Thread.

I'm having a "discussion" on another forum about the minimum wage with someone who's hauling out all the usual talking points;

"we can't raise the minimum because prices would go up/if you want more money, get a better job/only kids are working minimum wages jobs, and they live at home with their parents."

Okay, let's talk.

First of all, re the "get a better job" line; in essence, that's saying that some work isn't worth paying a living wage for; that some people don't deserve to be able to survive on the work that they do.

Think about how shitty your life would be if minimum wage workers all quit

Second, I'm not buying your "if we raise the minimum wage, prices will go up" line. It's an excuse to raise prices, sure - and we all know ANY excuse will do - but it's not a cause.

Third, I think we're looking at the wrong things.

Let's look at the kid making $7.25 at Dunkin Donuts. The contention is that, if we give that kid $15 an hour (though I say a living wage is $23, but that's a conversation for another thread), we'll have to pay more for our morning coffee, right?

Well, how much are we already paying for that morning coffee when Dunk's CEO was paid what works out to $357.20 an hour last year (and that's only his cash compensation).

That's to say nothing of the *other* executives, whose combined cash compensation worked out to $2,578.15 an hour, if my math is right.

How come we're not talking about THAT?

source: https://www1.salary.com/DUNKIN-BRANDS-GROUP-INC-Executive...)

ALL work - and yes, I said ALL of it - deserves to be paid a living wage; if your business can only survive by paying your employees less than what THEY need to survive, perhaps you shouldn't be in business.

/end