(February 11, 2013 at 2:31 am)fr0d0 Wrote:No, I'm not happy with business doing that. I'm completely against it, and if any company offered me a job with such a wage, I would refuse it. So should anyone else with any sense.(February 11, 2013 at 12:38 am)Tiberius Wrote: ...I'm not.Sorry to dally...
But you're happy for business's to drive down minimum wage to below sustenance levels because the market polices itself?
My position is: companies should be allowed to offer such wages, and government should not be setting the minimum value of work. Like it or not, but any wage or salary is an agreement between an employee and an employer. If a company offered a job for $1 an hour, people are not going to take it, since it would be absurd to try and live off that amount (without being homeless of course). What happens when nobody takes up the $1 an hour job? Well, the company is losing money by not having the position filled, so they must make it more enticing...i.e. increase the wage.
This is only one factor of a self-regulating market; people also (generally) do not like to support business that treats employees badly. Consumer action might not be powerful in a corporatist society where businesses are kept alive by governments despite public opinion, but in a capitalist society, consumer action can kill a company very quickly.
So no, I'm not happy with businesses driving down wages to ridiculous levels. However, I'm happy to let them try and see how fucked they get when nobody comes to work for them and people boycott them for being assholes.
