I think that you’re incorrect about the motives of many of the posters on here. I’ve seen quite a few folk who were very much on board with raising the minimum wage across the board, including the talks of the unionization of fast food workers that happened a few years ago.

I have an undergraduate degree in economics, and I stand by saying that running food services for Harvard (or any university) is a large operation, which can not solely be handled by an interchangeable group of ‘unskilled labor’. This is not a church soup kitchen.

Its funny how we use the words “unskilled labour” as an excuse to not pay people a living wage when there is no such thing as unskilled labour, eh?

Where are the better causes? I mean, we can debate the hypothetical, but are there any Aramark or Walmart based wage stories in the media right now that are comparable?

Right, I’m going to mention something that is going to blow your mind, but hear me out.

Why is the income level of college-educated students relevant to this discussion?

When was the last time you tried to live, with healthcare and children, on $23/hour?

Yep! And they are buying up land left and right...but then cry poverty when employees ask for raises or are asked for charitable contributions from the communities they are in.

I would argue focusing on this issue take away from the credibility of the whole issue of wage inequality.

$23 dollars an hour? Where did you get this figure? Article says they make less than $35K a year. And what’s wrong with expecting more than minimum wage? Yeah, they’re only serving food, but the minimum wage is exactly that: The minimum amount you’re ALLOWED to pay, not what you HAVE to pay. The fact that Harvard has…

I went to grad school there, the undergrads were so hostile to any and every attempt by campus workers to organize. I have heard Harvard undergrads say incredibly ignorant and cruel things about homeless people and waitresses that would seem like satire if they weren’t uttered with the total conviction of privilege.…

I live in Cambridge and believe me, asking for $35K guaranteed a year is asking for NOTHING. Mr. Bennet and I are moving because (combined) we make nearly 3x what they’re asking for and we don’t think we can afford to live here long-term. The school’s behavior is nothing short of disgusting. You can’t require a…

$62 million dollar operating surplus.

I had a boss like this once when I was an assistant. He would pitch a fit over the smallest thing until whoever he was dealing with knuckled under. Once he had me spend at least four hours (at my hourly pay rate then, that was him paying me $68 to do this) making phone calls and writing emails and letters about a $30…

I suspect he thinks being president consists of saying things like “Create jobs today” to his butler, and it happens.

Yup. My mom had stories of working at a pancake house in college that a lot of rich vacationing couples went to. Even if the guy tipped well (this was in the 70s) plenty of times his wife would double back and take the tip. This is why anyone in my family who eats out with her is required to give a really good tip at…

I had a paper route when I was a kid. There was one wealthy family on the route, one really poor guy (who literally lived in a tar paper shack), and the rest were regular working class/lower middle class people. Tar paper shack guy only got the paper once a week for the TV listings, and was my best tipper. The rich…

My husband is in construction in a very wealthy area and this is 100% true, rich clients argue about each item and refuse to pay often.

I’ve got a cynical theory that that’s how many of them ended up so rich in the first place—by getting out of paying for things because they have are immoral and unethical. Whereas we schmucks with a conscience who don’t fuck people over in every way possible don’t get rich because we think having basic human decency…

due to scaling issues, it would just look like someone typed a bunch of underscores all the way across a blank screen.