Just to be fair, why not bump ALL wages about 40%.
Most union contracts have a clause that gives automatic raises in the event of a rise in the minimum wage. That’s exactly what is pushing these ‘reforms’ to the minimum wage - union employees, having reached the point where job actions cause closures and who are unable to wrangle any more wages at the negotiating table are instead going all out to raise the minimum wage and thus raise union wages.
There you go - it isn’t to help the ‘working poor’, it is to help the unions.
“Just to be fair, why not bump ALL wages about 40%.”
Union pay scales ARE tied to the minimum wage. I forget the factor, and I imagine they vary - but some guy making $40 an hour is at ~5.3 x minimum wage. Bring min. wage up to $10.50 and that union wage is now $55.65. (Not including all of the time-and-a-half hours they load up on, etc.)