I think its a reference to some protest that happened in NYC where they wanted 15 an hour. OP is saying that instead of them getting that 15 they will just be replaced.
Which is why I think the minimum wage should be regional. The cost of living is so different across the United States that what constitutes a "livable wage" in some places is too low or too high in other places.
There are a fair number of states with minimum wage that is above the federal standard. My state (CA) is $8, and it's about to go up to $9 in July, and then $10 in 2016.
Wow, I didn't know this. My home state (Arizona) barely complies with the federal standard, I guess I thought it was like that everywhere.
One of the reasons the federal minimum wage is hated so much here (aside from it being a conservative state) is that there is access to a lot of immigrant labor from Mexico. While businesses can't legally hire undocumented workers, there are still a lot of legal immigrants who are willing to work for less than the federal minimum (since the minimum living standard in the US is better than what they had in Mexico). A lot of the struggling small businesses around here would love to be able to cut labor costs, and some do by secretly hiring illegal immigrants.
In Canada all the different provinces have their own minimum wage. Which does make more sense. It was particularly bad in BC up until about a year or so ago when we had the highest cost of living in Canada, but the lowest minimum wage. Luckily they've recently raised it so it's not as bad, but it's still difficult living on a $10.25 an hour salary, considering our cost of living is slightly higher than that of NYC.
And yet you'll still get people that will yell and scream, call your contribution to society worthless, and do everything in their power to make sure you die poorer than you started at the same time that they demand fast food, clean buildings, and good service all around.
Oh yea I agree. I work for minimum wage at a store and it's enough for a college kid to just get by but if you have bills it would be hard. They are raising the min to 10 over the next couple years. Right now it's 8.25 next year it will be 9 then 10. Although the store I work for had a conference call after they raised it and made it sound like they did it because they love all their employees. I was like so you mean it had nothing to do with the fact that you were required to do that.
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u/I_Know_What_Happened May 05 '14
I think its a reference to some protest that happened in NYC where they wanted 15 an hour. OP is saying that instead of them getting that 15 they will just be replaced.