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Re: employment
Bruce Jones (bjones@WEBER.UCSD.EDU)
Wed, 8 Jun 1994 20:46:44 -0700
>
>O'Brien quotes:
>
>"TOTAL QUOTE "The American work force is dividing ever more distinctly into an
>upper class and burgeoning `underclass of low-paid labor'."
>
>Shades of Ross Perot!
Perot my ass. Here at this beloved institution, that paragon of
the Great State of California, land of the golden sunshine (and
golden parachutes), the University of California, in its infinite
wisdom, has decreed that those lowly folks who sweep the floors and
empty the trashcans of the highly-paid but underworked (aka the
"Faculty" - who, as D. A. Foss have pointed out, are the only folks
around who get paid to read books)
[where was I?? ... oh yes ... ]
The administration, who has cut staff wages 3% this year while
taking a lowly 15% raise themselves, has decided that the custodial
staff (locally represented by a wonderful woman who was so much a
part of the family that she and her husband came to all dept.
functions/parties), to whom they had to pay real benefits like
health care and a living wage, they would be replaced by outside
contractors.
So, instead of a woman whom we all knew and trusted, we now have a
stream of part-time workers whose faces change each week and who work
for minimum wage (no benefits, thank you), saving the university
many thousands of dollars each year I'm sure, but who live below the
poverty line.
In an environment where the cheapest 2br/1ba appartment goes for
~$500/mo, $4.50/hr doesn't go far.
It may very well be Perot, but if it is, he's not setting the tune,
he's just repeating the reality of life in the last decade of the
20th C. It sucks.
Bruce Jones Department of Communication
bjones@ucsd.edu University of California, San Diego
(619) 534-0417/4410 9500 Gilman Drive
FAX (619) 534-7315 La Jolla, Ca. 92093-0503
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