this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2024
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Work Reform

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A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.

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[–] TropicalDingdong 65 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Just index it to GDP/ inflation or executive pay/ compensation.

[–] phoneymouse 61 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (5 children)

Executive pay would be nice. Make it so the CEO gets paid a maximum of 20x the lowest paid worker. CEO pay goes up? So does company minimum wage. Make it account for stock grants too.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Does that apply to those situations where a CEO's salary is $1?

But theyre paid in stocks?

[–] [email protected] 22 points 4 months ago

Make it 1/20th the CEO's total annual compensation package value

[–] Armok_the_bunny 15 points 4 months ago

Two ways I can think of to close that loophole: a) make tie the minimum wage to the executive's total compensation, so the workers either get the proportionate amount of stocks as the CEO or money of equivalent market value (also include expected performance bonus as part of that) and/or b) keep a basic minimum wage around as well, so that CEOs can't accept a pitifully low salary outright.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago

Not CEO, but the highest paid position in the company.

Someone in power can easilly just give the CEO title to some dude and give himself the title of "Chief General Officer" or some bs like that

[–] Throw_away_migrator 5 points 4 months ago

My biggest fear with this proposal is that lower wage positions just get offloaded or somehow classified as "independent contractors" or consulting or some other bullshit. Or they create some shell company to all these positions. Or some other chicanery.

Don't get me wrong, I agree in principle. But God damn if actually enacting and enforcing wouldn't be some legal whack a mole with these slippery bastards

[–] Crashumbc 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

While a nice idea, in reality you're dealing with sociopaths that will do anything to horde money. They would come up with work arounds in six months.

[–] Throw_away_migrator 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

They would come up with work arounds in six months.

Six months. I give it 6 minutes. Tops

[–] Stovetop 2 points 4 months ago

Hell, I bet most of the Fortune 500 already has a contingency plan to work around that imposition if that sort of legislation is ever passed.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

Stock grants are always quite vague in value - it'd be really hard to actually come up with a precise number for it... and in theory a bad actor (like Elon Musk) might be able to really fuck up that algorithm.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago

That's part of it. But it's pointless without raising it to a living wage first.

Pinning it without raising it just cements the slave wages in place. Which business would love I'm sure.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 4 months ago (1 children)

In the eastern Kansas city that I live in, a living wage for a single person with no kids is almost $20/hr. There is no way $18 is nearly enough in California.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago

You're right

[–] [email protected] 31 points 4 months ago

Minimum wage should be adjusted to inflation, and get a COLA increase every year. It should also be retroactively adjusted, which would put it around $26+

There's no way an adult should be forced to work more than 40 hours a week for not enough to live on. When that is a norm it's an illustration the economic model is failing.

And frankly, even 40 hours is too much, keeping people too exhausted for civic engagement and parenting, which figures largely into our intergenerational mental illness epidemic.

[–] crystalmerchant 15 points 4 months ago

TIE IT TO PRODUCTIVITY AND INFLATION, god damn it!! Picking a number is what got us here in the first place!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago

They should want $60 or $260 an hour. As long as people at the top are making billions a year off the backs of these workers, they should demand a lot more than they are getting.

[–] kemsat 6 points 4 months ago

I don’t care what the number is. Just want to be able to afford a 1 bedroom apartment, food/water, bills, and a bit of savings.