Workers over the years have complained that pay is too low to cover basic goods, which are often more expensive than in other countries due to weak infrastructure and gang violence.
California was the first state to implement a $15 minimum wage, and is now at the forefront of raising the wage floor, fast becoming the Fight for $20 and a Union. Can the minimum wage issue impact the mid-term elections?
Asha Banerjee, Margaret Poydock, Celine McNicholas, Ihna Mangundayao, and Ali Sait
Economic Policy Institute
High unionization levels are associated with positive outcomes across multiple indicators of economic, personal, and democratic well-being. Unions give workers a voice at work, and also give workers a voice in shaping their communities
Global real wage growth has stagnated compared to productivity in recent decades contributing to widening income inequality. Economic desperation is compounded by the fact that half of the world’s population lacks any form of social protection.
The future of an industry in crisis depends on support for the most disenfranchised—its workers. For restaurant workers the current crisis is an opportunity to demand remedies for long-standing ills such as wage theft, safety, abusive management.
Something remarkable is happening in fast food establishments, retail stores, and restaurants across America. You may have seen photos of it go viral. You may have even experienced it and the hostess apologizes for extra-long wait times.
Reader Comments: With Minimum Wage Can't Afford Rent; US Blockade of Cuba Sparks Protests; Recovering Racist History; Climate Change on Lake Michigan; Socialism No Longer Dirty Word; Lots (and lots) of Announcements
“We have a system that places far too high a burden on families paying for the high price of care, and for providers to operate on very, very thin margins, so they can keep their doors open and meet the needs of families.”
If the hyperbolic claims are to be believed, American workers are luxuriating in the largesse of taxpayer-funded payments, thumbing their noses at the benevolent and generous employers who are struggling to fill job vacancies.
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