[64] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Re: LIVING WAGE SIT-IN AT HARVARD (fwd)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Prez H. Cannady)
Fri Apr 20 00:18:33 2001
Message-Id: <200104200417.AAA23049@melbourne-city-street.mit.edu>
Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 00:13:55 -0400
To: mit-talk@MIT.EDU
From: "Prez H. Cannady" <revprez@MIT.EDU>
In-Reply-To: <200104192004.QAA02280@biohazard-cafe.mit.edu>
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At 04:04 PM 4/19/01 , Brandy L Evans wrote
>Well hell, Sourav, why do we have a minimum wage??
Because FDR got it in his head one day that increasing
wages in the Depression would some how restore business,
after tumbling with Congress and beating his head with
the Supreme Court. Still we think it's a good idea.
Oh, and can't have age-to-skill discrimination, so unproductive
teen burger-flippers are cut in on the deal, too. The
natural effect is a reducation in teen employment,
especially in minority communities.
>I mean shit, if I don't think my workers are worth more than $2 an
>hour, why can't I pay them that little? And if bob down the road
>decides to pay his $1.50, I should pay mine $1.
Because shit doesn't work like that. Ideally, you
pay the minimum for a certain skill as an able person
will accept and increase according to anticipated
or demonstrated productivity. Somehow, FDR decided
that all work had a baseline value, regardless of
skill, personal finance, or even job description.
>Now wait... Let's think about this again... turn it around so that the
>WORKERS are the ones selling their services to their
>employers...
Yes. Are you suggesting that labor is involved in some
huge price fixing scheme? Then again, liberals have
no problem with price-fixing, just so long as it's our
White Knight Feddies beating back employers for the
public good.
>Which would mean that these janitors should be trying to
>get as much as they can from Harvard.
And keep in mind that they may have competitors willing
to work for less. That's the whole point of acquiring
union contracts. Harvard saves on having to acquire skill
for a higher priced service and unions get a reasonable
wage. Go to far, and the cost of doing business with
you exceeds the cost of going out and getting somebody
willing to take the bare minimum. For custodial work,
skill isn't a funnel.
>And if they're not getting as
>much as the janitors down the street at MIT are getting, well, they
>have a few options:
>
>1) Lobby hard (including possibly, say, a protest) for more
>competitive wages
Kinda hard to negotiate if you can't bring weight to
the table.
>2) Strike to DEMAND more competitive wages
Better hope employment's up. I wouldn't have a problem
scabbing a union laborer's job.
>3) Just quit and go work at MIT
Better hope they're hiring. Why would anyone slave at Harvard
if MIT could supply an infinite number of people with work?
>Now looking at this from harvard's poing of view, they need
>janitors. That's just a fact. And in two out of these scenarios, they
>lose their janitors.
Assuming their janitors come to the table at an advantage. There's
no reason to strike if Harvard was deadlocked to the union. There's
no reason to work at Harvard if MIT's hiring like Starbucks.
>So for harvard, what is happening now (scenario
>#1) is really the BEST of the three outcomes if we accept as a given
>that Harvard is not paying a competitive price for these
>services.
You're right, because you've just made Harvard the consumer
and the janitors the consumer. In this case, Harvard gets
a bargain and MIT's getting ripped off.
>We've taken away all the human issues,
>it's not a matter of these janitors feeding their families - it's a
>matter of Harvard needing to be competitive so that they don't lose
>their janitorial staff.
Are they really at risk of losing their custodians?
>This has to be the most frightening statement I've heard so far. You
>value people because you value profits.
No, I value people who I know. I value employees for their
services at a low cost. I don't have to give you a check
to say I love you.
>Wow. I just don't think I have anything to say to that.
If you're handing out cash for friendship, I'm available.
>If your
>little sister is no longer profiting you in any way, you no longer
>value her as a human being?
I don't pay my sister for being my sister.
Rev Prez
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Presley H. Cannady
Acting Chairman, College Republicans
CR Website <http://web.mit.edu/republicans/www/>
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