Why wont huge companies pay their workers a decent living Wage?

[ZenAlex]

I am interested in hearing people's thoughts on this subject. I know the simple answer is "greed" but I don't want to just assume it's as simple as that.

[Hardkill]

I agree. All big companies should pay their employees a living minimum wage.

[Leo Gura]

Because investors want returns on their investments and companies have to be as efficient as possible.

Edited May 25, 2023 by Leo Gura

[Hardkill]

6 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

Because investors want returns on their investments and companies have to be as efficient as possible.

But aren't there several millions of poor, working class people, and middle class in the country who are really getting fed up with not being paid a living wage? 

Do you think that there will be widespread angry labor strikes within the foreseeable like what happened during the Gilded age?

Edited May 25, 2023 by Hardkill

[Danioover9000]

@ZenAlex

4 hours ago, ZenAlex said:

I am interested in hearing people's thoughts on this subject. I know the simple answer is "greed" but I don't want to just assume it's as simple as that.

   Maybe there's too many people, from different places working in one place and the company wants to be more efficient. Maybe it's that but I don't know.

   Why are you interested in other people's answers to your question here? What's your answer to your question?

   Why can't it be as simple as 'greed'?

[Israfil]

24 minutes ago, Hardkill said:

But aren't the poor, working class people, and middle class getting fed up with not being paid a living wage? 

Do you think that there will be widespread angry labor strikes within the foreseeable like what happened during the Gilded age?

Yes. But the alternative is homelessness or prison. That's what Marx called the reserve army of labor. If you complain about the turd you're given to eat by your employer, someone starving will take your place and eat it for you.

Edited May 25, 2023 by Israfil

[Israfil]

Besides, if McDonald's starts paying higher wages, Wendy's, Burger King, and Subway will keep slaving away their employees and get 0.3% higher margins than McDonald's. This will eventually cut more and more capital flow from McDonald's to its competitors and eventually, they would fail. 

It's a multipolar trap or a race to the bottom. This is the basics of game theory. You cannot be huge and fair. You can be medium and fair, but these huge corporations are completely dependant on governments and exploitation to keep turning their gigantic gears. That's the essence of capitalism.

[StarStruck]

There is enough cattle 

[mmKay]

 

[Husseinisdoingfine]

Because there is an abundance of desperate people. This is known as the “reserve army of labor”.

[ZenAlex]

16 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Because investors want returns on their investments and companies have to be as efficient as possible.

I really fail to see why they cannot be extremely efficient and profitable and also offer employees a decent living wage. 

[Danioover9000]

@ZenAlex

25 minutes ago, ZenAlex said:

I really fail to see why they cannot be extremely efficient and profitable and also offer employees a decent living wage. 

   Because they're not the only company in a given field, they have other companies competing against them.

[Hardkill]

3 hours ago, Danioover9000 said:

@ZenAlex

   Because they're not the only company in a given field, they have other companies competing against them.

I think that most corporations have been using that excuse too many times. Too many people out there are getting very angry about being able to barely survive while the fat cats at the top keep stuffing their pockets with way too much money for themselves.

Corporations are indeed essential for every society, but they must all be held accountable much more than they have been.

[Danioover9000]

@Hardkill

52 minutes ago, Hardkill said:

I think that most corporations have been using that excuse too many times. Too many people out there are getting very angry about being able to barely survive while the fat cats at the top keep stuffing their pockets with way too much money for themselves.

Corporations are indeed essential for every society, but they must all be held accountable much more than they have been.

   Are there other excuses besides corporations competing against each other? Even if big corporation can raise minimum wage, by how much should a corporation raise minimum wage? So much so that that corporation then can't pay for taxation on equipment, property, higher promotion positions and employers, and risk getting out bought and getting a hot takeover by an enemy corporation that's more ruthless and will not care for minimum wages?

   Which corporations are essential for which society? Which corporations should be held more accountable than others? And which society should hold which corporation accountable?

[Leo Gura]

6 hours ago, ZenAlex said:

I really fail to see why they cannot be extremely efficient and profitable and also offer employees a decent living wage. 

They can, but Orange corporate culture demands cutting every corner. Every manager and executive is paid huge money to cut every corner.

Edited May 26, 2023 by Leo Gura

[Hardkill]

2 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

They can, but Orange corporate culture demands cutting every corner.

When do you think there will be widespread labor strikes for higher pay like what happened in the 1800s?

 

Edited May 26, 2023 by Hardkill

[Husseinisdoingfine]

6 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

They can, but Orange corporate culture demands cutting every corner. Every manager and executive is paid huge money to cut every corner.

AND if the ceo tries to not cut corners and pay the employees a living wage, what will happen is that he's going to get angry calls from his investors and shareholders demanding that he drive down the employee wages and maximize profits. If he refuses to comply, he'll just get booted off by his board of directors and replaced by a more ruthless ceo.

The system is so corrupt, that not even the people at the top of the food chain have control over the situation.

Which is precisely why Government is so necessary to enforce these rules of a living wage and unions, because without this, average working people have no means of enforcing these standards on their own.

[Hardkill]

1 hour ago, Danioover9000 said:

@Hardkill

   Are there other excuses besides corporations competing against each other? Even if big corporation can raise minimum wage, by how much should a corporation raise minimum wage? So much so that that corporation then can't pay for taxation on equipment, property, higher promotion positions and employers, and risk getting out bought and getting a hot takeover by an enemy corporation that's more ruthless and will not care for minimum wages?

   Which corporations are essential for which society? Which corporations should be held more accountable than others? And which society should hold which corporation accountable?

Well, I don't know what they minimum wage is in the Uk in the UK or in any other European country, but the federal minimum wage here in the US is 7 dollars an hour. Now, employees in the East Coast, West Coast, Northern States, and some Midwest states such as Illinois do have state laws that have made the minimum wage in each of their states be about 11 to 15 dollars an hour. Also, some big banks like Bank of America or JP Morgan Chase actually have made their minimum wage policy to be 20 dollars per hours and have committed to increasing it to 25 dollars per hour eventually.

However, most employees in the Southern states, states in middle America, and several areas of rural America have been paid unacceptably low minimum wages ranging from about 7 to 9 dollars per hour. If you visited any of the states including Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Kansas, Nebraska, Indiana, Texas, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota you would meet tons and tons of people suffering from either homelessness or not being able to make rent or living paycheck-to-paycheck.

[Leo Gura]

1 hour ago, Hardkill said:

When do you think there will be widespread labor strikes for higher pay like what happened in the 1800s?

I don't really see that ever happening. People's jobs are far too specialized and segmented these days. Workers do not act like one giant flock of sheep.

Hollywood writers are all on strike right now for higher pay. That's about as widespread a strike as there will realistically be. Every industry will not strike at once. This stuff is too complex for such simplistic action.

Edited May 26, 2023 by Leo Gura

[Hardkill]

46 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

I don't really see that ever happening. People's jobs are far too specialized and segmented these days. Workers do not act like one giant flock of sheep.

Hollywood writers are all on strike right now for higher pay. That's about as widespread a strike as there will realistically be. Every industry will not strike at once. This stuff is too complex for such simplistic action.

Ohhh......

what about labor unions? Progressives such as Chomsky, Bernie, Warren and AOC and top economists talk about the great urgency for much greater labor power than we have today. Is there any hope that labor unions in the US will ever regain the size and power they had in the early to mid 1900s?

Edited May 26, 2023 by Hardkill