General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: What I like to tell my RW friends regarding their "working HARDER to EARN a better wage" chestnut - [View all]SheilaT
(23,156 posts)wages are all raised at the bottom end. Higher minimum wage, higher all up the ladder to some point, maybe about 150k, although many people making that will scream they're barely making ends meet. Someone smarter than I am can figure out where the cut-off for the raises should be.
I went to work as an airline ticket agent in 1969. While my employee group was not unionized, we reaped the benefits of the strong unions in other areas, mainly pilots, mechanics, and stewardesses. Best example is that any day in the week that we worked more than 8 hours we got time and a half for the overtime, even if at the end of the week you'd worked less than 40 hours total. Which was rarely the case, trust me.
I worked there for ten years, then left, did some other things and in 1982 went to work for a different airline in a different city, again as a ticket agent. This time I was a part time employee, which meant I didn't get benefits, but because at that airline the airport agents were all unionized, I got time and a half any time I went beyond my scheduled 20 hours in a week. Even better, a few months later I got a Sat-Sun shift, 8 hours each day. Again, anything past the 8 hours was time and a half. That job was only temporary for me, but it was nice while it lasted.
Those are the kinds of things that should be in effect for all the part time workers out there in retail or in fast food.
Plus, raise the cap for FICA, to fully fund Social Security.