“Normal” work day for many:
- 4 A.M. alarm
- 4:30 at the bus stop
- 6 A.M. Begin 1st job
- 11 A.M. Dollar menu lunch/bus stop
- 1 P.M. Begin 2nd job
- 6 P.M. bus stop
- 8:30 Arrive home (evening buses slower)
16.5 hr day, 10 hrs pay (2 jobs = no overtime)
Just enough pay to do it all again.
In another thread, I talked about people who have very little to spend on food.
With this schedule, add to the money problem, a time problem. How do you shop, cook, or even sit down to eat?
Cheap, unhealthy fast food is probably your mainstay. If you can pay for it.
You get home so late each night and have to get up so early that even 5 hours of sleep would seem a luxury.
Maybe on the week-end?
Except trips for groceries, trips to do laundry or other errands will probably have you up almost as early and keep you up nearly as late.
Many of the people living this life are working for corporations that earned billions in profits but paid no taxes last year.
Instead of paying wages that would lift their employees out of poverty and providing benefits to all employees, they do as little as possible.
The big companies treat their employees this way because our government encourages it.
There are no tax penalties for businesses with wages so low that the employees collect SNAP or benefits so bad that they get Medicaid.
Work should pay enough to allow people to live decently.
There are CEO’s with multi-million dollar yearly salaries overseeing companies where the employees are paid so little that they can’t afford rent.
It isn’t just, it isn’t right and it needs to be fixed.
Originally posted on Twitter. Re-posted with permission.
