Steven Burd Quotes

There are some people who have had no pay rises for a very long time, and, working in highly skilled and highly responsible roles and in the health services and education, they deserve to be properly remunerated.

There's this notion out there - and it's a categorically false notion - that the only business model in the service industry is the minimum-wage business model. I say phooey to that. You go to a Costco store, and you see people there who've been working there for years and years. They're making $15, $20 an hour, plus health benefits.

Walmart isn't your average mom-and-pop operation. It's the largest employer in America. As such, it's the trendsetter for millions of other employers of low-wage workers.

Today, there are more Americans working than ever before in the history of our Nation, and the average wage of those workers is higher than it has ever been in the history of our Nation.

Home Depot has never hired one human being for minimum wage, not one. We have always paid a premium over minimum wage.

It's like you work with people, and based on the size of the budget, you sometimes can't pay them what they deserve.

I get paid to work; I don't pay to work.

Regardless of what the minimum wage is, you really have the market wage. And if we're not taking care of our people, then we're going to lose good talent, at every level.

Well, for me the canning factory was minimum wage, which at the time I believe was $3.40 or something. I was just happy to have a job.

Instead of focusing on this sort of defeatist mentality where we've gotta up the minimum wage, why don't we focus on creating better-paying jobs?

I'm going to announce in the very near future, I'm going to lead by example and start paying 20 percent of my health insurance.

These days, government employees are better off in almost every area: pay, benefits, time off, and security, on top of working fewer hours. They can thrive even in a down economy.

Today, a skilled manager makes more than the owner. And owners fight each other to get the skilled managers.

My father was a member of the Teamsters Union in California, where he helped to organize better health care for workers. My mother worked for more than 20 years on an assembly line.

We need to make sure that joblessness never pays more than employment.

No employer is going to hire robustly until they know what the health care cost is going to be.

In the beginning, I was so chintzy I really didn't pay my employees well.

I had 13 job offers out of college. I went to Bullock's department store and had a fantastic interview, but was skeptical. I knew retail didn't pay much.

Moreover, statistics can be deceiving: the growth of jobs in the US in the 90s was due to many part-time jobs, with no benefits and generally low pay.

I've never seen someone work for a salary.

Because the truth is our wages are really competitive and they're good.

People are still willing to do an honest day's work. The trouble is they want a week's pay for it.

In short, avoiding the scourge of unemployment may have less to do with chasing after growth and more to do with building an economy of care, craft and culture. And in doing so, restoring the value of decent work to its rightful place at the heart of society.

My whole purpose really is to try to help working families to find better jobs and get better benefits and look out for the little guy.

Union members not only earn higher median wages; they are more likely to have paid sick leave, short-term disability, and employer-provided child care. Giving people a voice at work - the ability to organize and negotiate for their fair share of the value they helped create - is absolutely essential to a growing, vibrant middle class.