Union Perspectives

The $15 an hour minimum wage has been virtually stopped by governors passing $15 an hour minimum wage laws that will take years for workers to realize. The slow walking of the minimum wage is nothing more than an attempt to pacify workers and those who support them, but nothing more. What good will $15 an hour in six years do for workers today, especially those effected by minimum wage laws that have lots of loopholes. I cautioned about politicians who would slow walk an increase of the minimum wage a year or so ago and, unfortunately, I was right. New York and California are slow walking the states’ minimum wage increase, but they added such safety valves as having state officials who are to conduct annual analysis of the economy in each region to determine whether a temporary suspension of the scheduled increases is necessary, the government press release states. Now, guess who won’t be on the panel making the decisions on whether or not wages should be increased–wage slaves. The wo...

The slow walking of the $15 to $18 an hour minimum wage and the free state college up to the bachelor’s level (as what Starbucks wants its new hires to have), but at least corporations in the U.S. is walking very slowly, which just goes to show that it is possible to win higher wages and free higher education. But we need to accelerate the pace before the money people turn public opinion against the movement by giving inch by inch until they see that the momentum is turning toward them. So when we get a little relief in wages the wage slaves should not think of it as a win, but look at it as a stalling tactic to slow down the fight for $15 to $18. Remember anything less than $15 is a loser for most low wage stand along workers for $8 through $12, probably will reduce or disqualify you from any kind of government assistance, such as food stamps or healthcare. The minimum to help in the inequality has to be at least $15 to $18. Now, for college tuition, look at where the ever increasin...