Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]

Welcome to The Rejected Realms

Government:

Delegate: Wabbitslayah
Officer: Frattastan (Foreign Affairs)
Officer: Marilyn Manson Freaks (Outreach)
Officer: PowerPAOK (Media)
Officer: Relfa (Culture)

Other Officials:

Speaker: Vulturret
RRA High Commander: Frattastan
RRA Commander: Guy
RRA Commander: Wopruthien
Welcome to The Rejected Realms, NationStates' ejection-free zone!

You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you can only view some areas of the board and you can only post in the Troubleshooting and Suggestions forum. If you register an account, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customising your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Register now!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Repeal "Living Wage Act"; Proposed by Celsuis
Topic Started: Aug 23 2015, 11:32 PM (67 Views)
Guy
Member Avatar
Old Admin Slave
Short of quorum, but likely to make it at one of the next updates.
Quote:
 
Argument: The World Assembly,

Praising GAR #21, "Living Wage Act", for its well-intentioned attempt to ensure a decent well-being for the most vulnerable members of society,

Dismayed that the resolution uses illogical means to achieve its ends,

Baffled that the resolution defines poverty lines "on an area basis, and sets no limits as to how any nation may define such areas save that they must lie wholly within the nation's boundaries", effectively allowing nations to negate the wage mandate by maliciously defining poverty line areas,

Disturbed that the resolution authorizes wages below the poverty line for individuals receiving national income or benefits, effectively permitting unequal pay for the same work,

Disappointed that the resolution fails to exempt tip-based professions from the wage mandate,

Troubled that the resolution does exempt "convicted criminals who are required to perform work in the course of their sentence", effectively approving of unethical punitive labor camps,

Concerned that the resolution defines the "basic poverty line" to include "one week's rent for an average one-person dwelling" and the "Dependent Poverty Line" to include "one week's rent for an average two-person dwelling", which will endlessly inflate the price of housing and make housing unaffordable by continuously increasing the average price of rent,

Confused that the resolution requires "that no person in full-time employment be paid the equivalent of a weekly net wage of less than 25% over the Dependent Povery Line unless that person has no dependents and explicitly waives this right", resulting in all persons in full-time employment receiving the weekly net wage of no less than 25% over the "Dependent Poverty Line", regardless of whether they have dependents or not,

Perplexed that the resolution "defines the Dependent Poverty Line as the Basic Poverty Line" to include "the pro-rata weekly cost of schooling for a dependent" regardless of whether the dependent is in school or not,

Concerned that the resolution essentially mandates that low-skill workers be permanently unemployed,

Further Concerned that the resolution "requires that power and water supply be deemed appropriate utilities", whereas power may be considered an extravagant luxury in less-modernized nations,

Acknowledging the absolute necessity to assist the poor,

Noting the serious flaws in GAR #21, "Living Wage Act", and its unsustainability,

Hereby Repeals GAR #21, "Living Wage Act".
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Guy
Member Avatar
Old Admin Slave
Absolutely not.

The argument on the definition of 'poverty areas' is a strong one, as and there are weaknesses in the actual definition itself of the 'living wage' (although it's good enough).

The rest of the repeal, though, is an undignifying swirl of neat-looking but incredibly wrong arguments that don't hold up to any level of proper scrutiny.

Tipped persons should not be excluded from minimum wage requirements. Ever. Tips should not be part of the wage in any scenario, they are gratia payments entirely at the customer's discretion. If that changes a nation's culture to one of less tipping, so be it.

Regarding prison labour, all the resolution does is say that it does not regulate it. Which is fair enough. It'd be quite weird for a resolution on minimum wages to regulate forced prison labour. I'd imagine the WA already has something else on this?

The suggestion that the minimum wage being sufficient to cover average rent for one person (or two, if you have any number of dependents) is inflationary is a tad silly, although it should not be 'average' ideally, and generally framed better (see: weaknesses above).

Basically, a repeal is possible, but this one is pathetic.

Against.
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Christian Democrats
Member Avatar
HMSM James II
For.

In the past, I tried my own hand at repealing this resolution because I don't believe the minimum wage should be set on the international or national level. The minimum wage should be set by subnational or local governments according to local economic conditions, including citizens' expectations for quality of life.
"I was born free and desire to continue so."

Posted Image
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
« Previous Topic · General Assembly · Next Topic »
Add Reply