Selling Labor For $0 Dollars An Hour

Reply to: Living wage — coming to a city near you

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The real problem is that people can give their labor away for free. For example… how much of your labor went into this story of yours? Maybe five hours? Yet, here you are giving five hours of your life away for free. You’re not selling your labor for $15 dollars/hour… or $10 dollars/hour… or even $5 dollars an hour. You’re selling your labor for $0 dollars an hour. 

It’s illogical to argue that you should have the freedom to sell your labor for $0 dollars/hour… but that you shouldn’t have the freedom to sell your labor for any amount between $0.01 cents/hour and whatever the minimum wage is.

If we made it illegal for you to sell your labor for $0 dollars an hour… then people would better understand the true value of labor. And nobody would be able to exploit you. Like, if your friend wanted you to help her move… then she would have to pay you at least the minimum wage. 

Of course this would do away with unpaid internships. And volunteering. If a non-profit wanted you to help the homeless… then they would have to pay you at least the minimum wage. 

Is Medium a for-profit or non-profit? In any case, once it’s illegal for you to sell your labor for $0 dollars an hour… then Medium would have to pay you the minimum wage for your labor. 

Well… what if you wanted to pull the weeds in your garden? If you shouldn’t have the freedom to sell your labor to others for $0 dollars/hour… then why should you have the freedom to sell your labor to yourself for $0 dollars/hour? You really shouldn’t be an exception to the rule. Exploiting yourself is just as bad as exploiting others. Therefore, if there was any work around the house that needed doing… then you’d have to pay somebody else at least the minimum wage to do it. 

How much time have I spent writing this reply? Eh… close enough to an hour. We should keep track of all the hours that Medium has exploited us. Then, when it becomes illegal to sell/buy labor for $0 dollars/hour, we can sue Medium for back pay.