Sure, if we want to philosophize about it, and I agree with it - but that's not going to help people get $25/hr. It needs a practical solution, forcing it when so many people will feel slighted wont help. What use would the hospital be if all the support staff got $25/hr and the medical staff walked out because the support staff is getting paid more than they are, but without the very real and legal responsibilities the medical staff have? This compounds on the other meta aspects of having worked hard to get there, student loans, etc. If I paid customer service agents more than the programmers working on a product, I soon would have a very stale product with really good customer support. And soon after, no product at all.

Its not that one side wants the other to suffer or stay poor/oppressed so they can feel exceptional. They dont want to feel their entire struggle and outsized contribution was for nothing. The other people dont factor in at all - they are trying to feed their family first (humans are gonna human). Why bother being a nurse and doing all that night school if they could just be support staff and get paid the same without the responsibility + extra loans? We are not even talking about the real rich vs poor here, so even thou the idea is to close the rich/poor gap - the solution of not raising adjacent workers pay to get it done, does nothing to solve it and only introduces obstacles to the real goal.

I think discussions like minimum wage end up talking past each other (as happened with my friend and I over many talks). It is desperate for a divergent solution. I dont have one that doesnt involve completely rebuilding every social/societal construct from it's foundation. Basically pointless and not something thats going to happen. But I am sure someone smarter than me can find a 3rd way without adding bugs/negative effects to other branches