Philly airport workers vote to strike during the DNC

originally posted by: JinMI
Please tell me how people wanting a living wage are greedy?

I'll bite: Because, often times, the investment put into their own "skills" (in quotation marks because much of what these people do doesn't take any more skill than having two arms and legs, and sometimes not even that) does not equate to earning a living wage, and employers should not be forced to pay one when the ROI isn't there.

It's simple supply-and-demand--if you have jobs where honed or particular skills attained from years of education and experience are not necessary, and there are thousands of applicants for said jobs, a high wage is neither necessary nor economical.

And be honest with yourself and the readers, here--these jobs were never meant to provide a living wage, nor are they usually occupied by people who need a single-income "living wage" (e.g.: College students, people who live with people providing additional income, sharing housing with roommates, etc.). The outcry for a "living wage" to become the standard entry-level pay is ridiculous, and quite frankly, only called for by people who ignore the realities of the economic impact that this would have overall.

Wealth, or even just a "living wage" is something that should be invested in and achieved over time, not straight out of high school, or even while in high school. Why have we seemingly lost our work ethic in this country to the point where everyone who gets a job, no matter how unskilled, should be compensated with a living wage?

So, to flip the script, JinMI, please tell me why what I just pointed out should not be seen (in general) as greed. Whatever happened to expecting appropriate compensation for the work that someone puts in.

And if you want to talk about a piss-poor hourly wage, ask me what I made when I was in the Army, because Soldiers are expected to be ready for work 24/7, and often sleep less hours than most people play video games on a daily basis. Soldiers earn their money. Plane washers earn $12/hr, and should be happy to get that.

a reply to: SlapMonkey

www.indeed.com... ZFowqnPpkLfP5Md6JkycvfVYukEoQ

It's a little bit tougher than flipping burgers. Reading this particular ad, which I pulled because it was the first one, I see that it's a part time job so this kind of goes against my argument.

Someone wanting to EARN a suitable for full time work does not make them greedy no matter how you spin it. I know you've heard this as have I, and are probably tired of it, as am I, but there are people out there who put time/money into expensive degrees. I'm sure they were hoping to have the upward mobility in the job market. Now they find themselves with a degree an no jobs.

I get personal responsibility and smart choices. I've been there. I had to go to school while I worked. Work crap jobs till the one I wanted came along. This particular job however, in other parts of the country is unionized, and they make a few more an hour. Here's the BLS links for comparison

www.bls.gov...
Median is $11.58

Compared to the supervisors, compensation more than doubles!
www.bls.gov...

ETA: I realized there is an actual "LIVING WAGE," and for Philadelphia, it looks to be upwards around 16. I don't think they should make that...but not be paid slave wages either.

a reply to: JinMI

I get the whole issue with money invested in degrees, only to find out that there are no jobs out there in that field. But that is indicative of a bigger issue where parents, high school and college "guidance counselors," and the students themselves need to do a better job researching where the jobs are and in what fields of study.

I got relatively lucky--I'm good at what I do and worked my way up from making about $18K before taxes back in 2006 to now having more than tripled that in what I'm doing now, and I did it by following the jobs, and even being laid off due to the recession. But I hold a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Graphic Design, so it could have gone very differently for me upon graduation. I STILL know people with whom I graduated that have never found a job in the graphic-design field, and are working at places like Starbucks. But many of those people are unwilling to move, too, so there you go--people have to be willing to make the sacrifices in order to get where they want to be.

But I think that the whole mindset that people MUST go to college in order to be successful is part of the problem, because there are many, MANY industries and job fields where a college education does a combination of jack and sh*t toward the performance and skill of one's job. Hell, mine is that way--if there was a trade school for graphic design, I could have learned as much, if not more, just focusing on that and had a better skill set heading out into the job world.

But I'm going off on a tangent. I'm glad that we seem to semi-agree that these types of jobs (I assumed that they were part-time just by the nature and pay of them) don't "deserve" a living-wage hourly compensation. And I certainly don't think that $12/hr is tantamount to "slave wages." I remember 20 years ago when I was flipping burgers for $4.25/hr out in California where the cost of living isn't exactly peanuts. Making nearly three times that amount for a part-time job is perfectly acceptable, because I know for a fact that the CoL in the United States has not tripled in 20 years.

i totally lol'ed