An emergency is a serious, unexpected, often dangerous situation that requires immediate action. In her book, Nickel and Dimed, writer Barbara Ehrenreich uses the term emergency to describe how low-wage working Americans should be seen: “…we should see the poverty of so many millions of low-wage Americans-as a state of emergency.” (214). Workers are in this desperate situation due to low-wages and long hours, unaffordable housing, as well as an employment system that succeeds in keeping workers down. Through her 1998 undercover investigation as a low-wage worker in three different states, Ehrenreich discovers that low-wage workers experience extremely poor living conditions only to barely survive from day-to-day.
Low wages are at the heart …show more content…
An example of this is seen when Ehrenreich first sets out to find a job. She reports applying to many want ads being displayed on windows, but gets no calls for interviews. When contemplating the reason for this, she writes, “Only later will I realize that the want ads are not a reliable measure of the actual jobs available at any particular time. They are… the employer’s insurance policy against relentless turnover of the low-wage workforce” (15). Low-wage workers can never have a sense of job security knowing that there is a line of potential applicants ready to take their place if they don’t meet expectations of the workplace. This business practice also takes away valuable time from job seekers in desperate need of an income who naively spend time applying for jobs that are not vacant. The Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers of tipped workers to pay the difference should a wage not meet the minimum wage after combining the minimum cash wage of $2.13 with the tips. Ehrenreich reports that she was never made aware of this information at the restaurants where she worked. It becomes common practice at her different places of occupation to work through pain and sickness. Remedies like ibuprofen and aspirin become regular tools to help workers with their physically strenuous jobs. This is a mantra of her manager while working for the Maids. He says, “Now if I get a migraine I just pop two Excedrins and get on with my life. That’s what you have to do- work through it” (87). When Holly, one of the Ehrenreich’s coworkers at the Maids, hurts her ankle on the job, she insists on staying to finish because she already missed so many days of work in the last few weeks. The fear of losing a source of income keeps workers working under poor conditions. It is during the drive home that Ehrenreich considers the ignorance of the maids to the demand for workers as she questions to
Low wages are at the heart …show more content…
An example of this is seen when Ehrenreich first sets out to find a job. She reports applying to many want ads being displayed on windows, but gets no calls for interviews. When contemplating the reason for this, she writes, “Only later will I realize that the want ads are not a reliable measure of the actual jobs available at any particular time. They are… the employer’s insurance policy against relentless turnover of the low-wage workforce” (15). Low-wage workers can never have a sense of job security knowing that there is a line of potential applicants ready to take their place if they don’t meet expectations of the workplace. This business practice also takes away valuable time from job seekers in desperate need of an income who naively spend time applying for jobs that are not vacant. The Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers of tipped workers to pay the difference should a wage not meet the minimum wage after combining the minimum cash wage of $2.13 with the tips. Ehrenreich reports that she was never made aware of this information at the restaurants where she worked. It becomes common practice at her different places of occupation to work through pain and sickness. Remedies like ibuprofen and aspirin become regular tools to help workers with their physically strenuous jobs. This is a mantra of her manager while working for the Maids. He says, “Now if I get a migraine I just pop two Excedrins and get on with my life. That’s what you have to do- work through it” (87). When Holly, one of the Ehrenreich’s coworkers at the Maids, hurts her ankle on the job, she insists on staying to finish because she already missed so many days of work in the last few weeks. The fear of losing a source of income keeps workers working under poor conditions. It is during the drive home that Ehrenreich considers the ignorance of the maids to the demand for workers as she questions to