I posted this blog back in April, and I feel compelled to re-post with some added angst.
Guys...what the fuck. I keep seeing the same damn arguments over and over and over again about the wage increases. Now that New York fast food restaurants finally won, everyone is back up in arms and using the same shallow, selfish, and thoughtless complaints.
Ya know what's really funny? A lot of the complainers 1. Don't even have a clue how expensive it is to live in most of New York, and 2. Use the argument that these people don't work as hard as "them." "Them" being electricians, certain medical professionals, etc. But what you're not getting is that these people worked REALLY HARD to be heard. Yes, they worked hard in a different way than YOU wanted them to work hard, but they worked hard nonetheless. And now, every single person who disagrees with the wage increase just sounds like jealous whiners.
After my signature I will turn your attention to a sound-minded human being--a medical professional himself--who constructed a Facebook post to end all arguments against the wage increases. I shared it yesterday, but in case you didn't see it for your convenience all you'll have to do is scroll down =)
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I've seen some really good discussions going around the internet about those posts about fast food workers demanding for an increase in wages--specifically to $15 an hour. Though I certainly disagree that they should actually receive $15 an hour, I firmly agree that they should receive more. And not because of what their actual job is, either. There's something more important going on here.
That said, I decided to comment on a message thread on Facebook that talks about this issue, because I think the issues people are getting into--namely the "but what about me and my job/i should receive more than them" arguments--are completely missing the point to all of this.
My comment on that thread below:
I'd like to point out that the main issue here isn't just what they do. The main issue here is that big businesses have billions of dollars in revenue(<---edit: Billions of dollars in profit. Yes, revenue, obviously, but profit is the driving force behind the argument. In other words, this money is give-able) and hardly give anything to their employees. Economically speaking, this is a BIG problem.
I just posted an article the other day about a credit card company located in Seattle. The owner/CEO/whatever you want to call him cut his salary from 1 Million dollars a year to 70K/year to give everyone else in his company 70K/year as well. This guy not only understands business, but he also understands money and how local economies work. It should be known that this business is not a billion dollar or MULTI billion dollar company. Nowhere near, in fact. So how can he do that, but big businesses can't raise wage a little? I'm not saying 15, even though that's pittance compared to the 70 grand that guy is shelling out to his employees, but a raise in the minimum wage shouldn't be that hard to come by.
That said, I agree that this should become standard across the board (virtually). See, the thing with economics is that it relies largely on supply and demand. Supply and demand is influenced by local/state/country GDP per capita so if everyone is making more money, then businesses would raise their prices. What's amazing about these wage increases is that if these big businesses DID do this, then the calculations have already been done because these rage increases ARE being done in other parts of the world. The price of these products would only increase about 1 dollar on average. When you're making 3 to 4 to 5 etc. dollars over the (current) minimum, a 1 dollar increase in goods doesn't effect us as much. In fact, we'd still get more bang for the buck AND have more leftover because of the increase in our wages.
To conclude, I'm already making well over both of these talked about wages (10/15), but I still understand how important it is for these people to make an appropriate wage in order to benefit the rest of our economy.
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As previously suggested, I'm glad a lot of people are talking about this issue, but try not to lose sight of the main problem going on here. Big businesses--ones that, believe it or not, find ways to pay very little taxes each year--do not pay their fair share of wages to employees. They hoard money at the top, and then around election time complain that "poor people" aren't working hard enough, and that's why they're poor. That's a very ignorant/selfish/greedy/misunderstood train of thinking that needs to end in order for our country to start making real progress in these areas.
I could get into student loans, how the cost of education does not equal the wage we're given and so on, but I won't in this post. All I'll say is that the problem is starting to work it's way up to corporations. Have that college degree? Masters? How's 40 grand sound? To someone who just came out of high school, it would sound great. To someone who spent 100 grand in student loans it sounds like we've been conned by the system.
- PatInTheHat
From Jens Rushing:
Fast food workers in NY just won a $15/hr wage.
I'm a paramedic. My job requires a broad set of skills: interpersonal, medical, and technical skills, as well as the crucial skill of performing under pressure. I often make decisions on my own, in seconds, under chaotic circumstances, that impact people's health and lives. I make $15/hr.
And these burger flippers think they deserve as much as me?
Good for them.
Look, if any job is going to take up someone's life, it deserves a living wage. If a job exists and you have to hire someone to do it, they deserve a living wage. End of story. There's a lot of talk going around my workplace along the lines of, "These guys with no education and no skills think they deserve as much as us? Fuck those guys." And elsewhere on FB: "I'm a licensed electrician, I make $13/hr, fuck these burger flippers."
And that's exactly what the bosses want! They want us fighting over who has the bigger pile of crumbs so we don't realize they made off with almost the whole damn cake. Why are you angry about fast food workers making two bucks more an hour when your CEO makes four hundred TIMES what you do? It's in the bosses' interests to keep your anger directed downward, at the poor people who are just trying to get by, like you, rather than at the rich assholes who consume almost everything we produce and give next to nothing for it.
My company, as they're so fond of telling us in boosterist emails, cleared 1.3 billion dollars last year. They expect guys supporting families on 26-27k/year to applaud that. And that's to say nothing of the techs and janitors and cashiers and bed pushers who make even less than us, but are as absolutely crucial to making a hospital work as the fucking CEO or the neurosurgeons. Can they pay us more? Absolutely. But why would they? No one's making them.
The workers in NY *made* them. They fought for and won a living wage. So how incredibly petty and counterproductive is it to fuss that their pile of crumbs is bigger than ours? Put that energy elsewhere. Organize. Fight. Win.
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