It has been said that faith can move mountains. According to televangelist Cindy Jacobs, it can also grow cheekbones and eliminate 'grapefruit-sized tumours':
Monday, September 16, 2013
Justifying Poor Remuneration
Ever the big business apologist, The Globe and Mail, as reported by Operation Maple, had an article the other day by one of their newer hires, Leah Eichler, who essentially says that young workers today have it pretty good.
Entitled For younger workers, perks trump pay, Eichler asserts that even though compensation may not be up to par, something more important and more valued is being offered: benefits that enhance the quality of workers' lives.
These include variable pay (work really, really hard and earn more!), flexible hours, career planning and sabbaticals. In a startling expression of obeisance to the corporate agenda, the writer asserts, without a hint of irony, that this trend of companies turning toward intangible benefits instead of cold, hard cash is exactly what we Canadians have been asking for.
Hmm, most people I know just want a decent-paying job to pay off student debt, mortgages, and those other very inconvenient exigencies of life.
A Needed Voice
For those interested in a broader public policy discussion than has been permitted by our political 'leaders' thus far, the NDP nomination of journalist Linda McQuaig yesterday in Toronto Centre, Bob Rae's old riding, is an auspicious beginning. No stranger to progressives, McQuaig has exposed the iniquities of gross income inequality in her writing for many years, trenchantly challenging the increasingly obdurate notion that nothing can be done about the ever-widening gap between those who have and those who do not.
While it is still anyone's guess as to when Stephen Harper will call the byelection for the riding, without question we can expect a vigorous debate on the important issues, especially given that another journalist, Chrystia Freeland, received the Liberal Party nod. While the leaders of their respective parties have hewed to either a very close-mouthed or conventional approach to the economic questions that plague our country, given what I know about Ms. McQuaig, the byelection campaign will see these issues front and centre, and I strongly doubt that McQuiag will be happy to utter the conservative platitudes that Thomas Mulcair has recently been given to uttering.
Are we entering a new era of exciting and dynamic politics? Having one knowledgeable, passionate and outspoken candidate will not likely change the political landscape, but at the very least, it is a hopeful beginning.
Sunday, September 15, 2013
The Struggle To Raise The Minimum Wage
I have written several recent posts on the campaign gaining traction across the United States to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour from the current average of just over $7. That struggle has now come to Ontario, where those living in poverty thanks to the current minimum of $10.25 are demonstrating for a boost to $14 per hour. Raising it to that level would put workers just above the poverty line, assuming a full working week.
The minimum wage campaign, which began Aug. 14, is planning similar days of action across Ontario on the 14th of every month in advance of next spring’s provincial budget, when the Wynne government is expected to weigh in on the matter.
As reported by the CBC, according to Statistics Canada, more than 800,000 Canadians were working at or below minimum wage in 2009.
Lest one think that $10.25 is a princely sum, consider the circumstance and words of some of the demonstration's participants:
Toronto meat packer Gyula Horvath has to work a gruelling 50 to 60 hours a week to survive on his wages of just $10.25 an hour.
“It’s no good,” the 22-year-old Hungarian immigrant, who is also supporting a wife on his meagre minimum wage earnings, said Saturday. “It’s very hard to pay rent.”
Call centre worker Jenny Kasmalee, 38, can rarely afford new clothing or other personal things on her $10.25 per hour.
“I have always worked for minimum wage,” she said. “It’s not much.”
Estina Sebastian-Jeetan, a mother-of-two who attended the rally, described some of the challenges she faces as a low-wage earner. "Sometimes I skip my medication in order to make ends meet," she said.
Cogent arguments have been made that having a living rather than a subsistence wage would benefit our entire society. As pointed out by economist Jim Stanford, when people have some money to spare after paying for rent and food, they are likely to spend it, thereby stimulating the economy.
And of course, it is wise to remember that minimum wage jobs in this economy are no longer the domain of the poorly educated. Many university graduates, struggling to find their place in the world, are toiling in retail and service and other traditionally low-paying sectors.
The dean of social sciences at McMaster University in Hamilton, Charlotte Yates, observes that changes in Canada’s labour market are permanent – most notably a penchant for part-time and contract hiring – and are not a temporary blip.
Says Judith Maxwell, past chair of the Economic Council of Canada:
“People over their forties in Canada have no idea what it’s like for a young person trying to find a pathway to adulthood right now.”
Predictably, business is much more conservative and restrained on the question of minimum wage increases. Last week the Canadian Chamber of Commerce published a report, the most pertinent being the following conclusion based on a survey of its members:
In the survey of 1,207 members, 46 per cent said the minimum wage should rise with inflation.
Of course the main problem in tying any increases to inflation means that the workers would continue to live in poverty; they simply wouldn't sink any deeper, which to me is simply another way of ignoring the problem.
The poor have little voice in the formulation of government policy. The moral responsibility for change therefore resides with those of us who have had the good fortune to work productively and profitably throughout our lives; we need to add our voices to theirs and promote change. A letter to one's MPP would be a good start.
The minimum wage campaign, which began Aug. 14, is planning similar days of action across Ontario on the 14th of every month in advance of next spring’s provincial budget, when the Wynne government is expected to weigh in on the matter.
As reported by the CBC, according to Statistics Canada, more than 800,000 Canadians were working at or below minimum wage in 2009.
Lest one think that $10.25 is a princely sum, consider the circumstance and words of some of the demonstration's participants:
Toronto meat packer Gyula Horvath has to work a gruelling 50 to 60 hours a week to survive on his wages of just $10.25 an hour.
“It’s no good,” the 22-year-old Hungarian immigrant, who is also supporting a wife on his meagre minimum wage earnings, said Saturday. “It’s very hard to pay rent.”
Call centre worker Jenny Kasmalee, 38, can rarely afford new clothing or other personal things on her $10.25 per hour.
“I have always worked for minimum wage,” she said. “It’s not much.”
Estina Sebastian-Jeetan, a mother-of-two who attended the rally, described some of the challenges she faces as a low-wage earner. "Sometimes I skip my medication in order to make ends meet," she said.
Cogent arguments have been made that having a living rather than a subsistence wage would benefit our entire society. As pointed out by economist Jim Stanford, when people have some money to spare after paying for rent and food, they are likely to spend it, thereby stimulating the economy.
And of course, it is wise to remember that minimum wage jobs in this economy are no longer the domain of the poorly educated. Many university graduates, struggling to find their place in the world, are toiling in retail and service and other traditionally low-paying sectors.
The dean of social sciences at McMaster University in Hamilton, Charlotte Yates, observes that changes in Canada’s labour market are permanent – most notably a penchant for part-time and contract hiring – and are not a temporary blip.
Says Judith Maxwell, past chair of the Economic Council of Canada:
“People over their forties in Canada have no idea what it’s like for a young person trying to find a pathway to adulthood right now.”
Predictably, business is much more conservative and restrained on the question of minimum wage increases. Last week the Canadian Chamber of Commerce published a report, the most pertinent being the following conclusion based on a survey of its members:
In the survey of 1,207 members, 46 per cent said the minimum wage should rise with inflation.
Of course the main problem in tying any increases to inflation means that the workers would continue to live in poverty; they simply wouldn't sink any deeper, which to me is simply another way of ignoring the problem.
The poor have little voice in the formulation of government policy. The moral responsibility for change therefore resides with those of us who have had the good fortune to work productively and profitably throughout our lives; we need to add our voices to theirs and promote change. A letter to one's MPP would be a good start.
A Teacher's Truth Costs Her Her Job
It seems to me that any school should feel very lucky to have a teacher of Kristen Ostendorf's character and courage. Totino-Grace Catholic High School in Minnesota is not one of those schools:
Saturday, September 14, 2013
It's Easy To Malign The Poor
There are just so many of them, the reasons for which Bill O'Reilly and Geraldo Rivera turn their mighty intellects to articulate:
Please note that while the video plays in Explorer, it does not seem to work with Chrome.
Please note that while the video plays in Explorer, it does not seem to work with Chrome.
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