Why We Don't Need a Minimum Wage

There is plenty of talk these days about raising the minimum wage from its current level, $5.75-per-hour for most workers, by a large increment.  President Obama proposes that $10.10-per-hour for federal contract workers is a fair wage, and some would like it to be even higher than that.

I am opposed to any increase of more that a quarter to possibly fifty cents per hour, and I truly don't see a need for it at all right now.  For one reason, I offer that the states have their own minimum wage levels and several are already above the federal minimum.  And for a second, the market always controls wages, and that includes minimum, or as it is truly termed, starting wages. 

Let's face it, nobody who works for an hourly wage stays at minimum wage beyond the first few months of employment.  If they don't get a raise within ninety days, they are most likely to get fired for poor performance instead.  Minimum wage was never intended to be what the politicians term "a living wage."  It is mostly the wage given to teens who are starting a fast-food job or some other part-time or non-skilled job.  And even that is rarely the case, because wages are market-driven, and competitive, so most employers have to offer more than the minimum to get help.

Now, there is one category of help that doesn't get minimum wage; people who work mainly for gratuities.  That includes hotel/motel maids and bellhops, valets at hotels, restaurants and any clubs or associations that offer valet parking, wait staff at restaurants that offer table service and redcaps/skycaps who check bags at the curb.  Those people are paid $2.13-per-hour, and that wage hasn't changed in decades.  I know, because I worked as a skycap for six years after I retired from my airline job.  That was back in the 90s, and I know for a fact that skycaps who worked for my airline while I was employed there between 1966 and 1995 were paid the same $2.13 during that entire period.

If you've never worked at a job where you depend on tips for most of your income, you probably think that $2.13-per-hour is criminal.  After all, a lot of people are too cheap to tip, and some just don't know when and where tipping is appropriate.  Even when you can somewhat count on tips, how much can you make that way?

Let me recount my experience as a skycap.  I worked on weekends only, so my hours were usually around 12-16 in a week.  Even with a ratio of 1-in-3 people giving tips for service and at an average of $1-per-bag, I rarely came home with less than $150. So for two days of work, I was pulling down $18.75-per-hour exclusive of that $2.13 hourly wage.  It was very sufficient to live on.  Had I worked full-time, I could have been making as much as $800-per-week.

I can't tell you that others in restaurants, hotels and such make those kind of tips, but they certainly make "a living wage" without government help.  I, for one, am very generous with my tips, so I like to feel that I contribute to the good service you get as well.

Now, what is the real reason that politicians (or should I reference the Democrats instead) want higher minimum wages?  It is mainly due to the influence of unions, who hold a huge lobby in Washington.  Whenever the minimum wage is raised, it gives the unions the opportunity to use that wage as a basis for raising union wages in contract talks with management.  And I doubt that the unions request their increases in terms of nickels and dimes.  The union bosses demand $$$, and then take back some of that in union dues from each worker.  It is well known that unions contribute heavily to Democrats and the Democrat Party, as well. 

So I say, "minimum-schminimum!"  Pay the workers what they're worth, and market conditions will dictate that much better than some politico sitting on his or her fanny in a plush office looking for campaign money and votes.