The precariat rose up, with passion, desire for change, and votes. The issue was an excess compensation tax on corporations to fund social, economically integrated, affordable housing across Seattle which earlier had passed with a 26 percent margin.
The first step is giving the city the freedom to set its own wage floor
Far from earning living wages, most U.S. workers have experienced wage stagnation since the 1970s--a trend largely obscured by political rhetoric and misinformation.
If Salvation Army residential work employees earned at least a minimum wage and overtime pay, program participants would be properly compensated for their labor rather than exploited, overworked, and underpaid.
Morale has plummeted as staff charged with protecting U.S. workers feel their core mission is being undermined.
Trump’s “populist” policy is backed by the National Restaurant Association—probably because it won’t stop establishments from paying servers below the minimum wage.
“People are at very great risk of dying on the job already,” Rebecca Reindel, the AFL-CIO union’s occupational safety and health director, said. “This is something that is only going to make the problem worse.”
It’s long past time to fix this failure in our economy and in our politics.
Spread the word