All right. Joining us now, Mike Rowe works Foundation CEO.
Mike Rowe, I'm so glad you're here today,
Sir. We're not going to ask you about unionizing basketball
teams,
OK? But this is a fascinating thing to me.
But we are talking about unionizing college basketball teams.
It seems like the union moment is sort of happening
again.
And I'm curious if you think that's more pro worker
or pro politics.
The only context I can really give you,
Brian, during that story. And look,
I do think it's super interesting personally if people want
to join a union or form a union.
I got no truck with that.
I do have a problem when organizations like the SEIU
partner with elected officials to get behind legislation like the
Proact or AB Five out here in California that basically
waged a war on the freelance economy.
It's the unintended consequences of this kind of thing that
I always
kind of look for and I think we're probably going
to see some here.
But just for context, during that story I googled cost
of a four year degree at Dartmouth.
It's it's
$360,000. OK. So yeah, we can talk about guys running
up and down the court trying to get a ball
and a hoop.
Sure, we can talk about all these things.
I do think it's kind of interesting,
but for me, the big story,
Oh my God,
$360,000 for the average kid who's not trying to get
a ball through a hoop.
He's just trying to get an education and he's going
to start his or her career.
350 grand in the hole,
That's a hell of a thing.
Can you weigh in with us on the minimum wage
debate?
There was a big story that a big Newsom
part donor over at Panera did not get included in
the $20 minimum wage in California because Panera is classified
as a bakery.
After a lot of criticism,
he then came out and said that he will be
raising wages to $20.00 an hour,
saying he'll be missing out on talent if he doesn't
to match everyone else in the fast food chain who
now was legally required to pay $20.00 an hour.
What do you think of this?
Well, I think the market's a powerful thing.
And if you're suddenly the only guy who isn't paying
$20.00 an hour,
and you're looking at a finite pool of people who
want to work in the fast food industry,
well, who's going to apply for a job with you?
Right? So they probably kind of had to do it.
I thought it was a bad look for the governor.
I think it's a bad look for Panera.
But mostly, again, I'll come back to unintended consequences.
Unions are fraught with them.
Minimum wage is fraught with it.
Rent control. There's there's always a price to pay for
doing a short term thing that looks and feels good
to do and say,
and so I'll tell you what's going to happen here
in California.
It's the same thing that's happened in every other state.
Kiosks are going to replace low wage workers.
AI is going to have a
voice in this and 1/4 pounder with cheese is is
going to be a heck of a lot more expensive.
This is a lesson that we seem determined
to learn over and over and over again.
Well, Speaking of imparting lessons,
Mike, we would be remiss if we did not ask
you about your ethic work program.
I understand that Western High School in Las Vegas is
the first to adopt this really interesting ethic work program.
You're teaching youth responsibility, positive attitudes.
Tell us more about what you're doing.
How are you teaching young people and what are they
walking away with?
Well, the Microworks Foundation has been at it now for
16 years.
We offer a couple $1,000,000 every year in work ethic
scholarships.
Couple years ago, I thought it would be a good
idea to get a work ethic curriculum into high schools
so we can at least have a conversation about the
benefits of showing up early and staying late and embracing
a modicum of personal responsibility,
delayed gratification, positive attitude and work ethic,
right? I mean, there's a lot of curricula out there.
There's the CRT and the ESG and the
DEI and so many acronyms.
We just wanted to make a case for work ethic
in Vegas.
So what's really fascinating now is we've got this curriculum,
the whole freshman class at Western
750. Kids are going to go through it and the
top 50 at a minimum will get a full ride
scholarship from Microworks.
And a local foundation in Nevada called Engelstad,
$5,000,000 is going to go straight to that small cohort
of kids to pay for a full ride scholarship in
any trade school they want.
So what we've done finally is link work ethic with
a scholarship program in a way that I hope is
going to help close America's skills gap,
which is wider than it's ever been.
Love it, Mike. Now when I think Vegas,
I don't often think work ethic for me,
but I love what you're doing at that high school
and I hope it succeeds and profound ways.
Mike Rowe, thanks for being with us today.
Good to see you. Thanks,
guys. I appreciate it.