high relative to what the free market can sustain?

This is the fundamental flaw with labor unions...people should all be paid the same, regardless of what each individual produces. It will ALWAYS fail, the same way socialist economics ALWAYS fails.

“Do you support paying someone $25 an hour for a job that’s only worth $13 an hour?”

If the $25/hour worker has 20 years’ experience, I don’t know that it is $13/hour work anymore. I don’t know what to think about these situations, because just as the company may decide it is more profitable to re-locate to a right-to-work state (or Red China), workers can often deduce they are better off on public assistance than with a paycheck. I’m not advocating this, but $13/hour in NJ would be nothing for a 40 year-old worker; they would struggle for the rest of their lives for some basic necessities that would be given to them for free or at a discount (legitimately) if they weren’t working at all.

I’m the last one to support unions, but have often said that we’re being reduced to the status of Red Chinese peasants. $25/hour for a 40 year-old worker (with 20 years on the job) is difficult enough; $13 per hour is just ridiculous. Anyone who really believes the free market will work this out should keep in mind that while it “working it out” Americans have basically stopped breeding and their scabs are being imported by the millions - the free market at work.

There does have to be a balance; we can’t compete with Asians who will never own a home or automobile, have more than one child, or have the right to vote.