I see the minimum wage of XX/hr as the wrong fight personally. it is a forever fight, by the time we get anything it is already too late and we need to start fighting for the new XX/hr and then we fatigue out and they win.
I think we need official ruling on what minimum wage is for. We need legal definition of the intent of minimum wage.
Something like
– Minimum wage should keep 1 person living above the poverty line if they work 40 hours a week
– Minimum wage should keep 1 family (a couple and 1 child) living above the poverty line if working 40 hours a week.
those are meant as examples but basically need a federal recognition of what minimum wage is. Then you just annually update it each year based on region or zipcode and what the poverty line is for that area. So no matter where you live moving forward every year the system adjusts so that anyone working full time is paid a minimum wage that meets the regional financial needs as defined by what minimum wage is supposed to be.
then future conversations can focus on the definition not the dollar amount. the definition is the actual point of contention the dollar amount is the distraction.
IMO but what do I know.