Minimum wage

“ The minimum wage law ought to form, in one fashion or another, a part of the code of every community. It may be applied by specific legislation from a central power, or it may be applied by the discretionary authority of district boards, or it may be regulated,—as it has been in some of the beginnings already made,—within the compass of each industry or trade. But the principle involved is sound. The wage as paid becomes a part of the conditions of industry. Interest, profits and, later, the direction of consumption and then of production, conform themselves to it. ”

“ To support the man gratuitously because he cannot earn a minimum wage, when all the rest of the commonwealth is working for its guaranteed wages, is to put a premium upon incapacity and sloth. The man must be made to work. He must be taught, if possible, to produce those economic values, which are regarded as the minimum of sufficiency. He must be kept at that work even if he cannot produce the minimum, lest his presence as a free labourer should imperil the whole scheme of the minimum wage, and introduce at the same time a continuous element of instability. ”

“ But wherever they go, I hope they will be thinking of the millions of Americans for whom summer vacations are not an option, the millions who work all summer long, all year long, earning no more than the minimum wage.
I want to talk to you today about giving these hard-pressed Americans a much-deserved raise and helping them to live the American dream. The face of the minimum wage is the face of America. Every one of us knows at least one person who works for minimum wage. ”

“ The people are sufficiently used to high wages to make supervision unnecessary. The minimum wage is paid just as soon as a worker has qualified in his production—which is a matter that depends upon his own desire to work. We have put our estimate of profits into the wage and are now paying higher wages than during the boom times after the war. But we are, as always, paying them on the basis of work. And that the men do work is evidenced by the fact that although six dollars a day is the minimum wage, about 60 per cent. of the workers receive above the minimum. ”

“ We have stopped thinking in terms of a minimum wage. That belongs to yesterday, before we quite knew what paying high wages meant. Now so few people get the minimum wage that we do not bother about it at all. ”

“ But month after month, even with bipartisan support in Congress, the Republican leadership has sat on our proposal to raise the minimum wage, costing the average full-time worker more than a $1,000 in lost wages. ”

“ As I told the Congress, already just this year, in one month of work, Members of Congress have earned more than full-time minimum wage workers earn all year long. Nobody can live on $4.25 an hour, and yet 2.5 million Americans are working for just that amount, and many of them have children to feed. Millions more are just above the minimum wage. ”

“ A minimum wage, including cost of living for dependents as well as for individuals involved, has justice at its base, but requires for its application less a blanket sum indicated by law than a wages-board or other form of discriminating commission with power to adjust flexibly, with due consideration of place and of quality of work, the wages to the task. Conditions of labor should be "good" in all cases, and what is good should be fixed by disinterested persons. ”

“ And the minimum wage — increasing the minimum wage is a way to ensure that workers are pulled out of poverty, that millions of workers who are, you know, doing honest work and making a — you know, making an honest living are not living on the poverty line. ”

“ Country gentlemen might have been able to make an accurate guess at a fair wage when industry was stable and competition not acute. They would certainly be incompetent in the age of machinery, of violent fluctuations of trade, and of intense competition between employers. The only people who can ever fix minimum wages are the employers and workmen themselves, acting through representatives. ”

“ So the Wage Boards Act and the Miners' Minimum Wage Act established machinery for fixing a wage in certain employments which, having regard to the circumstances of each trade, would insure that the wage-earner should enjoy a reasonable standard of health and comfort. All these measures are based upon the same principle, that absolute liberty of the individual meant the degradation, if not the destruction, of many individuals who were poor. ”

“ Still, that's no small change to more than 10 million Americans who work for the minimum wage. For a full-time worker, it means another $2,000 a year, enough for a family of four to buy groceries for 7 months or pay their rent check for 5. ”

“ Another basic element of a strong economic system is the well-being of the wage earners.
We have learned that the well-being of workers depends on high production and consequent high employment. We have learned equally well that the welfare of industry and agriculture depends on high incomes for our workers.
The Government has wisely chosen to set a floor under wages. But our 40-cent minimum wage is inadequate and obsolete. I recommend the lifting of the minimum wage to 75 cents an hour. ”

“ The second form is the necessity under which society will find itself, when once the principle of the minimum wage is conceded, coupled with the principle of sufficiency and security, to maintain those whom the minimum wage excludes from the area of normal employment. ”

“ The challenged findings are that the minimum wage established by the order will not substantially curtail employment, and that a classification within the industry is unnecessary for the purpose of fixing, for each classification within it, the highest minimum wage which will not substantially curtail employment in such classification and will not give any competitive advantage to any group in the industry. ”

“ Today the minimum wage is $4.25 an hour. Over many years, both political parties have worked together to make sure it keeps up with the cost of living. In 1989, the current leaders of both the House and the Senate joined together with Democrats and Republicans to raise the minimum wage. ”

“ I also recommend that minimum wage protection be extended to several groups of workers not now covered. The need for a decent standard of living is by no means limited to those workers who happen to be covered by the act as it now stands. It is particularly vital at this period of readjustment in the national economy and readjustment in employment of labor to extend minimum wage protection as far as possible. ”

“ In the case of piece work, it could manifestly not mean anything else; but a large number of labor leaders object to piece work. They insist that a standard wage means a minimum wage, and that by the establishment of such a minimum the whole standard of efficiency and the plane of competition are raised, as the employers cannot then afford to hire any but competent workmen. The question immediately presents itself as to what is to become of the older or partially disabled men, who are no longer able to earn the standard or minimum wage? ”

“ Wages are, and can only be, payment for work done and services rendered by the “wages staff.” There must always be a maximum limit to wages and a minimum. The employers’ maximum is a wage beyond which any advance, with other costs of production remaining constant, would prevent the marketing of the product at a commercial profit commensurate with the nature of the enterprise. The theoretical minimum is a “living wage,” i.e. bare cost of subsistence, but the Trade Union minimum wage, which is the practical minimum in industry, is much higher than the subsistence wage. ”

“ That a considerable proportion of the working-class population (which Messrs. Charles Booth and Rowntree estimate at 27 to 30 per cent, in English towns) do not get the minimum wage necessary to maintain life; they do not receive the minimum wage necessary to buy the number of food units required for the maintenance of the human body. (2) That the means of purchasing at the disposal of the workman already very small are further wasted by his inability to use them with economy. ”

“ Thus, the unemployed to labor force ration dropped by 2.2 per cent from 8.6 per cent to 6.4 per cent. This is unmistakable proof that we have succeeded in arresting and even reversing our unemployment trend.
Minimum Wage
As the productive capacity of the economy grows, we should increase the earning power of labor. As a member of Congress, it was my privilege to be the main author and sponsor of the present Minimum Wage Law which fixes a minimum wage of P4.00 a day for workers. ”

“ The minimum wage for our laborers must be standardized and stabilized. I have urged the Labor-Management Advisory Board, in which capital and labor are equally represented, to submit a schedule it of wages applicable in the different industries and localities. ”

“ It is contended that no industry is socially desirable if it cannot pay a living wage, for when wages fall below a certain minimum, poverty, ill-health, and vice are natural results. When laborers are themselves unable to improve their economic position, it is said, it becomes the duty of the state to guarantee them a living wage. Another argument in favor of the minimum wage is that it not only eliminates considerable poverty, but it makes possible a healthier and more contented labor force. ”

“ In fact, if any large number of workers earn less than this amount, we will find it impossible to maintain the levels of purchasing power needed to sustain the stable prosperity which we desire. Raising the minimum to 75 cents an hour will provide the wage earner with an annual income of $1,500 if he is fully employed.
The proposed higher minimum wage levels are feasible without involving serious price adjustments or serious geographic dislocations.
Today about 20 percent of our manufacturing wage earners--or about 2 million-earn less than 65 cents an hour. ”

“ Another question arises as to whether in fixing minimum wages on the basis of an hourly or weekly wage we have reached into the heart of the problem which is to provide such annual earnings for the lowest paid worker as will meet his minimum needs. We also question the wisdom of extending code requirements suited to the great industrial centers and to large employers, to the great number of small employers in the smaller communities. ”

“ Now, the good news is that in the year since I first called on Congress to raise the minimum wage, six states have passed laws to raise theirs. More states, counties, and cities are working to raise their minimum wages as we speak. ”

“ Therefore, although any minimum wage scheme which proposes to raise the bottom wages in any trade or trades, or for any group or groups of workers, is a necessary part of legislation, and must be urgently insisted upon in any plan for social reform, no minimum wage legislation now proposed, or likely to be proposed, will deal adequately with the question of all the children of the working poor. Yet unless we do deal with all of them, and deal adequately, the problem of the nation’s children goes unsolved. ”

“ It does not necessarily follow that the surplus profits will go to the raising of wages, or that standardised prices will make for a sufficient living. It is necessary to define a minimum standard of life. The demand for a minimum wage is a beginning in this direction, but under the profit system, the minimum wage defined as a money-wage is something of a snare. For so long as prices tend to fly upward, no minimum wage can effectually prevent a depression of the standard of life. ”

“ So this time, unlike the last time, the congressional majority knows better than to speak against raising the minimum wage. This time, instead of arguing the facts, the leadership is playing legislative games, stalling action, and stifling debate. Already, these delays have cost the minimum wage worker more than $900 in hardearned pay. To paraphrase Shakespeare, they've come to bury the minimum wage, not to raise it. ”

“ The Labor Code empowers the Supreme Labor Council to establish annual minimum wage levels for each industrial sector and region. It is not known if the minimum wages are adjusted annually or enforced. The Labor Code stipulates that the minimum wage should be sufficient to meet the living expenses of a family and should take inflation into account. Under current poor economic conditions, many middle-class citizens must work two or even three jobs to support their families. ”

“ The first remedy for this state of things which springs to the mind of the social reformer is a legal minimum wage. The discussion of a minimum wage, which is at the same time to be a family wage, is exceedingly difficult. We realise that wages are not now paid on a family basis. If they were we should not have 2,500,000 adult men receiving for full-time work a sum which the writer has no hesitation in saying is less than sufficient for the proper maintenance, and that on the lowest scale, of one adult person. ”