Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown is the \u201cSenator for the working person\u201d (no longer the outdated term \u201cworking man\u201d). He built his entire career on the concept of the \u201cdignity of work\u201d. He believes that Americans want to work, and that having a job that provides for their lives and their families is, beyond the money alone, an essential part of the American Ethos. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It doesn\u2019t matter whether, as the Senator says, \u201c\u2026you shower before work or after\u201d. It\u2019s not about the type of work, it\u2019s the respect that \u201cworking\u201d and \u201cproviding\u201d creates. That\u2019s part of the American being, more so than in other nations. Right or wrong, Americans often \u201cbecome\u201d our work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We can argue whether being a teacher, a salesman, a plumber, or a sanitation worker should become an identity, rather than \u201cjust\u201d a job \u2013 but here in America, it is fact. We are what we do. And if we don\u2019t have a job, short of retirement or disability, our culture sees us as somehow falling far short of \u201cexpectations\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Americans want to work. There is the right-wing \u201cmyth\u201d of the freeloaders, looking for a government handout. They have to be coerced to work, forced to do their part in the \u201cgreat American pageant\u201d. Of course everyone has a story of that \u201cfreeloader\u201d. But when you call the story-teller out, and demand actual names and situations \u2013 the tales tend to vaporize. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Much of the \u201cliving on handouts\u201d myth goes back to America\u2019s ugly history of slavery. Not surprisingly, humans owned by other humans didn\u2019t want to work particularly hard. They did only what they had to do to get by, the sole incentive being to avoid punishment. So the \u201clazy Black man\u201d is a relic, a racial memory that still rings through American thought \u2013 even though it\u2019s based in our ugly original national sin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the promise of \u201cwork\u201d in America has to be a \u201cquid pro quo\u201d. Sure Americans are willing to work, even far beyond the forty hours a week that should be a healthy norm. That\u2019s the \u201cquid\u201d, the something given. But there has to be a \u201cquo\u201d, the something \u201cgotten\u201d for the given. And that needs to be a living wage, a wage that can \u201cprovide\u201d for the worker and her\/his family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Americans shouldn\u2019t have to work multiple jobs to make ends meet. That was the promise of the labor reformers of the 1930\u2019s, that if we work 25% of our weekly lives, we could support our families. If we wanted to work more, we could, to get the extras. But that 25% was supposed to cover the basics: rent and food, transportation, children and health care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that is the next \u201cpromise\u201d:\u00a0\u00a0a living wage.\u00a0\u00a0Americans working fulltime, 2000 hours a year (two weeks\u2019 vacation) should make a minimum of $40,000.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s simple math – $20\/hour.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We can argue whether \u201cit can happen tomorrow\u201d, but that should be the goal.\u00a0\u00a0The proposed Federal minimum of $15\/hour, $30,000\/year, leaves the fulltime worker still at the edge of poverty.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A reasonable apartment is $9,000 a year.\u00a0\u00a0Food for a year is minimally $6000.\u00a0\u00a0Clothes, transportation, childcare, healthcare all could quickly eat the rest of the budget, leaving workers where they are now:\u00a0one missed check short of financial catastrophe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And many workers aren’t even making $15\/hour. Right now, many are working more than 40 hours a week, more than one job, and still can’t make ends meet. They seek the American dream, but find only a financial nightmare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we come out of the \u201cpandemic world\u201d some industries are experiencing worker shortages.\u00a0\u00a0Restaurants and fast food places are finding it hard to re-staff after the COVID pause.\u00a0\u00a0They have been under incredible financial strain:\u00a0\u00a0it\u2019s hard to find fault that owners don\u2019t want to pay \u201cbig bucks\u201d to their workers.\u00a0\u00a0But it\u2019s also hard to find fault with former restaurant workers who have found more lucrative employment \u2013 working at Amazon instead of behind the lunch counter, or working online from home instead of paying for hugely expensive child care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an era when the rich are richer and the gap between the wealthy and the poor is greater than ever before, we need to examine America\u2019s priorities.\u00a0\u00a0Americans want to work, and they want to advance.\u00a0\u00a0It is the \u201cAmerican Way\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0And Americans are willing to pay for service as well.\u00a0\u00a0So it\u2019s up to us to set our priorities.\u00a0\u00a0And paying a living wage to take care of all our workers needs to be on top.\u00a0\u00a0That way there is dignity in work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"