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This is almost exactly opposes the history of union support of minimum wage legislation. It was pushed and supported by predominantly white unions to protect th

This is almost exactly opposes the history of union support of minimum wage legislation. It was pushed and supported by predominantly white unions to protect their workers from lower skill and cheaper minority workers. The minimum wage doesn't just say you can't hire a worker for less than an amount. The other side is that you are not allowed to sell your labor for less than the floor. White union workers were being out competed on price by workers who were either trying to gain experience of lived in cheaper neighborhoods. While some higher skilled and higher priced workers are needed, not all of them need that level of expertise and it prices out people trying to enter into a field where the on the job experience would be invaluable. If you can produce 2/3rs of the value on lower skill tasks but at half the price, it is better to hire two of you than one higher skilled individual. Plus it allowed you to build skills for the next job. These minority workers were seen as a social (racism) and economic threat. There were literally white-only unions that supported these policies. The infamous Cabrini Green chicago housing project was a more recent example of this. It was mostly poor black families, and many thought it would be a boon for local black employment. In reality, white union workers were bused it at huge expense to fill the roles. https://www.forbes.com/sites/carriesheffield/2014/04/29/on-the-historically-racist-motivations-behind-minimum-wage/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/carriesheffield/2014/04/29/on-t... https://mises.org/wire/racist-history-minimum-wage-laws https://mises.org/wire/racist-history-minimum-wage-laws https://reason.com/2019/01/21/washington-forced-segregation/ https://reason.com/2019/01/21/washington-forced-segregation/

DoreenMichele 7y ago
I stated up front that it's the opposite of our current narrative, so telling me this doesn't actually add anything at all to the conversation. The book was very well documented. At the time, I had no idea it said the opposite of the usual framing or might have made more effort to remember the title and author. The book suggested the Federal policy initially failed in its goal because racist whites in the South simply fired blacks rather than "pay them a white man's wage." The start of WW2 helped it eventually succeed, but there was also a fairly widespread exodus of blacks from the rural South to urban centers elsewhere in the US as a personal means to solve such problems on an individual basis. I was homeless for several years. During that time, I did piece work. Initially, it was common for my hourly earnings to be well below minimum wage, like as little as $1.25 an hour. Over time, this changed. So I am actually a proponent of the idea that we need to make it possible for people to work for less than minimum wage so they have the ability to better than themselves. I don't think it's a good idea to allow wage work per se to be that low because it easily becomes an inescapable personal hell. But we do need to design work opportunities that can pay less than minimum wage if it takes you a long time to complete it, but also has the ability to become a more middle class income if you get good at and thus get faster or otherwise qualify for similar work that nonetheless pays better.

DoreenMichele 7y ago

I stated up front that it's the opposite of our current narrative, so telling me this doesn't actually add anything at all to the conversation. The book was very well documented. At the time, I had no idea it said the opposite of the usual framing or might have made more effort to remember the title and author. The book suggested the Federal policy initially failed in its goal because racist whites in the South simply fired blacks rather than "pay them a white man's wage." The start of WW2 helped it eventually succeed, but there was also a fairly widespread exodus of blacks from the rural South to urban centers elsewhere in the US as a personal means to solve such problems on an individual basis. I was homeless for several years. During that time, I did piece work. Initially, it was common for my hourly earnings to be well below minimum wage, like as little as $1.25 an hour. Over time, this changed. So I am actually a proponent of the idea that we need to make it possible for people to work for less than minimum wage so they have the ability to better than themselves. I don't think it's a good idea to allow wage work per se to be that low because it easily becomes an inescapable personal hell. But we do need to design work opportunities that can pay less than minimum wage if it takes you a long time to complete it, but also has the ability to become a more middle class income if you get good at and thus get faster or otherwise qualify for similar work that nonetheless pays better.