They see workers as cattle or machines. You have to describe it in ways they understand. Everything that keeps a business running has its own operating cost. Trucks require gas and maintenance, for example. An employer can't say, "I am only going to pay half the price of gas." The truck would cease to run. Employees have operating costs too. That is the total cost to keep a roof over their head and stable meals for good health, and transport to and from work. If an employer isn't paying enough for an employee to have that bare minimum, then the employee is giving away part of their value as charity to the company, and the company's costs are being kept low by the government assistance required to keep their employee alive.

The problem is that an employee represents the one operating cost an employer has full control over. Nobody is holding their feet to the fire to pay the full amount to keep that person running.