Date: Sat, 02 Jun 2001 02:28:47 -0400
Subject: Re: [Fwd: Weeping in a Rolls-Royce]


Steve and All,

This link takes you to an excerpt from Barbara Ehrenreich's book,
"Nickled and Dimed".  She is a nationally recognized writer,  a woman in her
sixties, who took various low-paid jobs a few years ago, and relates her
experiences in this book.

Couples who both work, and earn average or better than average pay, and have
children in school, or pre-school, must often work more than 80 hrs. per
week to hold their jobs.  Real wages have changed little in 20 years, but
the cost of living has increased a great deal.

Parents of today's baby boomers, in the post-WWII era of strong unions,
could often live on a single income, get medical care without the
obstruction and costs of HMO's.  However,
nuclear families have dwindled to 23.5% according to the 2000 census, and
they may fare better than the majority of families of single moms and single
pops.

An influx of millions of illegal aliens who work "off-the-books", and the
export of most U.S clothing factories to $1 a day, countries of the third
world, are factors which increase the competition for decent jobs, and keep
wages low.

HB

http://www.findarticles.com/m1111/1784_298/53530961/p22/article.jhtml?cf=0
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steve wrote:

> All
>
> I was interested in this email (from sciene as culture list) because of
the
> extraordinay claims that we are working more now than in the 1960s. I feel
deeply
> suspicious of this claim. My suspicions are founded on the distrust I feel
for
> people who suggest things are worse now than they were for our parents and
> grandparents - this level of pessimism always makes me want to scrutinise
their
> evidence. On a personal basis however I remember my father working
standard 6 day
> weeks and occasionally 7 days - in addition he only had two weeks holiday.
His
> father worked the same regime but only one weeks unpaid holiday a year. To
claim
> that a 21st worker is working longer hours than our forefathers is I
suspect to
> massage the evidence in unacceptable ways.
>
> Compare these hours to myself - I never work weekends without days off in
leiu-
> 25days holiday a year, have a standard 37.5 hours working week and work
probably 45
> hours and sometimes 50 hrs a week if travelling to the USA on business..
These are
> not unsual working hours -
>
> It is true however that working time directives are essential - standard
30 hour
> weeks - preferably over 4 days... are a desirable and achievable goal.
>
> regards
>
> sdv
>
> Ian Pitchford wrote:
>
> > NEW STATESMAN
> > Book Reviews - Weeping in a Rolls-Royce
> >
> > Book Reviews
> > Christopher Gasson Monday 28th May 2001
> >
> > Blood, Sweat and Tears: the evolution of work
> > Richard Donkin Texere, 400pp, 18.99
> > ISBN 1587990768
> >
> > It is difficult not to feel a sense of betrayal about technological
progress.
> > We have invented machines to do work for us, but the more ingenious our
> > inventions, the harder we find ourselves working. We have exchanged 40
hours of
> > slavery in a soot-covered factory for a 70-hour week chained within the
> > granite-faced confines of the giants of the new global service economy.
The
> > average American now works one month a year longer than he or she did in
the
> > 1960s. Britons, similarly, seem to be increasingly choosing work over
leisure.
> >
> > As Richard Donkin makes clear in his broad history of work, Blood, Sweat
and
> > Tears, we have only ourselves to blame for so readily giving up our
lives to
> > our employers. It is a combination of our desires always staying one
step ahead
> > of our ability to afford them, our psychological need to define
ourselves by
> > our work, and an immutable work ethic, that continues to drive us long
after
> > the religion that spawned it ceased to be relevant.
> >
> > Full text:
> > http://www.newstatesman.co.uk/200105280050.htm
> >
> > To view archive/subscribe/unsubscribe/select DIGEST go to
> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/radical-science
> >
> > Read The Human Nature Daily Review every day
> > http://human-nature.com/nibbs
> >
> > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>