Workers protest for minimum wage hike at Newark Airport — Are they right or wrong?

"Fight for $15" protests are happening across the country. Newark Liberty International Airport was the scene of a demonstration yesterday in which about 1,000 workers showed up as part of a nationwide effort to be paid $15 minimum. The employees were joined by fast food workers and others marching through the airport then holding a sit-in at Terminal C. Even Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was there supporting airport workers. The mayor said, "We will continue to support these hardworking men and women to ensure they get what they deserve - at least a $15 minimum wage and union rights."

Wow.

So now it's at least a $15 minimum wage? He'd prefer $17? $18? $20? Is anyone living in the real world anymore? Do these people not realize that if the minimum wage is increased to $15 then all other payscales will have to go up? The EMT now making $14.50 an hour is not going to settle for making the same per hour as an unskilled laborer flipping hamburgers. The factory worker making $21 an hour is not going to put up with having unskilled labor now only $6 beneath him. It wouldn't happen immediately, but over a few short years all pay would naturally have to go up to reflect the skill set involved in whatever given job. Once that happens, prices have to go up too. Once that happens, over time the $15 an hour minimum wage is back to buying the same quality of life our current minimum wage buys today. The answer is not more money for the same lack of skill. The answer is acquire skills. Set yourself apart to command more money.

One thing that often comes up in the debate of a higher minimum wage is how you cannot raise a family on minimum wage. Thanks, Columbo. We already got that. Which is why most of us would never consider having babies when we have no job skills. It's called planning your life. It's called a condom. You might want to look into it. This whole issue has always made my blood boil.

As angry as it makes me it might just happen. President-elect Donald Trump has gone back and forth on this question, as he has on many things. But he has publicly stated he supports a higher minimum wage of "at least $10." So should it happen? And no matter what you earn now, how much of a raise are you going to want if it does?