She looks so sad and lonely. :( not nearly enough time or good weather for riding yet this year. I think I have less than 500 miles on her. Maybe this weekend... #motorcycle #yamaha #maxim #700cc #girlswhoride
The other day I heard someone mention how hard it is to be gay. (Or black or female. You can insert the word of your choice here, it really doesn't matter, since I didn't actually hear anyone say these words, I just heard the constant litany similar sentiments.) And I thought to myself how much easier it is now than it ever was before.
I hope, in our eagerness to change the world, we don't forget to recognize and celebrate the changes we've already wrought. They are many. They are mighty.
So I talk to a lot of people -- and post a lot of shit on Facebook -- about the minimum wage and the fight to increase it. I had another such conversation today.
A couple of things stand out in my head:
1. Most of the people in my circle of friends and acquaintances who oppose a minimum wage increase say something along the lines of how insulting it is for a "burger flipper" to make the same, or nearly the same, wage as they do. It seems to not be about whether or not those who are paid the minimum deserve an increase, but their own, personal feelings of insult to be within the same wage bracket as someone who works a job worth less, in their mind, than the job they work.
2. The only people I see fighting for a higher wage in this time of poor wages and lack of raises for most professions and jobs are those who make the lowest wages. Everyone feels they deserve more, that they do more work for less money than they ever have before, and yet no one but the "burger flippers" is fighting for more. How can anyone expect to effect change in the world if they don't stand up and fight for change?
3. As my friend Tess pointed out just today, some of the loudest protesters of a minimum wage increase are the enormously taxed middle class. They are also the folks who tend to complain the most about welfare and other forms of government assistance. Minimum wage being an inadequate amount to provide a living wage means those who are in those jobs must rely on those government entitlements to survive. A minimum wage hike would mean less of their tax dollars were going to entitlements. A minimum wage hike would put the financial burden squarely upon the corporations who employ these workers instead of the tax payers.
Instead of bitching about unemployed welfare recipients, why not ask corporations to pay people a living wage so they can support themselves?
4. Another common argument is that raising the minimum wage would decrease jobs and increase the cost of the products we buy. Historical data does not support this. Historical data does not support this. The end.
5. The belittling of minimum wage workers is ugly. Thoughtless, unkind, untrue and ugly in a great many cases. Yes, people make mistakes when you place your order at Burger King. Yes, Walmart doesn't have enough cashiers. Yes, maids at the Hampton Inn sometimes cut corners. Most workers do an adequate job. Quite a few do an excellent job. A great number would take more pride in their work and do it well if they were a) paid better and b) not ridiculed and looked down upon.
College and a well paying career is a great path. It's not the path for everyone, nor should it be. There will always need to be someone to cook or serve your dinner at the restaurant, make your bed at the hotel, check you out and stock items at the store, keep the gas station open 24 hours, work at the laundromat, park cars, answer phones and, basically, keep your world running the way you are accustomed to. Most of them are not teenagers. Teenagers are in school all day.
The tendency to belittle these people is ugly. Ugly, ugly, ugly.
I could say more but, in general, these are my main observances.
Y'all probably didn't want to hear them at all.
But I? Wanted to talk about them.
I? Am a supervisor at a retail store and I make a shitty wage.
I? Think it's important to fight for more, for better, for a living wage.
Simple. Complex. @simple-complex - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
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