Florida - Proposal to let workers opt out of minimum wage gains momentum

Guess what percentage of minimum wage jobs will suddenly become "pre-apprenticeships"? Minimum wage workers are about to be educated all right, but not in anything beneficial to their future. They will learn that "greed makes need" and "might makes right". They will also learn about the old axiom about mind over matter: They (minimum wage bosses) don't mind, 'cause you (minimum wage workers) don't matter. Don't worry, though: after six years of getting your hands burned on the fryer, McDonalds will issue you a McMaster's Degree in Fast Food Preparation. You can use that to get a job burning your hands on a stovetop for almost no money. Good times are a-comin'.

 

Automation is not cheap, either, and a lot of minimum workers multi-task, which means you have to buy more than one machine to replace each worker. And machines have to be maintained, so you will have to hire repairmen, which costs money. So far, replacing the cashier with a machine is the only thing that looks like it can be done easily (since it has already been done across several types of stores and restaurants).

If you raise minimum wage slowly (but steadily), you will get plenty of warning before you tip the scales in favor of automation. The federal minimum wage has not been increased since 2007. That's 18 years of inflation that have been eating away the purchasing power of minimum wage workers (in states that use the federal minimum). Have you ever gone 18 years without a raise?

 

Federal minimum wage is $7.25/hr and has been since 2007. Florida's minimum wage is $13.00/hr and increases $1.00 every September 30th until it reaches $15.00/hr.

State Minimum Wage Laws.