IMHO, the pensions and union wages have nothing to do with the minimum wage issue. Minimum wage was NEVER intended to be a living wage; not going to get into that.
Inflation is a farce and people’s wages up & down the scale have been eroded by ‘real’ inflation (the wage gap was noticeable to most in 2007...it’s just more painful now). To keep the sheeple happy, they have to stoke another crisis, putting conservatives at odds with the LIV once again. When they get what they want, their vote is predictable, as is the positive effect of ‘supporting working people’ and the converse, of course, against conservatives.
This is gaming 2016, pure & simple. .02
It's pretty freaking obvious that there are "swarms" of grandfathered current .gov workers and retired .gov workers that are ROLLING in dough and medical benefits.
My mother-in-law, whose husband worked for .gov, has sucked up over a quarter of a million in medical benefits for "old age repairs" surgeries, probably pushing a half million.
When the minimum wage gets raised, COLA agreements will take care of our .gov "friends", working or retired.
The rest of the working or retired middle class? Not so much. Even the non-grandfathered .gov workers are going to take it up the behind.
The EBT crowd will vote for status quo anyway, because their benefits are indexed also.
You need to look up and see the sails of the get-away vehicle, and the Jolly Roger that she flies.