Labor is just what it says, Labor. All labor needs to be paid a living wage, not just a servile wage. The living wage needs to have some disposable income in the pay check, which will boost the consumer-driven capitalist system. This type of wage, around $15 to $16 an hour, needs to be paid to all wage slaves no matter the type of job. A worker should not have to work and need government support to survive. When workers use government support, other, higher paid workers, are helping to support the lower paid workers.
This government support is nothing more than a subsidy to the corporations, the same corporations that do not pay taxes or their fair share of taxes. These subsidies help corporations increase their profits. Americans need to ask themselves, why corporations are receiving the welfare help that poor Americans aren’t or are criticized for receiving. The corporations are the “welfare queens,” not the low paid workers.
Before you assume that America does not have qualified or educated workers as the corporations loudly proclaim do your research. According to the Labor Department, 13.4 million college graduates working for hourly pay, this up 19 percent since the start of the recession, and one in four workers will be working low-wage or poverty-level work and the average age of these workers is 35 years old.
The income inequality is the elephant in the room, and it belongs to the anti-worker GOP money people, who rail against government handouts, but are the first in line, yet blame big government for the low-paid wage slaves. Who sets the wage level for each job? I’m thinking it is set by the money people who pay the lowest amount they can get people to accept.
Why don’t the workers set the wage they are willing to sell their lives one hour at a time. Remember, you will eventually wear out just like a car, and then what? Do you think the person who has been paying your minimum wage will be there? It is up to the workers either one person at a time or many workers to stand up and just say, “No more.” This is called solidarity.
So all can blame each other for income inequality, but that will not fix it. You, the worker, must be the one to fight for the $15 to $16 an hour wage, which will really help the economy and your families.
The corporations and businesses who say they will go broke or out of business if the minimum wage is increased are either lying or not good business owners. Maybe they should just go out of business because someone smarter will be in line to replace them and they will not then build their profit margin on cheap labor.
A living wage should just be the cost of doing good business and that cost today should be $15 to $16 an hour. Some already have this, such as L.A. airport at $10.74 in wages plus $4.76 in healthcare benefits for a total of $15.67; San Francisco at $10.74 plus healthcare for a total of $13 an hour. Not perfect, but it’s getting there.
Keep up the fight wage slaves here and around the world.
Yes, they are coming for us. Workers need to have one another’s backs because no one else will. Neither the broader labor movement nor the Democratic party are prepared to meet the urgency of this moment. So it’s going to fall upon the rest of us to mount a real resistance against Trump’s authoritarian takeover. We’re going to have to get our hands dirty. I don’t care if you have a good, well-paying union job and you are in the middle class now—if you see a worker being dragged out of his workplace regardless of how skilled the job and potentially taken to another country, you should be ready to be there for that worker. When I.C.E. shows up, gather around and shame them into leaving. It has worked in other places. America is sleep walking into authoritarianism, and if there’s anyone out there who is a member of a labor union that is safe—at this point— and doesn’t think this applies to them. Understand that they just haven’t gotten to you yet. They’re coming for all of us. There are ...
Comments
Post a Comment