[DRAFT] Minimum Wage

[Bananaistan]

"20 units per hour?

"Is that one and eight per hour? Or is it 20 new pence per hour, is it one pound (that being twenty shillings) or is it £20? Because £20 is well in excess of the average weekly wage, not even I'm paid £1 per hour, and both £-/1/8 and 20p per hour are a pittance."

[Yaak]

So, I edited the minimum wage.

[Separatist Peoples]

So, I edited the minimum wage.

"This standard is somehow even worse."

[Zyvetskistaahn]

I. Defines minimum wage as the lowest amount of wage required to be paid to a worker.

II. Mandates that the minimum wage shall be at least enough to afford a meal with a hamburger, fries, and any drink.

A. Nations are free to raise the minimum wage or keep it as is, but it cannot be lowered.

There are going to be any number of problems with getting this proposal to pass. Exchange rates and differences in purchasing power are going to make setting any particular amount virtually impossible and, while I appreciate the concept of avoiding that by just specifying what should be able to be purchased, what is specified is just grossly insufficient (at the moment, all that is required is that, in exchange for any amount of labour, a worker be able to afford a single meal). Moreover, I doubt that it will be easy to get to agreement on that issue.

Also given that the minimum wage is defined as the lowest wage required to be paid, I am not sure that this draft actually requires a nation to set a minimum wage, it only mandates that whatever the lowest required wage in a nation is is enough for a meal. I doubt very much that many extant minimum wages will be below that level.

I think that II.A is actually the part of this proposal that does the most. On my reading, given the definition, it prevents nations from lowering the lowest required wage in their jurisdiction, so would seem to impose an upwards ratchet on minimum wages even where they are higher than the amount mandated by the proposal.

It is not obvious to me that any of the effects I describe are really what is intended (though I may be wrong), so this probably needs substantial redrafting to work as intended.

[Makko Oko]

"We in the Makko Okoan Government are solemnly against this entire proposal. Firstly, like many have stated, exchange rates and inflation are different amongst nations. Secondly, not all nations have a minimum wage believe it or not, because we certainly do not, but yet we come off fine. Third and foremost, 2A in your resolution can be very easily bypassed by just removing the minimum wage altogether, but even then, 2A is also rather restricted with the ban on lowering the minimum wage when, in some cases, it can prove useful to a dying economy.

We urge you Ambassador, to review your resolution and all the feedback provided, and consider, if this resolution is really fruitful or not."

[Outer Sparta]

Sounds like you haven't done anything at all. The definitions are still extremely vague, and your standards aren't good enough to hold up in the WA.

[Wallenburg]

Come now, if I'm gonna die cold on the street, I'd like to at least be able to afford a double cheeseburger.

[Separatist Peoples]

"Why is the minimum wage tied to the price of a meal that may be unavailable or extremely expensive in member states? The price of a hamburger in a desert town may be widely disparate compared to one on a city corner. Why are we tying minimum wage to an innately unhealthy diet and not something of greater nutritional value if we are putting a meal as the currency de jure? The author is casting about for anything constant in the lives of workers to tie a common thread of value, but has consistantly failed to identify any commonality."

[Princess Rainbow Sparkles]

Mandates that the minimum wage shall be at least enough to afford a meal with a hamburger, fries, and any drink.

Per hour? Per year? Per second? Per lifetime? The price of a happy meal in my nation is $3.29. There's a big difference between earning that amount every second and earning that amount every year.

It seems to me like you're just making a trollish joke about minimum wage laws. If you're serious then you need to actually think about what you're proposing. Tying minimum wages to the cost of nutrition isn't an inherently stupid idea, but you're going about it in a profoundly stupid way. Sorry to be blunt.

As others with more patience have pointed out, I'm not sure you're proposing any meaningful addition to existing laws on this subject. Do something else.

[Yaak]

Mandates that the minimum wage shall be at least enough to afford a meal with a hamburger, fries, and any drink.

Per hour? Per year? Per second? Per lifetime? The price of a happy meal in my nation is $3.29. There's a big difference between earning that amount every second and earning that amount every year.

It seems to me like you're just making a trollish joke about minimum wage laws. If you're serious then you need to actually think about what you're proposing. Tying minimum wages to the cost of nutrition isn't an inherently stupid idea, but you're going about it in a profoundly stupid way. Sorry to be blunt.

As others with more patience have pointed out, I'm not sure you're proposing any meaningful addition to existing laws on this subject. Do something else.

Per day.

[The Orwell Society]

I have a suggestion, but I'm not sure if it's legal. Why don't you put the units in NSD or USD (NS dollars or Universal Standard dollars, both roughly equal to $1)?

[Makko Oko]

I have a suggestion, but I'm not sure if it's legal. Why don't you put the units in NSD or USD (NS dollars or Universal Standard dollars, both roughly equal to $1)?

OOC: Using currencies directly, or any irl elements in a resolution is typically not legal, but don't quote me on that

[The Orwell Society]

I have a suggestion, but I'm not sure if it's legal. Why don't you put the units in NSD or USD (NS dollars or Universal Standard dollars, both roughly equal to $1)?

OOC: Using currencies directly, or any irl elements in a resolution is typically not legal, but don't quote me on that

I checked the rules, and there is nothing (as far as I know) that even relates to currency, so I think using NSD would be legal and appropriate.

[Separatist Peoples]

OOC: Using currencies directly, or any irl elements in a resolution is typically not legal, but don't quote me on that

I checked the rules, and there is nothing (as far as I know) that even relates to currency, so I think using NSD would be legal and appropriate.

Ooc: Nope. It's a Game Mechanics violation.

[The Orwell Society]

I checked the rules, and there is nothing (as far as I know) that even relates to currency, so I think using NSD would be legal and appropriate.

Ooc: Nope. It's a Game Mechanics violation.

How so? Am I missing something?

[Attack Helicopter]

Ooc: Nope. It's a Game Mechanics violation.

How so? Am I missing something?

I don't know about you missing everything, but I know about you missing experience authoring/feedbacking WA proposals.

[Separatist Peoples]

Ooc: Nope. It's a Game Mechanics violation.

How so? Am I missing something?

Ooc: nations set their own currency gameside. Forcing them to adopt a new currency constitutes game mechanics as it seeks to change the code of the game.

[The Orwell Society]

How so? Am I missing something?

Ooc: nations set their own currency gameside. Forcing them to adopt a new currency constitutes game mechanics as it seeks to change the code of the game.

Not neccessarily. In roleplay, specifically in GE&T, the NSD is never a currency fully adopted by anyone. It is a currency used to exchange money between nations without the trouble of calculating what each nation's dollar is worth. It can be included by saying "the national equivalent of ___ NSD". It has nothing to do with changing game mechanics.

[Fachumonn]

Ooc: nations set their own currency gameside. Forcing them to adopt a new currency constitutes game mechanics as it seeks to change the code of the game.

Not neccessarily. In roleplay, specifically in GE&T, the NSD is never a currency fully adopted by anyone. It is a currency used to exchange money between nations without the trouble of calculating what each nation's dollar is worth. It can be included by saying "the national equivalent of ___ NSD". It has nothing to do with changing game mechanics.

I wouldn't argue with a longtime GenSec, especially on a topic like this.

[Separatist Peoples]

Ooc: nations set their own currency gameside. Forcing them to adopt a new currency constitutes game mechanics as it seeks to change the code of the game.

Not neccessarily. In roleplay, specifically in GE&T, the NSD is never a currency fully adopted by anyone. It is a currency used to exchange money between nations without the trouble of calculating what each nation's dollar is worth. It can be included by saying "the national equivalent of ___ NSD". It has nothing to do with changing game mechanics.

Ooc: What GEnT does isn't relevant here. That's the rule.

[Outer Sparta]

Ooc: nations set their own currency gameside. Forcing them to adopt a new currency constitutes game mechanics as it seeks to change the code of the game.

Not neccessarily. In roleplay, specifically in GE&T, the NSD is never a currency fully adopted by anyone. It is a currency used to exchange money between nations without the trouble of calculating what each nation's dollar is worth. It can be included by saying "the national equivalent of ___ NSD". It has nothing to do with changing game mechanics.

Roleplay and the like are irrelevant to matters of the WA in terms of the type of currency. The author doesn't seem to know how complex issues like minimum wage are especially if they're trying to legislate their rather arbitrary definition (which doesn't make sense at all).

[Bears Armed]

The World Assembly,

Noticing that a large group of people do not have good standards of living,

Realizing that one reason is due to no or very low minimum wage,

Hereby:

I. Defines minimum wage as the lowest amount of wage required to be paid to a worker.

II. Mandates that the minimum wage shall be at least enough to afford a meal with a [b]hamburger[b], fries, and any drink, per day.

A. Nations are free to raise the minimum wage or keep it as is, but it cannot be lowered.

There are nations in the WA that have compulsory vegetarianism or even compulsory veganism: Should minimum wage in those nations therefore count this "hamburger" factor in the wage calculation as zero, because the item simply isn't available, or are employers supposed to know & use any 'black market' price that exists there
Also, even in those nations where meat-eating is allowed it is possible that meat might be in short enough supply that it is an expensive luxury, and in those cases having to pay all workers enough to buy a hamburger every day would put a lot of employers out of business or at least force them to reduce their workforces.

[The New Nordic Union]

The World Assembly,

Noticing that a large group of people do not have good standards of living,

Realizing that one reason is due to no or very low minimum wage,

Hereby:

I. Defines minimum wage as the lowest amount of wage required to be paid to a worker.

II. Mandates that the minimum wage shall be at least enough to afford a meal with a [b]hamburger[b], fries, and any drink, per day.

A. Nations are free to raise the minimum wage or keep it as is, but it cannot be lowered.

There are nations in the WA that have compulsory vegetarianism or even compulsory veganism: Should minimum wage in those nations therefore count this "hamburger" factor in the wage calculation as zero, because the item simply isn't available, or are employers supposed to know & use any 'black market' price that exists there
Also, even in those nations where meat-eating is allowed it is possible that meat might be in short enough supply that it is an expensive luxury, and in those cases having to pay all workers enough to buy a hamburger every day would put a lot of employers out of business or at least force them to reduce their workforces.

'The argument of allowing luxury could also be made for'any drink' in the proposal. A bottle of Remy Martin Louis XIII is any drink. Overall, this proposal's metric is plain ridiculous.'

[Morover]

An older woman walks into the conference room in which this is being debated, and scoffs - she actually scoffs. Who actually scoffs at other people. What a pretentious asshole. After taking a second longer to finish reading the bill, the following is said:

"This is atrocious. I mean, I'm all for creating some sensible protocols to ensure everyone can live sufficiently, but this is just misguided attempt to bolster your nation's brightest minds - an attempt which, by the way, is failing spectacularly. I mean, my god, some of the delegations here have already commented on the obvious flaws in clause two, but even more concerning to me is the oversight in the subclause below it. Let's play a hypothetical for a moment - nation A has a booming cattle industry, which keeps the price of hamburgers low. However, there has recently been an outbreak of a disease that kills many cows in the nation, making the price of an average hamburger three times what it usually is for nation A. According to your proposal, the minimum wage would be about tripled (fries and drinks are negligibly priced in the nation), but then, a few years down the line, when the cattle industry is once again booming and the price of the hamburger has returned to its normal price, the minimum wage is still triple what it should be, because the nation is not permitted to lower it. Now, assuming your method of determining minimum wage is good (which, just to be clear, it is not), this means that nation A now has a drastically higher minimum wage than is required for this proposal. This is just one example of about six I could come up with, but it shows with confidence that there are many valid reasons a nation may want to lower the minimum wage. I heartily suggest you do a reevaluation of what you're trying to do here.

[Imperium Anglorum]

C Marcius Blythe. Minimum wages should be calibrated based on labour market conditions, not on some arbitrarily chosen heart-attack-inducing meal. Certain segments of the labour market would suffer unemployment if the minimum wage were set too high, which is a fact question requiring substantial homework to resolve. Such unemployment would reduce wages paid to members of that market as a whole. If there were elastic labour demand, this would reduce aggregate income to labour supply participants by more than the amount gained by the minimum.