Feb 23, 2020 2 min read

Workers need a living wage

Regarding a recent editorial from elsewhere in the Observer-Reporter{/em} about the minimum wage, I wish that Republicans would change the broken record they keep playing. They always say that raising the minimum wage will eliminate thousands of jobs. History proves them wrong, yet they keep saying that. A business needs a certain number of employees to operate: They are not going to lay off or fire employees they need to stay in business, or they will go out of business.

If they are able to eliminate “thousands” of jobs and remain in business, apparently they were not running their business right in the first place if they had employees they didn’t need. I have worked various minimum wage jobs in my life when the minimum wage was increased, and not one time did anyone lose his or her job because of it.

Any business that depends on paying employees less than a living wage does not deserve to stay in business. Anyone not willing to pay a tiny bit more for a pizza or a burger so that hard-working employees can be paid fairly should stay home and cook their own meals. To those I would say that they are already paying more in taxes due to the low minimum wage in Pennsylvania (and elsewhere) because it means more people need Medicaid and food stamps to survive. Think about it.

John Bradburn

Washington