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This is basically a form of slavery - you have people on call 24/7 and you don't even compensate them outside of the pennies they get paid for 15-20 hours a week. How are companies able to get away wtih this?
I think companies need to be forced to have a certain percentage of workers be full time and 8 dollar minimum wage is a joke - minimum wage should be about 10-12 bucks an hour
No one is forcing them to apply there. Cheap china goods being sold to Americans at 10x the price of production, and workers not earning a decent wage. No new story here, nothing will change until people demand a change.
Should be, until you realize that if that happened, everything would go up in price until it's just like when minimum wage workers got paid the 8. The real tragedy is how far the true purchasing power of minimum wage has gone down over the years due to inflation. As an example, in 1964 the minimum wage was $1.25, and an ounce of Silver was $1.30. A minimum wage employee grossed 96% of an ounce of Silver in an hour. Today, the Federal Minimum Wage is actually $7.25, but I'll use your 8 figure for this next one. 8 dollars an hour and the price of Silver is $31 an ounce right now. That $8 an hour worker today barely makes 1/4 of what his minimum wage counterpart in 1964 did when priced in Silver. In fact, to have the same Silver buying power as a 1964 minimum wage worker, you would need a $60,000 a year job.
No one is forcing them to apply there. Cheap china goods being sold to Americans at 10x the price of production, and workers not earning a decent wage. No new story here, nothing will change until people demand a change.
Your attitude reminds me of myself in regard to the issue about allowing smokers in private public places like restaurants and bars. I was a strong opponent of any law that would ban smoking from public places. No, I'm not a smoker. No, I don't own any tobacco stock.
My logic was bars and restaurants were privately owned places and so the law shouldn't force those places to not allow smoking. One day I got into a discussion with a friend of mine on that. I presented my argument. He thought about it for a second and said one sentence to me. That one sentence took about 2 seconds for him to say, and it made me change my position.
Bars and restaurants are work places for some people.
You could always argue that if you don't like the smoking atmosphere you could always quit your job and work elsewhere. I've heard this argument many times. And frankly, it's total BS. For most people, it's not really a choice where they could work.
Same with retail. Most people who work in retail are there because they have no skills for something else. They have no choice. It's either retail or unemployment.
No one is forcing them to apply there. Cheap china goods being sold to Americans at 10x the price of production, and workers not earning a decent wage. No new story here, nothing will change until people demand a change.
But people keep voting against their own best interests.
Who protects employee rights? Not management, but unions.
Yet, people fight unions because of some bad actions and reputation, some deserved, some not.
Can unions be overhauled, sure.
But, who brought you the 40 hour work week? Benefits? Safety? The middle class?
Unions, that's who.
You support business owners over unions, this is what you get.
I work in retail and THANK YoU for posting this article, I see Im not the only one who feels as I do about my job. However, 10 bucks an hour must apply to states where the cost f living is generally higher anyway, surely not here in Wisconsin, I make far less than that. No Im not at the job by choice, its lack of options here in a small town like this. You can commute for a decent job and believe me, I AM looking relentlessly.
I agree about the unions and am all for them. Some retailers are terrified of unions because they know the bennies that come with joining and they dont wanna bend to the employees' needs. Fact. What matters is what the higher ups benefit. Fact. Union 'families' pretty much look out for each other too, and sure you may have union dues but considering what they pay you, its worth it. Sure there are ups and downs about it, but more positives than negs, from what Ive been told.
This is basically a form of slavery - you have people on call 24/7 and you don't even compensate them outside of the pennies they get paid for 15-20 hours a week. How are companies able to get away wtih this?
I think companies need to be forced to have a certain percentage of workers be full time and 8 dollar minimum wage is a joke - minimum wage should be about 10-12 bucks an hour
Working is slavery?
This is the state of education in this country today.
This is basically a form of slavery - you have people on call 24/7 and you don't even compensate them outside of the pennies they get paid for 15-20 hours a week. How are companies able to get away wtih this?
I think companies need to be forced to have a certain percentage of workers be full time and 8 dollar minimum wage is a joke - minimum wage should be about 10-12 bucks an hour
Open a business and pay your employees what you want.
You won't because you can't. If you could, you would't last three months.
Should be, until you realize that if that happened, everything would go up in price until it's just like when minimum wage workers got paid the 8. The real tragedy is how far the true purchasing power of minimum wage has gone down over the years due to inflation. As an example, in 1964 the minimum wage was $1.25, and an ounce of Silver was $1.30. A minimum wage employee grossed 96% of an ounce of Silver in an hour. Today, the Federal Minimum Wage is actually $7.25, but I'll use your 8 figure for this next one. 8 dollars an hour and the price of Silver is $31 an ounce right now. That $8 an hour worker today barely makes 1/4 of what his minimum wage counterpart in 1964 did when priced in Silver. In fact, to have the same Silver buying power as a 1964 minimum wage worker, you would need a $60,000 a year job.
Minimum wage is $10.00 an hour in San Francisco, so yeah, it CAN be done.
Take the bottom of the barrel for labor costs, fast food, where labor is typically 25% of revenue.
Minimum wage increases ~38% from $7.25 to $10.00. Most fast food pays more than minimum wage, but assume that all wages increase by a similar proportion. Food businesses, which have less labor flexibility than retail, top out around 35%.
So, 0.25 * 1.38 / .35 = .986
Yeah, even fast food could absorb a 38% increase in costs without a price increase. Quite simply, minimum wage jobs are typically low labor percentage businesses; their costs are from transportation and product, not labor.
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