Sanders: American Workers Getting Stiffed

[Armstead]

From website of Cong. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)
http://bernie.house.gov/documents/releases/20030826183955.asp


For Immediate Release, 8/26/2003
Low Wage Jobs Stiffing American Workers


One in four working Americans now make less then $18,100 a year, which is the current official poverty level in the United States for a family of four. That is over 30 million working Americans who are still living in poverty. The wage gap is widening, leading to greater and greater income inequality among American families. Between 1973 and 1997, the average annual incomes of the poorest 20% of families actually fell by 5% ($701), while the average income of the richest 20% of families grew by 41% ($39,077). The incomes of the richest 5% of families grew fastest of all, increasing by 64% ($91,336).

That is simply not acceptable. To read an Op-Ed that debunks the myths about why people are working longer hours for lower wages click here.

http://bernie.house.gov/documents/articles/20030826182931.asp
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Excerpt

Published on 8/24/2003 in the Alameda Times-Star
Four myths, 30 million potential votes
by Beth Shulman

As the Presidential campaigns seek definition, one pivotal issue remains hidden from view. It is potentially huge, especially for Democrats, because it involves their natural constituents, and it addresses core issues of the economy, social justice and fairness. The issue is low-wage work. Fully 30 million Americans -- one in four U.S. workers -- earn $8.70 an hour or less, a rate that works out to $18,100 a year, which is the current official poverty level in the United States for a family of four. These low-wage jobs usually lack health care, child care, pensions and vacation benefits. Their working conditions are often grueling, dangerous, even humiliating.

At the same time, more and more middle-class jobs are taking on many of these same characteristics, losing the security and benefits once taken for granted. The shameful reality of low-wage work in America should be on every Democrat's cue card as a potential weapon to be used against the Republicans' rosy economic scenario. But so far it isn't. Why not? One reason may be four long-standing myths that have for years drowned out a rational discussion of what should be a national call to conscience:

EDIT

At the same time, the purchasing power of the federal minimum wage fell 30 percent during the 1980s. Despite minimal increases in the 1990s, according to the Economic Policy Institute, the value of the current minimum wage of $5.15 per hour is still 21 percent less than it was in 1979.

The richest country in the world should not tolerate such treatment of more than a fourth of its workers. The myths of upward mobility and inevitable market forces blind too many people to the grim reality of low-wage work. A presidential campaign is the right time to begin a conversation on how to change it.

Beth Shulman is a lawyer and author of "The Betrayal of Work: How Low-Wage Jobs Fail 30 Million Americans," to be published next month by the New Press.

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