Should the government guarantee full-time minimum wage?

[JLM]

Full time guaranteed minimum wage does nothing, instead of legislating something like that the government should offer them some sort of training and or a plane ticket to Alberta to work as a labourer in the oil industry.

Would it be in order to check with "Alberta" first to see if he/she is wanted/needed there? Or maybe we just load up planes with our problem cases and dump them in Alberta!

 

[DurkaDurka]

Would it be in order to check with "Alberta" first to see if he/she is wanted/needed there? Or maybe we just load up planes with our problem cases and dump them in Alberta!

How is someone willing to work as a labourer a "problem case"?

Yup, looks like Alberta has lot of labour jobs available.

Job Bank - Results

 

[Machjo]

Full time guaranteed minimum wage does nothing, instead of legislating something like that the government should offer them some sort of training and or a plane ticket to Alberta to work as a labourer in the oil industry.

I'm all for government-paid job training for the unemployed. That's one of the things I don't mind paying taxes for.

Would it be in order to check with "Alberta" first to see if he/she is wanted/needed there? Or maybe we just load up planes with our problem cases and dump them in Alberta!

Now if Alberta does not want them, then we can't blame the unemployed anymore right.

Your number are unrealistic. Look at the numbers - many people on min wage work more than 1 job.

List of minimum wages in Canada - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

List of minimum wages by country - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Swedennone; set by annual collective bargaining contracts

 

[taxslave]

Machjo: Not sure if a minimum wage hurts low income workers unless it is placed too high. It also depends on what government programs are available to help them up the ladder to better jobs.
I don't have a lot of experience dealing with these kind of jobs but if you relate it to higher paying ones then it would seem to me that it is in the employer's best interest to pay more for good help. EG. I would not hire anyone that would willingly operate a machine for minimum wage since I doubt they could look after it properly. Nor would I be likely to let someone without at least grade 12 run a machine worth $200G+ since they probably couldn't read the operators manual. WE pay a competitive rate which I think is too low but then we cannot charge what I consider the machines are worth and still get the work. Same goes for our labourers. We are very safety conscious which puts us at a competitive disadvantage at times as well.
Upshot is that sometimes doing what is right and proper can price you right out of the market, then no one wins except perhaps the scammers.

 

[Nuggler]

How is someone willing to work as a labourer a "problem case"?

Yup, looks like Alberta has lot of labour jobs available.

Job Bank - Results

Sounds good. Except rental infrastructure hasn't kept up with the population influx. Or it's sky high.

Glad I'm not in that demographic

Sometimes it's good to be an ol'fart.

 

[JLM]

Machjo: Not sure if a minimum wage hurts low income workers unless it is placed too high. It also depends on what government programs are available to help them up the ladder to better jobs.
I don't have a lot of experience dealing with these kind of jobs but if you relate it to higher paying ones then it would seem to me that it is in the employer's best interest to pay more for good help. EG. I would not hire anyone that would willingly operate a machine for minimum wage since I doubt they could look after it properly. Nor would I be likely to let someone without at least grade 12 run a machine worth $200G+ since they probably couldn't read the operators manual. WE pay a competitive rate which I think is too low but then we cannot charge what I consider the machines are worth and still get the work. Same goes for our labourers. We are very safety conscious which puts us at a competitive disadvantage at times as well.
Upshot is that sometimes doing what is right and proper can price you right out of the market, then no one wins except perhaps the scammers.

I believe safety is of utmost importance but I've learned through experience that some people are just naturally safe (and they are generally the most efficient ones) while others will never be safe at anything more complicated than building with plastercene.

 

[Machjo]

Machjo: Not sure if a minimum wage hurts low income workers unless it is placed too high. It also depends on what government programs are available to help them up the ladder to better jobs.
I don't have a lot of experience dealing with these kind of jobs but if you relate it to higher paying ones then it would seem to me that it is in the employer's best interest to pay more for good help. EG. I would not hire anyone that would willingly operate a machine for minimum wage since I doubt they could look after it properly. Nor would I be likely to let someone without at least grade 12 run a machine worth $200G+ since they probably couldn't read the operators manual. WE pay a competitive rate which I think is too low but then we cannot charge what I consider the machines are worth and still get the work. Same goes for our labourers. We are very safety conscious which puts us at a competitive disadvantage at times as well.
Upshot is that sometimes doing what is right and proper can price you right out of the market, then no one wins except perhaps the scammers.

If quality training programmes are available, then minimum wage becomes redundant anyway.

And if not, then minimum wage is a hindrance unless it's too low in which case again it's redundant.

 

[JLM]

I find "minimum wage" to be a totally ridiculous concept. The wage is exactly the same whether the employee is washing dishes for Big Mac or hauling auger bits on his shoulder up a mountain.

 

[skookumchuck]

When purchasing hamburger at the grocery store I only purchase the "lean" variety and if you watch the fliers you can occasionally find it for $2 a lb. Oatmeal is a healthy additive.

It was lean burger, some weasels add water when grinding.

 

[JLM]

It was lean burger, some weasels add water when grinding.

That's been happening for 40 years that I know of. At one time I had a book written by a butcher advising of smart meat purchasing tips and listing some of the scams. The water probably doesn't hurt the meat so much as just getting the weight up so you pay more. Best probably to buy your meat from one of the big food outfits.

 

[Machjo]

I find "minimum wage" to be a totally ridiculous concept. The wage is exactly the same whether the employee is washing dishes for Big Mac or hauling auger bits on his shoulder up a mountain.

Yup. And if he's washing dishes, it might price him out of a job, so harmful. And if he's hauling augur, it's likely redundant 'cause he's already above it. Redundant or harmful, take your pick.

 

[The Old Medic]

Once upon a time this was simply provided by trades guilds and, where there were not enough tradesman of a particular trade, the Oddfellows. Then the monarchs got scared of the power of the guilds and forbade their existence. /QUOTE]

The above is pure unadulterated bunkum! It is "made up history" that has absolutely NO basis in fact at all.

Prior to the 1930's, it was a families obligation to care for their own in the vast majority of cases. And generally speaking, the extended family did a pretty good job of it.

It was the great depression of the 1930's that caused the demise of that system. Unemployment insurance, government "make work" programs, welfare, Social Security (Old Age pensions by whatever name for the general population) and a host of other programs were tried out.

They did almost nothing to end the depression, in fact, it got worse as countries blocked the imports of goods to "protect" their own industries, and ran huge deficits, raising taxes left and right and doing just about everything possible to stifle business (they didn't intend to stifle business, that was a side effect of their attempts to "prevent another depression").

Of course, families today are so fragmented that it would be impossible for them to take care of their own. It used to be that grandparents, adult children and their families all lived very close to each other (if not in the same house), and they actually felt a sense of obligation to take care of each other. Strange as it seems today, families actually used to work together, to help the entire family unit to advance.

Just as so many immigrant families do today. Which causes great envy among the general population, who accuse them of unfair competition, of getting breaks from the government (they they don't actually get), etc. Instead, they help one family unit get a store/business, they all wrok together and save profits, then they buy another business, and so on and so on.

They do what OUR society used to do, they pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, instead of sitting on their fat behinds and demanding that the government take care of them.

 

[Cabbagesandking]

Should all those elderly who would b receiving OAS but are to be forced back into the work force by this Budget (down the road), be shipped to Alberta?

 

[Machjo]

Should all those elderly who would b receiving OAS but are to be forced back into the work force by this Budget (down the road), be shipped to Alberta?

Only if they're phisically fit enough to do so, obviously. We should never expect more from a person than what is reasonable.

Oh yes, and we won't expect the deaf to accept phone operator or radio operator jobs any more than we'd expect the blind to accept traffic cop jobs. I figured I'd point that out in case it was not obvious to you.

 

[petros]

Quote: Originally Posted by
Cabbagesandking

Should all those elderly who would b receiving OAS but are to be forced back​

into the work force by this Budget (down the road), be shipped to Alberta?
​

Untitled Document

 

[Bar Sinister]

"Poverty" quite often has more to do with how much you spend more than how much you earn!

Really? And when you're forced to spend everything just to stay alive is that considered a decent living wage?

 

[JLM]

Really? And when you're forced to spend everything just to stay alive is that considered a decent living wage?

Yep, really! How many people who are close to the poverty line are paying horrendous interest charges on credit cards? How many people who are near the poverty line go grocery shopping without a list and don't spend any time checking for specials and sales?