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Minimum wage boost for 4 million Germans
http://money.cnn.com/2014/07/03/news/economy/minimum-wage-germany/index.html?iid=A_E_News
Good news for nearly four million German workers: Lawmakers passed a bill Thursday to introduce the country's first national minimum wage.
Starting January 1, 2015, employers across all sectors of Europe's biggest economy will have to pay at least 8.50 euros per hour.
That's worth $11.50 at current exchange rates. But Germany is a relatively expensive place to live, so that wage doesn't go as far as it would in the U.S.
The federal minimum wage in the U.S. stands at $7.25, but President Obama supports an increase to $10.10.
Some U.S. states and cities have already gone further.
Seattle is phasing in a rate of $15, and Massachusetts has passed legislation to gradually raise its minimum to $11 by 2017.
Most wages in Germany are set in negotiations between companies and unions.
Good news for nearly four million German workers: Lawmakers passed a bill Thursday to introduce the country's first national minimum wage.
Starting January 1, 2015, employers across all sectors of Europe's biggest economy will have to pay at least 8.50 euros per hour.
That's worth $11.50 at current exchange rates. But Germany is a relatively expensive place to live, so that wage doesn't go as far as it would in the U.S.
The federal minimum wage in the U.S. stands at $7.25, but President Obama supports an increase to $10.10.
Some U.S. states and cities have already gone further.
Seattle is phasing in a rate of $15, and Massachusetts has passed legislation to gradually raise its minimum to $11 by 2017.
Most wages in Germany are set in negotiations between companies and unions.
Whenever a teabagger tells you that Germany is prosperous because they don't have a minimum wage, throw this in their face. Germany is prosperous because their companies don't hate their workers/unions and they are proud of labor as an honorable job in their culture. Universal healthcare and education and they are one of the most unionized countries.
Some sectors of America look down on labor for some reason and our companies often have very hostile relationships with workers. Some Americans look down on minimum wage employees as inferior. A german BMW executive of a US plant wrote an article on how Americans don't take pride in building stuff anymore because they assume its for losers who failed at everything else.