The Underpaid America

By Charles Hawes, Capital News

    As the cost of living continues to rise, many Americans find themselves struggling to survive on minimum wage. Some employers, exploiting this situation, are making it clear that they would pay their employees even less if it weren’t for legal requirements. One company president blatantly told his entire shift, “The only reason you are getting paid this much is the law. If it was up to me, you all would be making less.” This same company later canceled all Christmas bonuses, boasting to employees that this would fund their raises, laughing all the while. I was present that day, and several employees walked out in protest.

    Some employers are also imposing restrictions that further burden their employees. They discourage or outright prohibit second jobs, effectively forcing their workers into a corner where they must choose between loyalty to one job or financial ruin. I had a friend in this predicament, working a minimum-wage job and on the brink of losing her apartment. Desperate and rejected from other job opportunities, she took her own life. The company’s response was callous: Oh well, we can replace her with no problems." Tragically, this is not an isolated incident. Another employee, facing similar financial distress, attempted suicide by jumping off a bridge near his workplace.

    The dehumanizing treatment extends beyond financial strain. At a local store, an employee’s wife went into labor. When he requested time off to be with her, his manager threatened to fire him if he left. Despite his pleas, the manager insisted he stays at work, stating, "Not my problem, get back to work or I will write you up." Defiantly, the employee went to the hospital, and although his boss was reprimanded, the incident highlighted the severe lack of empathy. Fellow employees banded together, providing baby clothes and food for his newborn.

    Such stories are not rare. At another low-paying job, just ten cents above minimum wage, employees are treated as if they should be grateful for having any job at all. At a local airport, a lineman manager threatened employees with termination if they didn’t give up their volunteer firefighter roles—a clear violation of state law. Those who refused were subsequently mistreated until the manager was eventually fired for bullying.

    Another heartbreaking incident involved a woman whose grandmother, while babysitting, had a stroke. When she asked to leave work to pick up her daughters, her boss gave her an ultimatum, her job, or her daughters. She chose her daughters and never returned to work. Her grandmother, found by a relative, was rushed to the hospital and put on a ventilator. These stories paint a bleak picture of the current state of labor in America. It’s a call to action for employers to treat their employees with respect and humanity. Workers deserve better pay and conditions without them, companies cannot function. America must wake up before it's too late. Employees are the backbone of our economy, and it's time they were treated as such.