From the people who want $15 an hour minimum wage for unskilled workers

[Helix]

Who are these people without access to the army or any of the millions of companies providing education assistance?

College borrowing is up, even among wealthy students

Half of black college students graduate with more than $25,000 in student loan debt | Money | theguardian.com

it's a pretty poor idea to put a significant paywall between the student and his or her continuing education.

 

[Sabanist]

People who scrub toilets are just as important as the guy running the ****ing company. Many people do those mundane tasks are not paid what they're worth.

You are contradicting yourself, do you "get what you pay for?" Or are "people not laud what they are worth"

How is it that the guy woman cleaning the toilet is just as important as the accountant or engineer?

This is ridiculous

 

[gdgyva]

People who scrub toilets are just as important as the guy running the ****ing company. Many people do those mundane tasks are not paid what they're worth.

Wow.....really dude?

The guy cleaning toilets is just as important as the CEO or the CFO of the company

Wonder how the executives at your company would take that statement from you?

Somehow, I don't think they would like it much....do you?

 

[Unrepresented]

Wow.....really dude?

The guy cleaning toilets is just as important as the CEO or the CFO of the company

Wonder how the executives at your company would take that statement from you?

Somehow, I don't think they would like it much....do you?

Not my post but I'm less concerned about their feelings than about the people struggling to pay bills earning bottom level incomes.

 

[Deuce]

No, but I am under the impression that artificially inflating wages for unskilled labor to a level above what the market is willing to pay someone to do a job that requires quite a bit of training is beyond stupid.

So you don't think wages for the graphic designer would go above minimum wage? Really?

 

[HenryChinaski]

Wow.....really dude?

The guy cleaning toilets is just as important as the CEO or the CFO of the company

Wonder how the executives at your company would take that statement from you?

Somehow, I don't think they would like it much....do you?

The partners in my firm make it very clear that the woman who empties their trash cans is just as valuable to the firm is they are. It's all relative.

 

[Neomalthusian]

The partners in my firm make it very clear that the woman who empties their trash cans is just as valuable to the firm is they are. It's all relative.

Then does your firm pay its partners what they pay the woman who empties their trash cans?

 

[HenryChinaski]

Then does your firm pay its partners what they pay the woman who empties their trash cans?

Of course not, but they realize how indispensable the services people are and don't pay them slave wages. but a good salary you can live on. Well above what they would make at other companies including the competitors. in return they get good quality service, low turnover, better attitude just all-around firm loyalty.

 

[Neomalthusian]

Of course not, but they realize how indispensable the services people are and don't pay them slave wages. but a good salary you can live on. Well above what they would make at other companies including the competitors. in return they get good quality service, low turnover, better attitude just all-around firm loyalty.

First of all, slaves don't get wages.

Second, that just shows that the firm happens to value the good quality service, low turnover, better attitude and firm loyalty you mention more than they value the difference in cost between what they do pay and what they could pay. The firm pays a premium for extra qualities in a garbage gatherer. Nothing wrong with that. That's their choice.

But it's disingenuous for you or the partners to claim or suggest the trash collector's value to the firm is regarded as equal to the partners' value to the firm, because that is absolutely and obviously not the case. Maybe "value as a human being" or something sentimental/abstract like that, but obviously not the value of that job's tasks being completed compared to the value of the partner's job tasks being completed.

 

[LagerHead]

Hogwash, Try working in any place of business with filthy bathrooms, no toilet paper, broken copier machines, no one to deliver work, process outgoing tax returns etc, that business would not and could not function.

Nice patronizing pandering. Try working in a company without someone starting it, making the sales, creating and maintaining budgets. That company wouldn't even exist, so whether or not it functions would be a moot point.

 

[LagerHead]

So you don't think wages for the graphic designer would go above minimum wage? Really?

Why should it? It is more likely that he would either be earning minimum wage or he would lose his job because the minimum wage is now more than the job is worth to the company. If you don't believe me, ask the next guy who pumps your gas, or the next bathroom attendant you see, or one of the many other jobs that have been phased out due to minimum wage laws.

 

[HenryChinaski]

Nice patronizing pandering. Try working in a company without someone starting it, making the sales, creating and maintaining budgets. That company wouldn't even exist, so whether or not it functions would be a moot point.

The bones of a successful business is the mailroom, without us, the contracts(the business) doesn't get where it's going. And if the business doesn't get where it needs to be then no revenue comes in. Mailroom, facilities, hoteling, conference services, without any of this a business can't function. It's the glue that holds it together.

 

[Blue_State]

The bones of a successful business is the mailroom, without us, the contracts(the business) doesn't get where it's going. And if the business doesn't get where it needs to be then no revenue comes in. Mailroom, facilities, hoteling, conference services, without any of this a business can't function. It's the glue that holds it together.

Blast you email!

 

[HenryChinaski]

First of all, slaves don't get wages.

Second, that just shows that the firm happens to value the good quality service, low turnover, better attitude and firm loyalty you mention more than they value the difference in cost between what they do pay and what they could pay. The firm pays a premium for extra qualities in a garbage gatherer. Nothing wrong with that. That's their choice.

But it's disingenuous for you or the partners to claim or suggest the trash collector's value to the firm is regarded as equal to the partners' value to the firm, because that is absolutely and obviously not the case. Maybe "value as a human being" or something sentimental/abstract like that, but obviously not the value of that job's tasks being completed compared to the value of the partner's job tasks being completed.

When a person's livelihood depends on wages, more so when the dependence is total and immediate, living hand to mouth, that is wage slavery. Pure economic exploitation.

 

[tres borrachos]

Hogwash, Try working in any place of business with filthy bathrooms, no toilet paper, broken copier machines, no one to deliver work, process outgoing tax returns etc, that business would not and could not function.

Copier machines aren't fixed by a business' employees. The copier machines are under service contract and are fixed by certified service technicians.

 

[HenryChinaski]

Blast you email!

Can't email notarized documents, and tax returns in most states. On the 15th of last month my facility processed over ten thousand outgoing tax returns via certified mail. Any clue what that entails and how labor intensive that is? Without us it would all go to ****, heck we should unionize.

 

[HenryChinaski]

Copier machines aren't fixed by a business' employees. The copier machines are under service contract and are fixed by certified service technicians.

Our machines are serviced in-house, everything is.

 

[KLATTU]

The bones of a successful business is the mailroom, without us, the contracts(the business) doesn't get where it's going. And if the business doesn't get where it needs to be then no revenue comes in. Mailroom, facilities, hoteling, conference services, without any of this a business can't function. It's the glue that holds it together.

With all due respect , this kind of mindset is why you are working in the mailroom for (possibly) a millionaire.
HE understands what makes a business ACTUALLY work.

In fairness to you, most people don't, which is why there are very few in the entrepenuer class and many in the worker class.

There will be a 100 guys who know to put a car together who will do nothing until that one guy figures out how to get a car factory started.

 

[gdgyva]

The partners in my firm make it very clear that the woman who empties their trash cans is just as valuable to the firm is they are. It's all relative.

you say big 3 accounting firm

i have no doubt that they may feel that EVERY employee is valued, and every employee is important

but i would have serious doubts that they believe the janitorial staff is just as important to the business as they are

they could easily empty the wastebaskets, and vacuum the offices

something tells me the night cleaning lady couldnt do their job though.....hence the difference in importance

 

[tres borrachos]

The bones of a successful business is the mailroom, without us, the contracts(the business) doesn't get where it's going. And if the business doesn't get where it needs to be then no revenue comes in. Mailroom, facilities, hoteling, conference services, without any of this a business can't function. It's the glue that holds it together.

You apparently work in an industry where signed contracts are being returned via the US mail. Unfortunately for your concept here, electronically delivered contracts are now completely legal, and as a matter of fact, most contracts and orders are no longer sent via the USPS but are in fact delivered via email. So no, the "bones" of a successful business is not the mailroom. My company employs over 30,000 employees worldwide, and I've had to mail something to my HQ in the US about 6 times in the last 5 years. I can dispatch critical information to Singapore or Moscow or Vienna or Phoenix or anywhere else in the world in about 20 seconds now.

 

[countryboy]

Can't email notarized documents, and tax returns in most states. On the 15th of last month my facility processed over ten thousand outgoing tax returns via certified mail. Any clue what that entails and how labor intensive that is? Without us it would all go to ****, heck we should unionize.

Tax returns don't require certified mail, and can be electronically transmitted.

Your job is labor intensive, so what. Lots of us have work that is labor intensive. What makes you think you're special?

 

[tres borrachos]

Our machines are serviced in-house, everything is.

Then your company isn't the great business you make them out to be. A copier machine's manufacturer's warranty is nullified when someone other than one of their certified service techs tinkers with a machine. If they don't know this, then they are poor business people.

 

[Papa bull]

Are you folks under the impression that graphics design would continue to pay 13/hour if minimum wage went to $15?

So you figure that all other wages would go up if minimum wage was boosted?

Seems like you're making the argument that raising minimum wage is inflationary. I agree with that. But why don't these people want to pay a skilled web designer as much as they think unskilled labor should be paid? Are you telling me that socialists don't believe in paying what a job is worth without the government forcing them to do it?

So much to think about here, huh?

 

[gdgyva]

The partners in my firm make it very clear that the woman who empties their trash cans is just as valuable to the firm is they are. It's all relative.

so you work for something like a price waterhouse, in one of their regional offices

and the local partners have made every employee feel needed and wanted

brilliant....

dont disagree with their management philosophy or their team building skills

i do disagree that the ceo/cfo/vp's in that organization would think the night cleaning staff is just as important as they are

replacing janitorial staff is fairly simple....replacing executives in a company like that....not so much

kinda different skill set.....

 

[LagerHead]

The bones of a successful business is the mailroom, without us, the contracts(the business) doesn't get where it's going. And if the business doesn't get where it needs to be then no revenue comes in. Mailroom, facilities, hoteling, conference services, without any of this a business can't function. It's the glue that holds it together.

Whatever you say, dude. I'm sure the company started as just a mail room and it was so successful at sending and receiving mail to nobody that it was eventually able to hire someone to invent a product to sell and eventually a sales force to sell the product so you finally had someone to whom to deliver mail. All hail the mail handlers. Screw the unimportant businessmen that just get in the way of the revenue you generate. :roll: