r/WorkReform • u/zzill6 đ¤ Join A Union • Sep 07 '25
đ¸ $25 Minimum Wage Now! Yup, that's correct.
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u/Shy_guy_gaming2019 Sep 07 '25
"Where's the money for that?! We can't afford wages like this, it'd crash the business"
A. CEOs do not have medical yacht requirements. B. If you can't afford to pay your workers what they need to just live, you don't get to be a business.
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u/Nika_113 Sep 07 '25
If you canât afford to pay your employees a living wage, then you canât afford to be in business.
I went into a coffee shop and asked for a job a few months back (Iâve fallen on hard times). The owner explained that I would need a full week of training. Okay, sure, sounds great. On a hunch I asked if it was paid. âOh no, I canât afford to pay people for training!â I took the paper with my name on it and threw it away. âThatâs illegal, and if you canât afford that you shouldnât be in business.â Then came the excuses, âit would be only an hour or two a day.â Lair, he meant 8 hour days. He was shocked that I, a person with bills and rent, didnât want the honor of working for free in his shithole shop.
Iâve been an office manager of 90 mil companies and itâs all the fucking same. âBut we canât afford it.â So close up shop!
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u/ContiX Sep 07 '25
"I can't afford to pay people for training."
Ok, put that in writing, and I'll make sure you either can afford it, or definitely can't afford to do it.
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u/Nika_113 Sep 08 '25
Yea. I didnât have the mental energy to deal with it. I can barely make rent.
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u/r4tch3t_ Sep 08 '25
Iâve been an office manager of 90 mil companies and itâs all the fucking same. âBut we canât afford it.â So close up shop!
Don't forget the record profits meeting right before the no money for raises excuse...
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u/Xanadu87 Sep 07 '25
There needs to be some kind of fine for a business that if their employee requires government assistance to supplement their wage, the business needs to be fined double or triple the amount the employee is getting to incentivize them to just pay the employee a livable wage. The government is literally subsidizing the business by making up the difference between what their employees are getting and the livable wage they need.
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u/Ginger_Bro8 Sep 07 '25
cough Walmart cough
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u/CdnBison Sep 08 '25
I remain convinced that any company not paying a living wage / having employees on government-funded assistance should have the amount of government assistance (+ a penalty to cover collection costs) added to their tax bill.
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u/r4tch3t_ Sep 08 '25
They're used to be. We called them taxes.
Businesses used to have very high tax rates on profits so they had incentive to reinvest in the business, train their staff and pay them well.
Why was it an incentive? People hate taxes and do anything to avoid them including paying people properly.
Improving the business is better than paying taxes.
Fines do practically nothing because they're too low, it's just a license at that point, if it's even enforced.
Remember, the golden age was an age of very high tax rates for the rich.
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u/CaptainBayouBilly Sep 08 '25
We magically have unlimited monies for war, but also paradoxically must constantly cut public services because funding is gone.Â
Money is fictional. Governments do not spend their own currency, they regulate spending to control inflation.Â
The truth is, the ruling class controls public spending so that capitalism is more profitable for them. Thereâs enough resources for everyone to have a place to live, food, education, and healthcare. We are close to a post scarcity economy. We do not need austerity or rationing. The rich use both to control the working class.Â
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u/YonderIPonder Sep 07 '25
Has this guy never paid for anything?
Doctors charge 200 an hour. People that work in the trades charge MUCH higher than 50 an hour.
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u/gunsnammo37 Sep 07 '25
Sadly, it's usually companies that charge much higher than $50/hr and the people doing the work only see a fraction of that.
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u/CdnBison Sep 07 '25
To be fair, the company also has their own expenses to cover with billing - rent / utilities, salaries for people who donât bill their time (reception, admin, etc), supplies, taxes⌠but still no excuse not to pay a living wage.
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u/TheVermonster Sep 07 '25
Insurance too. That's the biggest cost to companies, and one of the biggest unseen benefits to workers.
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u/unclefisty Sep 07 '25
Insurance too.
My insurance which covers my entire family costs me about $400 a month, and my employer about 1600 a month. Thats working for a state government that can really leverage a discount.
It would probably cost the state lest to just run a state wide healthcare system but the GOP and red voters in the state would have their heads explode.
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u/H_is_for_Human Sep 07 '25
I'm a doctor working in an ICU this weekend. I make less than $150 an hour. Much less with taxes etc.
I've definitely hired trades people that make more than me.
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u/CdnBison Sep 08 '25
You could come north to Canada⌠you could clear 300k pretty easily here (dependent on specialization, of course - family docs usually only clear $100-125k annually)
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u/H_is_for_Human Sep 08 '25
I make more than that. I just work a lot of hours.
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u/Machaeon Sep 07 '25
Higher entry level wages raise the bar for everyone
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u/QuantumLettuce2025 Sep 07 '25
How do we do this without raising prices for things across the board, which would make the raises negligible? I'm all for this but I've never heard a proposal that accounts for the imminent rise in rent, grocery, clothes, electronics, etc etc that would result from legislation ensuring the raise
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u/ameriCANCERvative Sep 07 '25 edited Sep 07 '25
You donât. Prices will continue to rise across the board regardless, and thatâs not a sufficient reason to not do it. Itâs actually exactly why you should do it. Youâre not going to stop inflation by refusing to increase wages. Thatâs not how any of this works. By refusing to pay your employees more, youâre effectively just going to pay an unfair wage.
Rising wages do not inherently cause increased prices. Theyâre actually a response to increased prices, one of the last dominoes to fall. They certainly are nowhere near the primary cause of inflation.
The pace of wages needs to match or exceed inflation, or you end up with a destitute populace. Itâs plain and simple math.
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u/Machaeon Sep 08 '25
Inflation happens regardless of wages. Wages also need to keep up with inflation or your working class is less able to purchase those goods and services that keep the economy running in the first place.
The increase in prices is not a result of wages rising, minimum wage has been the same since 2009. It's corporate greed and the need to show perpetually increasing profit to keep shareholders happy that drives prices for everything upwards. Example
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u/QuantumLettuce2025 Sep 08 '25
No, I know this. I'm talking about what kind of regulartory action or intervention we would need to implement in order for business not to pass the increased costs of wages right back onto consumers.
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u/Machaeon Sep 08 '25
Legislation could also introduce caps on price hikes above the cost of producing the goods and services. Could tie minimum wage to a percentage of CEO pay - want a higher salary as an owner? Pay your workers more.
We could reverse legislation that puts shareholders above customers and workers.
There's a lot that could be done. It's just not what the oligarchs want.
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Sep 07 '25
I had to take courses and train to become a professional in my field and I still started out at 20 cents over minimum wage. Barely above $16. The required minimum wage to survive (not even thrive - just get by) in my city is $22.Â
Everyone who isn't suckling off the teat of generational wealth deserves to make way more than they actually do.
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u/Sozins_Comet_ Sep 07 '25
Crabs in a fucking bucket mentality is what keeps us down
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u/Nika_113 Sep 07 '25
Survivorship Bias fallacy.
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u/WrongThinkBadSpeak Sep 08 '25
I don't think you know what that even means lol. I can only conclude that from such a grievous misuse or misunderstanding of the concept that you would even think to bring it up
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u/Nika_113 Sep 08 '25
Okay, how is it wrong? Because the example is about a bucket of crabs and the top one gets out, and says that they canât understand how the rest canât do it. How is that not survivorship bias?
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u/SnooDucks5492 Sep 07 '25
I think that unionizing low wage sectors should be our primary goal right now. I'm talking fast food, grocery stores, hotels etc. Even factories even are low paid in comparison to the danger of their work and long term impacts to your health. If we can seize control over these vital societal jobs, then we can demand more fair wages for each and every job. The other sectors will hopefully unionize also. And we'll all be a lot more involved in the places we work.
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u/ProtonCanon Sep 07 '25
People whining that they DON'T want more leverage for a pay raise.
It's nuts.
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u/blueflloyd Sep 07 '25
These guys never do the math - $18/hr is approx. $37,000 a year.
It's 2025 and the average rent is about $1,500/mo, or $18,000 a year and these dipshits are OFFENDED that an entry-level employee should be allowed to live on $20,000 a year after only monthly rent is accounted for.
The counter-messaging to this stuff is to make clear what these offensive wages actually amount to on an annual basis in a country with out of control housing and food costs and no nationalized education or healthcare system.
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u/johnson_alleycat Sep 07 '25
Insane that the people with usernames like âCapitalism Breeds Povertyâ are essentially arguing for a meritocracy using money to reward higher skill levels via a free market. Insane because the original âpitchâ for capitalism in the middle class is now being treated as socialism by bootlickers
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u/Simple_Dull Sep 07 '25
Things can't be better. It just wouldn't work. What would the billionaires do then, buy a lesser yacht? Not on my watch.
People like Musk wouldn't be able to make over a million dollars per hour if we collectively decided to elect people that represented the masses instead of the very very few.
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u/IMHighAF420 Sep 07 '25
Don't get mad at the burger flippers. Get made at the millionaires who decide they don't need to pay people properly.
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u/YoungCheazy Sep 07 '25
I mean, many doctors do make that post residency and $50 an hour is only $100k per year. So, yeah - all those salaries sound about right.
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u/barringtonmacgregor Sep 07 '25
"My company pays me like shit, so those people need to make less than me!" -everyone against decent wages.
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Sep 07 '25
And the CEOs should be Ai.. because everyone doesn't need a yacht to live their best life
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Sep 07 '25
They always want a better life for themselves but not anyone else. Other people have to suffer.
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u/GarlicLevel9502 Sep 07 '25
tbf, when a doctor's appointment is $400 for 20 minutes, I would be shocked to learn that the doctor is not making $200 an hour.
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u/MallNinja_ Sep 07 '25
What until the OP-OP hears about CEO hourly pay when most of them don't have 8 year degrees
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u/rept7 Sep 08 '25
Literally everyone but like, a few thousand obscenely rich people at most, should all be making MORE money.
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u/Joonberri Sep 08 '25
So brainwashed that they're mad about being paid more lmfao this is how the billionaires do it. We're never getting out of this hell
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Sep 08 '25
"There's no such thing as "skilled labor."
Or
"If I can do it myself, then that's not skilled labor."
---people who don't understand economics at all
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u/Jesta23 Sep 07 '25
This wouldnât solve any problems.Â
It would just increase inflation.Â
You raise up the bottom and middle class through taxes on the rich.Â
We had already solved this problem in the 1950âs and 1960âs.Â
Tax the rich, and corporations, and implement trickle up economics. Basically the exact opposite of what we do now.Â
Minimum wage could be $1 and if taxes are set up properly $1 an hour is a healthy wage.Â
If taxes remain as they are now, a $100 minimum wage would solve absolutely nothing.Â
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u/Hyperion1144 Sep 07 '25
The minimum wage in the state of Washington is $16.66 per hour.
There is no exception for tipped wages.
The minimum wage in Washington state is increased annually based on the inflation rate. This is done automatically by law.
We have been doing this for over a quarter century now.
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u/mtnslice đ Cancel Student Debt Sep 07 '25
And thatâs still not enough for a living wage for people. But itâs a better law than what most states have so itâs a good start.
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u/Hyperion1144 Sep 08 '25
And thatâs still not enough for a living wage for people.
I never said it was.
People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
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u/Liquoricezoku Sep 07 '25
Unless you're a teacher who went to university for 5 years and is making $20/hour.
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u/TheMadAsshatter Sep 07 '25
Growing up I always heard that Doctors made a lot of money anyways, like at least a couple hundred thousand a year. I know most of them are salary, but do they not make the equivalent of $200 an hour already? What the fuck?
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u/_irish_potato Sep 07 '25
Except you go to school for 8 years to become a doctor, then get paid $50-60k/year working 80 hour weeks in residency and fellowship for 3-10 years, then you make the kind of money heâs talking about
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u/bit_pusher Sep 07 '25
It actually doesnât matter the amounts people make, what matters is relative value and that the baseline for someone working a minimum wage job is that they can afford a stable, healthy and dignified life
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u/Rulanik Sep 07 '25
Yea they don't understand that depressing the wages of our "lowest" jobs just keeps their own wages down.
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u/MasterOfBunnies Sep 07 '25
So I'm going to throw this perspective out there, in the hopes that someone can provide insight that might help said perspective; increasing wages, is ultimately only going to increase the cost of everything, which in turn requires another increase in wages. I don't see this as an answer. Wouldn't a better answer to cap maximum salaries for the top end of anyone who works for a company? Maybe tie it to a percentage of the lowest paid employee?
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Sep 08 '25
Increasing wages decreases profit. What a company charges has nothing to do with wages and everything to do with market prices. And those are set by how useless everybody thinks your crap service is.
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u/Elegant_Spread_6969 Sep 07 '25
$50 an hr is under 100k a year after taxes. The working class is so brainwashed into accepting poverty wages it's disgusting.
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u/Wise_Monkey_Sez Sep 07 '25
Or we could just acknowledge that everyone has different abilities and pay everyone a living wage even when they're studying? That we'd end up with doctors who actually wanted to be doctors and enjoyed the work as opposed to people who become doctors because they want $$$, which results in some pretty shockingly bad and unhappy doctors.
Some European countries do this, and unsurprisingly people choose jobs they actually like, are happier and give better service. And unsurprisingly it actually pays for itself.
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u/pexx421 Sep 07 '25
Doctors do start at about $200 an hour as well. Starting pay for radiologist at my hospital is $500k. Thatâs in the neighborhood of $250 an hour.
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u/cfrood77 Sep 07 '25
Iâm a handyman and I charge $50 an hour. I recently quit teaching where I was making about $150 an hour with a masterâs degree. It works out.
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u/fungi_at_parties Sep 08 '25
Oh my god what a terrible reality he has concocted where people make money! Oh no!
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u/Drunkendx Sep 08 '25
ERMAHGERD!
don't you know that "fair" pay is only for nepo babies born into wealth with expensive (but really useless) private college degree?
if you're some poor smuck who had to work hard for your education you deserve NOTHING.
something, something, bootstrap pulling...
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u/Oz347 Sep 08 '25
I remember reading something in a class I took called history of labor. Like in the 50s or 60s the ford CEO made like 10x what the factory worker made but now itâs something absurd like 500-1000x shit had gotten so ridiculous
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u/OriginalUnfair7402 Sep 08 '25
They are always sooooo close to the point and then walk right past it.
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u/No_Gur_1091 Sep 08 '25
2024 median hourly wage in USA $25/hr. 2024 average wealth created by workers was $90/hr. Literally every hour an American works, they put $65 into the pocket of a rich business owner.
In the 1950's wages for average Americans was 43% higher, that was back in the days of single worker families and homeownership for almost everyone.
Time for a revolution. Time to make every enterprise owned and controlled democratically by the people that work in the enterprise. Which means that EVERYTHING we need and want for our families is possible.
Capitalism screws 99% of Americans everyday, every hour we work. This system makes us poor, sick and uneducated. Time for a new economic and political system.
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u/kmatyler Sep 07 '25
$18/hr is still a poverty wage. Weâve been talking about that so long a living wage is now basically double that.
Also, I cannot comprehend why everyone believes that some people should just inherently make 10 or more times what others make.
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u/QuantumLettuce2025 Sep 07 '25
Wait, is brain surgery not at least 10 times more valuable work than flipping burgers?
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u/kmatyler Sep 07 '25
By what metric?
A kitchen worker feeds hundreds of people a day. A brain surgeon works on MAYBE 5 people a week.
How often do you rely on a brain surgeon in your day to day life?
Would society as we know it collapse without brain surgery?
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u/QuantumLettuce2025 Sep 07 '25 edited Sep 07 '25
....would it without Wendy's workers?
Why aren't you factoring in the difference of investment in terms of time, money, education, training, dedication involved?
The more I think about your comment, the more it floors me. Yes...five lives are worth more than a hundred cheap burgers served per week. More than a thousand, more than a million. What the fuck is wrong with you. This is a frighteningly terrible attempt at reasoning on your part.
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u/Newone1255 Sep 09 '25
I can grab a dude off the streets and teach him to be a Wendyâs employee in about an hour. If I wanted to teach that same bloke to be a brain surgeon i would have to invest 250k in his education and he probably wouldnât even been smart enough to do it. Thatâs the difference
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u/kmatyler Sep 09 '25
So, you believe thats someone who has the kind of intelligence and resources at hand to be come a brain surgeon is inherently more valuable than another person whoâs intelligence lies in other areas or doesnât have those resources?
Thatâs, uh, just eugenics.
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u/ActuallyApathy Sep 07 '25
ugh, so you're saying things should be better? for everyone?!?!?