The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Wages? Pay the cost or shut your doors
There comes a point when an argument against something becomes as tired and worn-out as a cheap suit that should be thrown away.
That is the way I feel about the ongoing argument against raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour.
It has gone beyond being ridiculous. It is downright shameful and disgraceful and I am wondering what country those opposed to it are living in, because it definitely is not America.
I am so sick of hearing how raising the limit would lead to the closing of thousands of small businesses across the nation and throw this nation into chaos.
Well, I have a message for all those small-business owners who are crying about paying their workers more money: stop your whining, pay the cost or close your doors.
And spare me the outrage.
I don’t believe welfare should be the answer for people who live in the land of opportunity and are working every day.
But the message has become, “welfare is good enough for them.”
I am not sure why these business owners feel people should work for these starvation wages so they can keep their doors open and be successful.
Because that is what raising the rate is all about.
The people who own these businesses wouldn’t work for that amount of money and they don’t expect their children to work for that amount — so who are they to insist that others do?
Over and over, lawmakers, lobbyists and politicians push that message of fear, which in my opinion is a redirect into a false narrative.
What lawmakers don’t talk about is who picks up the cost for these people who are not being paid a livable wage.
But we know the answer to that is you, me and every other taxpayer.
Yet, all we hear is raising the wage will lead to fewer jobs and fewer opportunities for low-income earners.
Let’s take a look at these “opportunities” and how ridiculous their argument stands against the realities of life.
Right now, the minimum wage in Connecticut is $12 per hour. That amounts to $480 for a 40-hour work week — and thousands of workers never reach those full-time hours.
Raise your hand if you think you can pay rent, utilities, phone and cable and feed your kids on that kind of income. Forget quality of life.
Even at $15 per hour, slated to go into effect in Connecticut in June 2023, some type of assistance will still come into play to help stretch that $31,200 annual earnings.
I think readers can figure out why, considering a two-bedroom apartment in 2020 will set a renter back at least $1,300 monthly.
So, somebody, please tell me why taxpayers should pick up the slack for business owners so they can keep their doors open?
I agree with the lawmaker from California who said on CNN “if you can’t afford vacation pay, you don’t have a viable business model.”
He couldn’t be more right.
I remember going to a Small Business Association seminar in Old Saybrook in the early 2000s. Like others there, I wondered what it would take to start my own business and keep it running.
We went over all the aspects of putting together a viable business plan, and what repeatedly was stressed was paying employees and, that no matter what, you had to have the money to pay wages.
Giving people raises and offering benefits is part of owning a business.
I am not sure when that changed, but I do know it can’t be blamed on the pandemic as the argument against raising wages goes back decades.
It is even more disturbing when you consider the type of work most minimum-wage earners do.
I think we all remember last April as the virus ravaged America, affecting food supplies and workers and sending people into a panic.
We were desperate as store shelves were empty and hourly employees were afraid to come to work as their co-workers fell victim to COVID-19.
I wonder how much having those workers return in force to keep shelves stocked was worth to the opposition then, so that they could feed their families.
I bet like everyone else, they were cheering for those workers.
Now, those same workers are not worth $15 an hour? Give me a break.
And it’s not only the food industry. The entire business community stands united to fight against supplying these workers with higher wages and better health benefits.
The Fair Labor Standards Act was passed in 1938. It was established to protect workers from abuses that had occurred during the Industrial Revolution a century before, as well as the Great Depression of the 1930s.
I guess that government protection ran out a long time ago when businesses decided there were so many people who needed jobs, employers could just throw people away and fill the slots.
And that is why in the year 2020, the federal minimum wage stands at just $7.25.
How ridiculous is that? I know many small businesses are suffering and teetering on the edge and no one wants them to close their doors. But this argument has grown stale because whether business has been good or bad, the hourly worker has always lost out.
I say if America’s capitalist system found a way to create a wealth gap that has become unimaginable, then it can find a way to raise pay and benefits and not throw the nation into chaos.
As far as I am concerned, there are only two solutions to this problem.
Wages? Pay the cost or shut your doors.