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David D

Working-Class Hero - 0 views

  • The real secret to Ehrenreich's book, though, is yuppie voyeurism. Nickel and Dimed is an interesting read. It approaches the working poor like a separate species -- and for most of Ehrenreich's readers, they are.
  • Ehrenreich's book does have historical precedent, but it's not Orwell. It's the illustrated guides to the London underworld so popular with the Victorians. Ehrenreich's official conclusion: It's difficult, if not impossible, to keep afloat on $7 an hour. Her implicit conclusion: The poor are different from you and me. They look different. They eat different foods. They live in places middle-class people rarely go. They smoke. They even think differently from the way we do. They distrust collective endeavors. They're not stupid, but they're not interested in politics or other abstractions. Above all, they instinctively dislike change, even when change might improve their lives.
  • And sooner or later, she will be invited to testify before Congress, probably about the effects of welfare reform and the subsequent growth of the service economy.
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  • The problem with Ehrenreich's book is that while it identifies a real problem (hardworking people trapped in poverty), and it feeds an increasingly common anxiety (with the economy softening, could this happen to me?), it offers no realistic solutions. Ehrenreich's prescription seems to be this: Increase union membership and force employers to pay their workers more, perhaps by doubling the minimum wage.
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    This compares Ehrenreich's book to Orwell's (who did a similar thing but took it more seriously) and speculates on possible consequences of the novel, pointing out a lack of a plausible solution.
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    "Why is an author who slams the "corporate overclass" suddenly so popular with the corporate overclass? The usual masochism of the affluent accounts for some of it. The rich like to be told they're wicked, both because it confirms that they're powerful and because it makes them feel slightly less guilty." This article explains why Nickel and Dimed has popularity, even with the upper class. The rich, while they still may be wicked in some regards, have come to accept this fact rather then shy away from it. By knowing and accepting that they are the fittest in Darwin's "Survival of the Fittest" theory, which has carried over to American Capitalism, they feel "that they're powerful". The article shows interesting perspectives on which types of person read the novel and for what reasons.
Ellen L

No Union Please, We're Wal-Mart - 0 views

  • As I'm checking out, the elderly man in front of me says to the young woman running the register: "It's so sad to see your favorite store like this." She just shrugs.
  • A media capital Jonquière is not. And yet Wal-Mart's abandonment of this north Quebec outpost in the spring of 2005 made news from Tokyo to São Paulo as an object lesson in the lengths to which America's largest company will go to throttle the threat of unionization. Wal-Mart closed its store here a few months after it was certified by the Quebec government as the only unionized Wal-Mart in North America.
  • Discretion was essential, for they knew that there were workers who either truly liked their jobs without benefit of a union or were so fearful of losing them that they would oppose unionization.
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  • The store soon was riven into bitterly opposed camps. Management began holding mandatory anti-union meetings and issuing dire warnings about the future of the store. Complaints of intimidation and harassment cut both ways, as pro-company employees told of organizers pestering them at home at all hours.
  • Two months later, just as the UFCW and Wal-Mart representatives were preparing to begin mandatory contract negotiations, Wal-Mart Canada issued an ominous press release from its headquarters near Toronto. "The Jonquière store is not meeting its business plan," it declared, "and the company is concerned about the economic viability of the store."
  • Not long ago, Lavoie's 10-year-old daughter came home crying from school after she had been harangued by the child of a former Wal-Mart manager. A hero to some and a villain to others, Lavoie insists that she had no choice but to fight. "Je ne regrette rien," she says. "I regret nothing."
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    This article reports on the thwarting of a unionized Wal-Mart in Quebec. As the first unionized North American Wal-Mart, the leaders went out on a limb to gain support for their cause (although the percent of unionized workers in Canada is greater than that of the US,) and were inevitably shut down for reasons relating to poor value, although few believed this to be true.
Ellen L

US: Wal-Mart Denies Workers Basic Rights | Human Rights Watch - 0 views

  • Human Rights Watch found that while many American companies use weak US laws to stop workers from organizing, the retail giant stands out for the sheer magnitude and aggressiveness of its anti-union apparatus.
  • Wal-Mart workers have virtually no chance to organize because they’re up against unfair US labor laws and a giant company that will do just about anything to keep unions out,” said Carol Pier, senior researcher on labor rights and trade for Human Rights Watch. “That one-two punch devastates workers’ right to form and join unions.”
  • Wal-Mart’s relentless anti-union drumbeat creates a climate of fear at its US stores. Many workers are convinced that they will suffer dire consequences if they form a union, in part because they do not hear pro-union views. Many are also afraid that if they defy their powerful employer by organizing, they could face retaliation, even firing.
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  • Managers receive explicit instructions on keeping out unions, many of which are found in the company’s “Manager’s Toolbox,” a self-described guide to managers on “how to remain union free in the event union organizers choose your facility as their next target.”
  • Penalties under US labor law are so minimal that they have little deterrent effect, and Wal-Mart only receives a slap on the wrist when found guilty of illegal conduct.
  • “Wal-Mart should change its anti-union behavior,” said Pier. “When companies like Wal-Mart can regularly violate US workers’ right to organize, they threaten a fundamental right and one that the government is duty-bound to uphold.”
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    Human Rights Watch attacks Wal-Mart for their unfair treatment of their workers. While supressing unions, illegaly firing employees, and evesdropping on conversations, causing employees to be at a severe disadvantage, the corporation faces few legal consequences.
Ellen L

Workers brought into US and 'exploited' - Americas - Al Jazeera English - 0 views

  • A US federal agency has filed lawsuits over the unequal treatment of more than 500 migrant workers from India brought into the country to work at shipyards in Mississipi and Texas, and over 200 Thai farm labourers brought in to work in Hawaii and Washington state.
  • "They were nickeled and dimed to the point where they really didn't have any pay," said Anna Park, regional attorney for the EEOC Los Angeles office.
  • The EEOC says that some of the workers were forced to live in crowded conditions, and their quarters were infested with rats and insects.
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  • Officials also said that the workers had their passports taken from them, and were threatened with deportation if they complained.
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    A lawsuit occured involving the trafficing and poor treatment of migrant workers. Many of these workers paid agents to come to the states to get a job, only to find themselves living in crowded, infested conditions. This relates to the Jungle and the struggles and conditions of the migrant workers then.
Ellen L

Union turns down Imperial maids - Wednesday, June 18, 2008 | 2 a.m. - Las Vegas Sun - 0 views

  • They’re angry at the Culinary Union for not coming to the rescue by organizing them.
  • They complained of poor work conditions and having to work through their breaks and lunch hours to complete their quotas of cleaned rooms.
  • Culinary Secretary-Treasurer D. Taylor said the union has maintained a long-standing policy of avoiding organizing drives at casinos whose fates are uncertain, and that is the case with Imperial Palace. “It would be somewhat disingenuous to pick up a place and then see it close,” Taylor said. “The workers are there and then there’s not much you can do. Several thousand workers we represent would have no place to go.”
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    Casino maids tried to organize but were suprised to find out that their desired union did not accept applications from casino's due to their instability- thus letting the workers of the industry go largely unprotected.
David D

Nickel and Dimed (2011 Version): On Turning Poverty into an American Crime - 0 views

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    "A Florida woman wrote to tell me that, before reading it, she'd always been annoyed at the poor for what she saw as their self-inflicted obesity. Now she understood that a healthy diet wasn't always an option. And if I had a quarter for every person who's told me he or she now tipped more generously, I would be able to start my own foundation." This is interesting to read because it makes one wonder how a human could be so heartless as to pay such low wages. Also since so many people, after learning about the suffering going on, tip more generously, then why don't the big bosses human up and pay their employees reasonable salaries.
Evan G

Blog.amhill :: Book Reviews :: Nickel & Dimed (part 1 of 2) [Book Review] - 0 views

  • It seems completely counter-intuitive: we are told time and time again this Protestant mantra that hard work is the path to prosperity; that the poverty-stricken and homeless are the way they are because of sloth or carelessness and bad choices; that having a job will logically lead to having a home and ultimately a life. But the reality is far less simplistic.
  • For them, a typical day is filled with only work and sleep. The worst part is that, for most of them, their work is not building towards anything at all – they will likely never make it to management, they are not attending classes as I was (no time to do it!), and they live paycheck to paycheck.
  • They are in stasis, effectively just biding their time until they are old enough to collect a modest social security check. (And they will likely continue to work after that).
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  • they are essentially donating their time, their lives, to make other people’s lives better, and they do so in a way that is rewarded in a disproportionately unfavorable way.
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    Talks about the dead routine of the workers' lives. They have nothing to enjoy about life, they simply work, eat, and sleep. They spend almost every hour working to stay alive. But their life isn't really worth the trouble. It sucks. And also talks about how the minimum-wage workers work harder than countless other jobs, yet because there is not much academic knowledge or professionalism required, they are disgarded as underclass or dumb. 
Travis F

Since When Is It a Crime to Be Poor? - 0 views

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    "I had kept in touch with "Melissa" over the years, who was still working at Walmart, where her wages had risen from $7 to $10 an hour, but in the meantime her husband had lost his job." Based on this there is no possibility for advancement in low wage jobs no matter how long one stays commited to a company and that in the end the corporate executives only care about how much is in their pockets.
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    This is a good source because it can be seen in all the books as their is little to no room for advancement
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    I completely agree, and it also translates to The Jungle where Jurgis is loved by his bosses but only until his strength runs out and he sinks back into the pack and is eventually let go after he is injured and therefore useless to the bosses.
Evan G

http://www.natefacs.org/JFCSE/v20no1/v20no1Domenico.pdf - 0 views

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    She finds most of these jobs are physically and mentally exhausting. Employers overwork employees in return for low wages, few benefits, and minimal health care coverage.  She notes that it is not uncommon for many Americans trapped in the low-wage workforce to juggle two or three jobs to make ends meet.  Just like pretty much every secondary source site, it sums up the primary source and repeats the same information in a different manner. Employers abuse and take advantage of their workers, milking them for all they're worth. Big surprise. Who would have thought?
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    I agree with Evan in that this site gives evidence of all this, and it can all be tied to any one of these outside sources, as well as any one of our books that we have read. An example is Fast Food Nation, where the employees are treated poorly and kept down so they do not get payed much, and do not gain anything from the job.
Willie C

Nickel and Dimed -perspective - 0 views

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    "Waitresses, who cannot afford three decent meals a day, take pleasure in making the lunch-experience for the construction worker the best ever. Cleaning ladies, who scrub kitchens that are greater than the space they live in..."
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    This source shows the hard work and determination of the poor working class and how it is not rewarded by their much wealthier employers. This is a main theme that highlights the businesses poor ethics in treating their workers like machinery.
Zach Ramsfelder

The Burger International - 0 views

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    About the McDonald's Corporation's union-busting record, and the few successes organizers and workers' rights advocated have had with the company. Note: this was taken off of a left-leaning website.
Zach Ramsfelder

About The Dust Bowl - 0 views

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    A quick historical summary of what happened during the Dust Bowl.
Zach Ramsfelder

An Eclectic List of Events in U.S. Labor History - 0 views

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    A list of labor events in the United States since even before the Jungle's time setting. Linked from http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~natalieb/laborhis.htm
Ben R

Upton Sinclair's 'The Jungle': A 100th Anniversary Retrospective - 0 views

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    Shows how hard the Meat Trusts tried to keep under wraps what was actually going on
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    The article describes the difficulties that Sincalir had publishing the novel due to the Meat Packing industry trying to hide what was actually going on. They were so powerful that they were able to keep the first four companies Sincalir approached to deny publishing of the novel. They did this because they too knew the effects that it would have for the conditions they put their workers through would be scolded by anyone who read the book.
Zaji Z

McDonald's May Drop Hourly Worker Coverage - 0 views

  • McDonald’s May Drop Hourly Worker Coverage
  • because the high turnover of McDonald’s workforce, combined with the low dollar amount of most claims, creates high administrative costs in proportion to spending on medical care.
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    In order to make money in today's society where lawmakers try to implement policies to protect workers, the corporation continuously finds ways to save themselves some dollars by cutting coverage to its typical worker. This is exactly what McDonald's has done to its workers. 
Ben R

Animal behavior: Crackdowns on meatpacking workers give new meaning to 'inhumane' :: Th... - 0 views

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    it gives many examples of of things that were said in FFN. Shows that the things he said were true though disputed by companies like IBP
Ben R

Meatpacking industry - 0 views

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    Gives general information about the meatpacking industry from the early 1900s to know, as long as some things about how disgusting the working conditions of the meat packing workers are
Ben R

Dangers, tensions lurk in meatpacking industry - 0 views

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    This article supports the claims that were made in FFN, stating that little has changed since the publication of The Jungle. The immigrants are still abused and treated unfairly, though from different parts of the worlds. Unions are still far from an existent factor, and the worker is still treated unjustly.
Ben R

Slaughterhouses and Processing, industrial meat production - The Issues - Sustainable T... - 0 views

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    The article gives information in nearly everything mentioned in FFN, the treatment of the worker, meat inspection, and food safety, or lack there of.
Ben R

Meat Packing - IHT 13:2 2006 - 0 views

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    History of meat packing, how it ended up in chicago and the effects of it
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