According to Labour stats, only 5% of the workforce works for minimum wage.  The rest of us (95%) have used merit and/or hard work to get a raise beyond the minimum wage, many getting paid well beyond the minimum wage.  If the dude in the article is still working at No Frills without getting a raise after all those years, he clearly did not get the memo "Quit your job if you are being underpaid". Every ladder has a bottom rung, the lower the better, but you shouldn't just stand there.  A ladder is for climbing.