That guy at the airport who will wheel your grandmother to her terminal is getting paid $5.25/hr plus tips. At least, that’s the case at the Philadelphia airport. I don’t know how much more, if any, the baggage handlers get at curbside. After taxes, that gives John Stewart about $600 a month, $400 of which he pays in rent for a basement apartment.
It’s past time that the underclass get organized and demand some changes.
If Grandma doesn’t care about the low wages of pilots and co-pilots ferrying her from airport A to B, she’s not going to care about the guy wheeling her around in the airport. That cheap plane ticket is all that she cares about and not how airlines manage to make it so cheap. She couldn’t afford the “true cost.” And don’t bother her with the CO2 pollution of air travel.
(John Stewart deserves a bonus for having to work at what may be the most depressing airport in the airport in the country.)
The Minimum We Can Do
Why is Income Inequality not the seminal issue of our time?
Because both Democrats and Republicans fight for a majority of the 50-60% of the population that votes and that population skews to the older and wealthier of the general population.
As Bangaldesh workers are finding out, better pay and safe working conditions aren’t given by asking nicely.
>>It’s past time that the underclass get organized and demand some changes.
We need a party that represents working people. Unfortunately what we have instead are the Democrats.
Democrats in CA just raised the wage, and as that state continues to track more progressive, I’d anticipate more increases in the future.
And, I might note, that happened after CA became a defacto one party state, with progressive and conservative dems essentially replacing the two party system.
It’s past time that the underclass get organized and demand some changes.
And how is John Stewart going to do that? What happens when his employer fires him for doing what you advised?
It’s always been about supply and demand. Minimum wage is getting killed due to outsourcing. So much cheaper to outsource now and run a company overseas. Dummy corps like Apple sets up make sense based on our system.
Change the tax code and this will all change. More manufacturing jobs that would need John Stewarts would get him a higher paying job.
Might be nice if schools re-think classes to help the less academically inclined succeed past High School.
Sure, change the tax code. How’s about 90% income tax on anything above $5 million?
How do you outsource services at a particular local airport?
Not just grandma, anyone who has an injury. and I had no idea they weren’t paid a decent wage by the airlines when I hurt my ankle and got wheeled around. I thought they were employees of the airlines since I made my reservation for a cart and subsequent chair through the airlines.
In fact the ppl who wheeled me and drove the cart were employees of the airlines. [not Phila airport]
This is probably the last generation that will have someone push their wheel chair….we got diverless cars and how long before there are driverless wheel chairs?
And good lord what happens to his income if he buys insurance in PA? The poor dude is screwed.
BTW, I found out from a PA friend who moved to Vermont that the most you pay is $35/month.
Too bad it’s so fucking cold.
SeaTac is ground zero.
It’s past time that the underclass get organized and demand some changes.
Damn right.
I’ll grab a black mask and a guillotine.
Who’s rounding up the oligarchs?
In case you missed it, WalMart workers who were organizing and organized got arrested from picket lines on Black Friday.
It’s time for Democrats to start backing labor again. And pointing out that police are being used as the personal servants of the rich.
Bloomberg called the NYPD his own army. btw, did you read the discussions that Bloomberg and the mayors’ org was behind the crackdown on OWS?
How is paying john 11.50/hour+ along with a few dozen of his peers going to change airfares or any other cost in any meaningful way?