I work at a union hospital, I feel that I am paid a fair wage and am happy with my insurance plan and benefits. While I am traditionaly not a pro union person, I do see the need for unions in some situations. My primary gripe with unions is that, in my experience, they promote political issues that I disagree with. One example is the push for an increase in the minimum wage. I don't want to get into a debate about if the minimum wage should or should not be increased, I just want to see if any of you agree or disagree with the opinion I'm about to express.
For the ease of explaining what I'm thinking I'm going to just use arbitrary numbers here. Lets say minimum wage is $5.00/hr and RN pay is $20.00/hr.
The various factors in the economy have determined that an RN makes $20/hr, or that the value of the RN is worth $15 more than than that of an unskilled or minimum wage worker.
I'm thinking that if my union is pushing for the minimum wage to increase to (for example only) $14/hr, then the union should be pushing just as hard for the RN wage to also increase by 50%. If the union does not push for an equal pay increase for the RN's it represents, then isn't it diminishing the value of the RN's education/skills/knowledge. What I'm saying is it seems that to close the gap between an RN's pay and minimum wage, we are effectively earning less or our jobs have been devalued. I'm wondering if this makes sense and if anyone agrees or disagrees and why.
Unlike past politial threads I've commented in, I promise to keep civil. I'm only interested in discussion and getting some of your input.
I am all for raising minimum wage at least some. Wages have been stagnant so long that I have less usable income than I had 5 years ago. I do however think a jump to $15.00/hr is a bit extreme. The problem I see is a big jump will mean small employers can't afford staff so fewer people will have jobs. Also if entry level jobs are paying that much skilled job wages need to rise accordingly and it won't take long after all wages are increased for the cost of goods and services to increase and we'll be right back to square one.
"Then they graduate to find out their degree is virtually worthless and end up working as waitresses and secretaries etc making minimum wage or not much more!"
Ya, I'm not sure how people don't realize their Music History degree or Art Appreciation degree that cost them $30,000 and up ($100,000 at a private university)will not be a good return on their investment. My generation tends to not take responsibility for their bad decisions. I'm all for people going to trade school where the tuition is cheaper and the ROI is better. Or get a STEM degree.
"I envy Europe and Canada where workers have national healthcare, decent wages and benefits that rival us and put us to shame! "
Um, I've lived and worked in Europe. Their healthcare system isn't all that great. They pay out the wazoo for it in taxes, like 40-50% of their income. Plus, now that they've got all these poor eastern Europe countries coming into the EU, they are bogging down their system. My friend in England took his daughter to the doctor for tonsillitis and the follow-up appointment would be six months later (too many patients and not enough doctors). He was given the option to go to the doctor's private clinic the next week which he opted to do. Oh, and they cap their pay for the doctors and nurses over in Europe. You know, because healthcare workers should do this job out of the kindness of their heart.
They don't actually pay 40-50 of their income for healthcare, and actually pay about half as much as we do per person (or often even less than half).
Or, people making minimum wage will just cut their hours and still collect benefits while profiting from their job.
Work less = Same paycheck value = Same government assistance benefits
Voluntarily reducing your hours actually forfeits most public assistance. The problem is that even a large portion of full time hourly workers require public assistance. Yes, the lack of financial benefit from working vs not working in general is a problem, one that could be reduced with an increase in the minimum wage.
Voluntarily reducing your hours actually forfeits most public assistance. The problem is that even a large portion of full time hourly workers require public assistance. Yes, the lack of financial benefit from working vs not working in general is a problem, one that could be reduced with an increase in the minimum wage.
An increase in minimum wage, and subsequent loss of benefits, does not reduce the problem, but instead increases it because the increase in wages does not make up for the loss of benefits. Also, (at least where I live) there is no verification process for change in hours, only verification of wages. A person can drop their hours to continue collection of benefits.
It all comes down to economics. Raising the minimum raise is inflation if it causes everyone to desire higher wages in relation with the rise in the minimum wage and the price increases that come along with it. People working the minimum wage jobs will always be on the bottom, and no wage increase will change that. Most everyone lives beyond their means, that's just human psychology and economics. Wages are based on supply and demand, not on the value that society places on the role you play. Teachers, fire fighters, nurses all hold honorable positions and hold a lot of value to society. However, our value is not reflected by our wages... unfortunately.
Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
Bay area? That is the only place I can think of other than DC or NYC that $15 might not cover it.
This is the main reason I think this should be a county/state issue. $15 an hour is far too high to be a floor in some areas, whereas you'd be lucky to afford a shoebox in the gutter in some certain urban areas. Failing that, at least calculate the cost of living for each county like they do for military allowance for housing.
Consider the cost of living expenses in the largest state in the Union. $15/hr doesn't buy much here.
Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.
The minimum wage here in WA is $9.32 an hour. That means if you have two minimum wage parents in the house, you have equal to almost $20 an hour, or close to $40,000 a year. There is also a lot of supplemental assistance available for families.
That is assuming an intact family. People should make wise choices regarding having children out of wedlock, making certain they can afford it, but there's always divorce too. We all know that life is a messy business, I was poor myself at one time, mostly from my own choices.
Now, housing is more expensive here in WA. For people with low income I've heard there are housing subsidies from the government. Yes, you don't have as much choice as to where you live, but that's one of the rewards of working your butt off to advance yourself.
They raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour in Seattle. I hear it has forced businesses to cut back hours and positions for workers. I'm sure it must decrease the buying power of everyone, I think that's basic economics.
The new minumum wage has not gone into effect yet. There is a lot of speculation.
kbrn2002, ADN, RN
3,973 Posts
I am all for raising minimum wage at least some. Wages have been stagnant so long that I have less usable income than I had 5 years ago. I do however think a jump to $15.00/hr is a bit extreme. The problem I see is a big jump will mean small employers can't afford staff so fewer people will have jobs. Also if entry level jobs are paying that much skilled job wages need to rise accordingly and it won't take long after all wages are increased for the cost of goods and services to increase and we'll be right back to square one.