If Your Work Is Worth More Than Minimum Wage, You Don't Need a Law For It.

Once in a blue moon you come across somebody in the service industry who does such a good job that you think to yourself, "That guy or girl is going places." And if they are going places, they are the first ones to understand that they aren't going there on a minimum wage. No, they are getting their feet wet by working and interacting with the public, and their big dreams have nothing to do with a lifetime plan of working for $9.50 an hour.

That's the number, $9.50 an hour, that's being kicked around by DFLers in the Legislature. They want that boost. Every time they bring this up, I always wonder why they don't call for $15 an hour or $22.50 an hour, but even DFLers, at some point, have to reach into their own pockets and produce money to buy something. So I suppose they don't want to pay $15 for a hamburger or even more per gallon at the pump than they are already paying. There is a limit to their manufactured virtue.

Possibly off topic:

I know a person who works in sales... always has. This guy has no college degree yet has consistently made annual income of six figures. Even if economically bad times, this person has ALWAYS done very well.

In his current place, he works with several other (younger) sales people who do not/cannot approach the kind of income he makes, in the same place with the same inventory. Go figure.

He says, there are consecutive months when these young people have NO income and actually OWE the owner... because they took a draw on supposed sales which do not materialize.

Did I say, do not ‘materialize’. I meant to say these youngsters CANNOT arrive on time one day in five. WILL NOT work through lunch, DO NOT stay the entire 8 hours. They routinely take unscheduled time away from work and do not make up their hours.

Under NO circumstances will any of them work on a weekend.

I ask you, how does a sales person earn a penny if he/she will not BE in the place and hardly works at selling when he/she IS in the place?

My friend says these kids always whine about being broke yet do noting necessary to insure that they get and close sales.

He was made manager and set down some simple and sure fire rules for getting them on the premises and being effective while there. Everything was ignored and he was the target of everyone’s animosity.

He gave up the managerial position and NOW concentrates ONLY on his OWN activities and earns his OWN money...

He is no longer available for THEIR questions (8 hours a day), no longer fixes their screw ups, etc. He's doing great without worrying about them and THEY still are foundering. That is the work ethic out there, with young people.

Very good comments and I observe them in my workplace as well. Most young people do not have a work ethic and I have a theory for that: Work ethic is driven by HUNGER.

Not hunger in terms of lack of food but in terms of wanting to establish financial independence and security. There just isn't that kind of hunger out there anymore. Young people are content to live with their parents into middle age and accept a lower standard of living - so long as they have their electronic toys and a little cash to hit the nightclubs on the weekends.

When I came of age in the late 1970s, it was a badge of honor to have your own "pad" and establish yourself in the adult world. To get there, you had to work a lot of hours doing a lot of scut work.

I joined the Marine Corps right out of high school and upon my discharge, worked two jobs at once so that I could afford an apartment and start saving up for a downpayment on a house - which I bought when I was 26. Then I got married and had kids and so forth. Last time I borrowed a nickel from my parents was during the Carter Administration.

“Not hunger in terms of lack of food but in terms of wanting to establish financial independence and security. There just isn't that kind of hunger out there anymore. Young people are content to live with their parents into middle age and accept a lower standard of living...”

Right!

A lot of this has to do with the stigma that THE Liberal mentality has succeeded in placing on ‘success’ and on ‘achievement’.

I guess that if you succeed and have, not only what you NEED, but if you also have ‘extra’ and a savings... then- you are by definition a ‘bad person’.

Young people swallowed this WHOLE.

I remember a Subaru (I think) commercial when the Subaru driver gave a lift to a couple hippie jerks... after looking around at the luxurious interior etc., one of the hikers with the stupid stocking cap and scroungy beard said... “I think I'll change my major...”

Well, it was something like THAT and I thought, EXACTLY! I wonder why that one was only aired briefly!! Ha Ha!!

"If Your Work Is Worth More Than Minimum Wage, You Don't Need a Law For It."

UNIONS DO !

Minimum-wage increase proposals are NOT about minimum wages.
It's about UNION wages (read government employees mostly) and UNION DUES.
Like "Artie" on another thread wrote.

"but my theory is that
this is one of the foundations of single payer.
Down the road, as single payer replaces ObamaCare,
all healthcare workers will become in essence government employees.
Think about how many thousands of new, dues paying union members will magically become part of the SEIU.

Barry had sealed this deal with Andy Stern years ago.
Barry promised Andy and the SEIU thousands of new members,
Andy says
great,
this is the wage structure we need
so we can pay the slush fund.
Gotta pay a living wage to all of the new union members
so dues can be extracted
and kickbacks to the dems can be made.

It’s convoluted
but what dem scheme isn’t,
especially when large sums of cash are involved?"

So read the following:

Union Support Of Minimum Wage Hike Is Self-Interested

Mary Kay Henry, president of the Service Employees International Union, ... was quick to emphasize that her organization's support of a more-than-twofold increase in the minimum wage was "not about growing unions." This may be true — but it's also undeniable that such a move would have a profound impact on growing union paychecks, even if those unions don't count a single minimum-wage employee in their ranks. The fine print can be found in union contracts. Each year, the Department of Labor's Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) releases a number of union collective bargaining agreements (CBAs). Unsurprisingly, many CBAs available in the OLMS database LINK union salaries and wage rates to the federal minimum wage. There are a number of methods that unions use to accomplish this end. The two most popular appear to be setting baseline union wages as a percentage above the minimum wage, and mandating a flat wage at a set level above the minimum wage. One example is a series of CBAs signed with the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE). Their contracts mandated that"(w)henever the federal legal minimum wage is increased, minimum wage (in the agreement) shall be increased so that each will be at least fifteen (15%) percent higher than such legal minimum wage." There's also an SEIU local's contract, which ordered that"(t)he minimum hourly wage rates shall exceed any statutory applicable minimum wage rate by 50 cents." Some unions have also arranged contracts where the employer MUST renegotiate their contracts in case of a minimum-wage hike, NO MATTER HOW LONG is left on the pact's life span. The possibility for abuse here is staggering:Unions with average wages WELL ABOVE the minimum wage CAN INSERT such clauses into their contracts, FORCING negotiations in industries not otherwise affected by a wage hike. Given the limited number of CBAs available in the OLMS database, it's impossible to determine just how widespread this practice is. But at least one union has trumpeted this arrangement as "one of the many advantages of being a union member." Earlier this year on its blog, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union proudly boasted that "oftentimes, union contracts ARE TRIGGERED TO IMPLEMENT WAGE HIKES IN CASE OF MINIMUM WAGE INCREASES." This is a stunning admission of SELF-INTERESTt for an organization that's actively PUSHING minimum-wage hikes at both the state and federal levels of government. It also raises questions about unions' growing use of nonunion "worker centers" like the Restaurant Opportunities Center, OUR Walmart, Fast Food Forward and other organizations that have made headlines in recent months. These groups advocate many policies that would affect those businesses that pay a minimum wage — restaurants, retailers, etc. — and a minimum-wage hike is often the FIRST demand that these union front groups make. This only casts further suspicion on the motives of the labor unions funding these groups. No matter how you look at it, the benefits that these unions stand to reap from a minimum-wage hike should raise questions about their real motives — and whether they're only manipulating the debate over fast-food wages for their own benefit. Berman is the executive director at the Center for Union Facts.

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