Hypertext Questions

1. What is the nature of the scholarly problem or debate to which my website (project) is addressing itself?

-The nature of my scholarly problem is the availability of education and how it affects the low wage workers of today and could possibly affect those workers of the future.

2. What is the unique contribution that my project makes to that particular problem or debate?

-My website examines the possibilities of what would happen if the availability of education were to change by providing background information and making inferences about the future of low wage workers.

3. What are the conceptual tools that I am employing in my analysis that I have drawn from the class readings (Ehreneich, Schlosser, and Shipler)?

-From Ehrenreich I took the tales of the mentalities and lifestyle of a low wage worker. From Shipler I took the information on factories and the dangers and unfair conditions it poses for those who work there. Finally, from Sclosser I took the main idea of cause and effect and utilized it to demonstrate possible outcomes fort he future.

4. How successful have I been in evoking the lived experience of people doing this work?

-I believe that I have been successful in providing a variety of background information from different sources that efficiently offer a look into the life of a low wage worker of the future.

Website Questions

1. What is the nature of the scholarly problem or debate to which my project is addressing itself?
The problem I am addressing in my website is the issue of injury within the hotel housekeeping system, and how that affects their personal lives and body.


2. What is the unique contribution that my project makes to that particular problem or debate?
My unique contribution that my project makes is developing an injury prevention plan and using graphic communication tools to address the issue of the problem of housekeeping injuries. For example creating graphic art to raise awareness or reminders, and developing publication with injury prevention steps.


3. What are the conceptual tools that I am employing in my analysis that I have drawn from the class reading?
The conceptual tooks that I am employing are about the cycle of poverty and how the injuries low-wage housekeepers sustain make them choose between working hurt and maybe becoming permanently damaged, or potentially losing their job. Also how that affects to the cycle of poverty.

4. How successful have I been in evoking the lived experience of people doing this work?
I think i've been pretty successful in evoking the lived experience of people doing hotel housekeeping. I discuss the injuries they get and how that affects their work life and personal life.

Questions for Research Hypertext

1.) What is the problem or conflict in the scholarly literature that my project is addressing? The problem or conflict in the scholarly literature that my topic is addressing is the division between homeowners and housekeepers in housekeeper employment. I attempt to show how there is often a hierarichal relationship between the worker and the employer. More closely, my project is addressing the difficulties that arise when liberal women employ housekeepers and how they have learned to deal with these difficulties. I hope to show that there are certain ways that housekeepers can in fact be treated with respect, even if they have a much lower social and economic status. 2.) What is the original contribution that my website is making to that specific problem or conflict? The original contribution that my website is making to that specific problem is conflict is interviews from multiple liberal women who have employed houskeepers in the past and still employ housekeepers today. My inteviews reflect both similar and different opinions on the topic and my analysis provides and in-depth look into their answers as a whle. 3.) What are the conceptual tools that I am bringing to the analysis from the assigned course reading? The conceptual tools that I am bringing to the analysis from the assigned course reading is the idea of upward mobiblity from Barbara Ehrenreich's "Nickle and Dimed" and the idea of truly surviving as an American from "Nicke and Dimed" as well as from Shipler's "The Working Poor." Also, I used the idea of replaceability of low-wage workers that I derived from Schlosser's "Fast-Food Nation." 4.) Which of these websites provided me with the most guidance? The website that provided me with the most guidance were the websites from previous classes. I spent a while looking at Lydia Bittle's website because it was very thorough and unique. I used her website regularly while I was working on my Annotated Bibliography and the Review of the Literature. I also used her website to get some design ideas for my hypertext and to help it have a more finished look.

1. What is the problem or conflict in the scholorly literature that my project is addressing?
My hypertext is examining the problem of low wage workers in amenity towns. Specifically looking at the problem of either commuting to work, or having to live in a town that has incredibly high property values.

2. What is the origninal contribution that my website is making to that specific problem or conflict?
I am looking at the problem specifically for Cape Cod. I have read a similarly-themed paper for the town of Sedona, Arizona, but i am looking at a larger region/land mass.

3. What are the conceptual tools that I am bringing to the analysis from the assigned course reading?

Shipler talked about not being able to afford what one was producing. the low wage workers in cape cod are working in an environment that caters to the ultra rich, and is in an area that doesnt really accommodate for workers that make the paltry wages that the low wage workforce does.

4. Which of the previous websites provided me with the most guidance?
The strippers as low wage workers had an excellent literary review section. This gave me a guide for writing my own literary reveiws.

1.What is the problem or conflict in the scholarly literature that my project is addressing?
Scholarly literature has addressed that there are limited job opportunities for teens. There are positives and negatives for a teen who works in a retail job but the literature doesn’t discuss the issue of teens who must have the job to support themselves.

2. What is the original contribution that my website is making to that specific problem or conflict?
Through my experience and interviews, I have concluded that when teens must work to support themselves, they must hold multiple jobs and they lack control over their ability to earn adequate money. As a result, working retail is a poor job for these teens.

3. What are the conceptual tools that I am bringing to the analysis from the assigned course reading?
I used Ehrenreich's "Nickel and Dimed" to understand that interviews and research alone don’t tell the whole story. Walking in the shoes of a low wage retail worker, as I did, has been my best tool. Also, I used Shipler’s concept of invisibility since retail workers do much more than just sell clothes; the job entails cleaning and organizing the store.

4. Which two or three prior student websites provided me with the most guidance?
The Low-Wage Stripper site aided me with both design and content. I used the site’s annotated bibliography as a model. The Life of a Migrant Farm Worker also impressed me with the thoroughness of the research and information.

Low Wage Hypertext Questions

1. What is the problem or conflict in the scholorly literature that my project is addressing?
The problem my project is addressing is the fact that the severe emotional and personal effects of child care work is constantly overlooked.
2. What is the origninal contribution that my website is making to that specific problem or conflict?
My original contribution is first person accounts that prove the existance of these emotional stressors and how this job effects the personal life of child care workers. I also included my own experience to reinforce this fact.
3. What are the conceptual tools that I am bringing to the analysis from the assigned course reading?
I used the concepts of visibility and not being able to afford what one produces in my website which came from Shipler's "Working Poor." I also included the concept of upward mobility from Ehrenreich's "Nickel and Dimed."
4. Which of the previous websites provided me with the most guidance?
I liked the way that the "Prison Industry" hypertext used the space on the page by putting images next to the text instead of just above or below it. The "Sweatships in the Bay Area" website had clear and informative subtitles which I tried to use in my site as well.

What is the problem or conflict in the scholarly literature that my project is adressing?

My website is addressing the problems that construction workers who earn low wages face. Specifically, what happens to them in the event of an injury as well as how they deal with the physical and mental stress that they must endure on the job.

What is the original contribution that my website is making to that specific problem or conflict?

It is presenting the problems and showing ways in which the problems can possibly be solved. It gives an in-depth view of the struggles that construction workers face that other people may not have even though about.

What are the conceptual tools that I am bringing to the analyses from the assigned course reading?

I am using video media as well as pictures. Additionally, I am giving examples of certain wages as well as some of the insurance benefits a worker can have.

Which two or three prior student websites provided me with the most guidance?

Mike’s website on stem cell research as well as Andrew Agcaoilli’s website on boys and girls.

Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography

Higher Productivity, Deeper inequality

Productivity of workers has increased while wages being cut or outsourced. Output in both automobile manufacturing and amount of air transportation have increased while both industries have experienced huge wage, health care, and pension cuts. Both of these are examples of a steady weakening of people’s incomes while productivity keeps increasing. According to the Economic Policy Institute, in 1973-2004 output per employee hour rose 76% while median incomes rose only 22%. There was no gap like this in the previous 20 year interval. This also had to do with the historical circumstances surrounding that time, but also there was less immigration and international competition. Since America isn’t a developing nation, they lack a comparative advantage in terms of labor costs which developing countries now have and many industries are making use of. The bureau of labor statistics has shown the average weekly earnings in nonfarm industries have been steadily decreasing since the 1970s, most likely due to the increase in lower paying industries. Also other advanced and developed countries have their health, pension, vacation, and other benefits less closely linked to the private sector and more related through their government’s legislation. In terms of labor and a countries people, increasing productivity indefinitely should not be the primary concern if people’s wages are suffering.

High Wage America
Low wage Americans have found themselves disempowered this article suggests that a different arrangement of political forces could change wages and career opportunities in America. First myth is that American ingenuity will create good jobs to replace the manufacturing and service jobs that have gone to lower wage countries. However, the trading system as it is benefits investors over workers. The second myth is that the larger wage inequality and rise in low wage jobs are the product of a deficit in skills of workers which is exacerbated by the high demand for skilled work. However, this report demonstrates that even workers with great skills are being displaced into lower wage jobs. Better education and training does not necessarily ensure low wage jobs will be replaced with good ones but America needs a better system of basic education- economically, and for the sake of having a better society. Improving the skills side of workers only however will only produce more frustrated and over educated workers unless they are paired with good jobs. This requires changes in polices also. Unions put the low wage job problem in the center of national debate. Unions result in having wage premiums that allow for better wages and working conditions, not to mention skills training and the idea of having a career. The higher wage premiums tend to be offset by less turn over and increased worker productivity ( a better paid worker works better).

The Working Poverty Trap
Almost a quarter of the nation’s workforce in 2001 earned less than $8.70 an hour. 42% of these workers never attended college and are at the official poverty line. Wages for women without college degrees have not changed in real dollars in the last 30 years. The average purchasing power of men without college degrees have fallen since the 1970’s while the average purchasing power of men with college degrees have increased. Mangers have reported that pressures to cut costs and increase quality have increased greatly in sectors all across the economy. Increases in technology in firms have gotten rid of many low skill jobs due to the additions of advanced automated technologies. The jobs that are left over however require a higher skill set. Skills that non-college educated workers don’t have, i.e. reading graphs on computer screens. Larger factories often offer training courses for basic math and computer literacy. The workers who don’t have these skills or low wage workers who don’t work for firms with these training courses lose their jobs. This increase in technology also is causing a shrink to the amount of low skill jobs around. Also many firms don’t have the willingness to pay these premiums for worker to learn these new technologies. All these firms find them selves along a diverse spectrum of sophistication. The firms on the lower end of the spectrum are already finding themselves struggling to find their niche in the markets and thus pressure to keep costs down are incredibly high since their profit margins are so low. If costs are too high, customers can easily find a new supplier (car parts, generic plastic spoons, etc). This results in having the lowest wages and benefits in the industry. In the auto industry, suppliers must have the ultimate technological edge and production capabilities because the prices for parts are set by the automobile companies which suppliers have to try and match. If not, the contract for a certain part will just go to one of the many other car part suppliers. Also car parts now have “zero defect” requirements since automobile companies down inspect parts before they go onto the assembly line. This requires exact numbers of parts delivered within a 30 minute time frame. Pressures like these have caused changes in human resource. This includes more resistance to unionization, increases in the need for more qualified workers, and less low skilled workers. Also there is increased outsourcing since labor costs are lower outside of the United States. Thus low skilled manufacturing jobs are decreasing in the United States. It has been steadily decreasing since 1992 and the BLS has projected it to keep decreasing. Manufacturing productivity however has been rising, especially for people with higher skill levels. Even though employment has fallen, the total U.S manufacturing output has greatly increased and has projected to increase even more.

My 500 word essay, a little late. Better late than never though, right?

500 Word My Low Wage Life
Personally, I have never had to experience the true low wage life. My family has always had enough to at least get by. However, of the people I know, I was the least affluent. I was the poor kid. I still am, actually. While as I said, we never struggled to get food on the table or keep clothes on our backs or a roof over our heads, there have been those times when an unexpected bill would pop up and my family would be a little worried on what we would do. How would we pay the mortgage, how would we buy food, how we would find money to fix the car, and find time to take off work. And I think moments like those, plus how in general I felt treated by others and how I felt around others, put me closer than a lot of people to the low wage life (or at least most of the people in these two sections of class). You see, I’m one of those rare breed at SCU who would not be able to go here without a scholarship: hence, the Army ROTC scholarship I received. If it weren’t for that scholarship, I’d be instate at home at CU-Boulder right about now. I was the kid in high school who had no car, who got nothing special for his 16th or 18th birthday, who had to take the bus through his senior year. It’s weird, but I would have much rather gone to a poorer school, because at least there I would have fit in with people better. But kids driving around at my school in BMW’s, Lexus’s, Escalades, Hummers, and the like, just made me feel even worse about being poor. It’s a strange feeling, realizing your family has no money to spare. I didn’t realize it until I was maybe 14 or 15. Until then I would lie about how much money my family made, saying we made more than we really did. I used to always tell people we didn’t have cable TV because my parents didn’t want me to watch TV so much. The truth hurts, I’ll tell you right now. Cable TV is an expense that we couldn’t afford even if we wanted to. High speed internet was a big, big stretch back in 8th grade when we got it. My dad has good weeks and bad weeks. Good weeks are when he gets paid, which means he can spend more on food at Costco, bad weeks are when he can’t spend as much. I don’t bother going with him on bad weeks anymore. I honestly can’t take it anymore. Asking if I can get something and having him say “wait till next week.” I’m not asking for a new TV or a video game or some shit. I’m talking about food products. Food products my dad simply can’t afford that week. So there it is. There’s my low wage life experience. Maybe it’s not as low wage as we’re shooting for, but hey, it’s my life and I figure a close first hand account is better than a crappy third person one. Besides, back at home, I’m the poorest kid I know anyway. Who am I gonna talk to?

Idea for hypertext-Rebecca Murillo

For this hypertext I aspire to focus on the branch of low-wage workers in education., specifically those that work in food production business. In the hypertext I will explore the manufacturers of the food and how it is packed, shipped, and presented to the hungry students of various schools. I will discuss the overall irony that many of these workers may not have the same level of education of the students they are serving. I aspire to get points of view from students and possibly the workers. In this, I hope to further delve into the process of food production from the factories to the cafeteria. I will also be discussing how the budget cuts affect this industry and its workers. I will possibly have a section solely dedicated to these budget cuts and just what exactly they entailed and how it has affected many schools, including my former high school. In accordance with the cafeteria food I will also discuss the wellness policy enacted at some school and how that affected the business of the manufacturers that had previously been pumping the schools with saturated fats and precursors for future health problems. In this I would also like to discuss if the wellness policy is in fact working and if it will ultimately work in the long run. In doing all of these things I hope to show that importance of an education and further emphasize Shipler’s idea of cause and effect and how the most minor mistakes in your life can dramatically alter who you eventually become.

I want to do my low-wage hypertext on day laborers, specifically those that are illegal immigrants. They have very tough jobs that are often extremely physically demanding and they earn very little money, usually around minimum wage. They often get hurt or sick, but they can’t afford to miss any work, because they need absolutely every hour of pay they can get. This is shown in Nickel and Dimed on pp. 96-97 when Holly is very sick and has to work. Another problem that day laborers often face is the way people think of them and do not show them respect. Just like Ehrenreich says on p. 100 of Nickel and Dimed people do not care about them, and often don’t treat them like they are people. I have worked with some day laborers and they are very nice people, but often people don’t treat them like they should. Another one of their problems is injuries, which is discussed in Fast Food Nation in the chapter about the meatpacking factories. Because of the physically demanding nature of their work, many day laborers will suffer injuries while they work. They will sprain ankles, or pull muscles and can hurt themselves with power tools. But they cannot even afford to get medical help unless it is a life or death situation. Also, they must work through these injuries because they cannot afford to miss a day of work either. This problem is also discussed in The Working Poor on p. 37 where Willie can’t afford to go to the dentist, and if his problems get really bad and he goes to the emergency room, the bills put them deep into poverty. When a person can’t even afford to have medical assistance without it making a huge dent in their money and making them drop deeper into poverty, they just can’t live the same kind of life as other people. This should be considered poverty.

Proposal

For my hypertext, I am going to take a look at the people who work for the ultra rich, and yet still make a very low wage life. My first job was working as a caddie at a country club in my town. I worked there alongside other caddies that were my age, just working this for the summer, but we were trained and looked up to the caddies that had been doing this for many many years as their profession. They worked at one of the most exclusive country clubs in the nation, in the richest town in America. However, for their hard work under the sun for the short six or seven hours that they could, they were paid a salary that isn’t even considered pocket change for their employers.
Such is a rather odd environment to be working in. For the caddies, they have to try and relate to their employers, along with the standard tasks that the caddies have to go about, they make some small talk in efforts to make a few extra dollars on their tip.
What is even more odd, is that these career caddies are working alongside the sons of their ultra-rich employers. My father wasn’t a member at the club I worked at, he preferred one in the town over, but I was just the same as every other guy that worked there for the summer. We were very friendly with the caddies, but we feel as though they resented us. They had to work very hard at this job, every single day, and then go work at some other job, while we just came by during peak hours on the weekends.
Examining these people I think would be a very interesting task, seeing, not how poorly they are treated, but how little they are paid, working under people to which money has very little meaning.

Proposal

For my hypertext, I am going to take a look at the people who work for the ultra rich, and yet still make a very low wage life. My first job was working as a caddie at a country club in my town. I worked there alongside other caddies that were my age, just working this for the summer, but we were trained and looked up to the caddies that had been doing this for many many years as their profession. They worked at one of the most exclusive country clubs in the nation, in the richest town in America. However, for their hard work under the sun for the short six or seven hours that they could, they were paid a salary that isn’t even considered pocket change for their employers.
Such is a rather odd environment to be working in. For the caddies, they have to try and relate to their employers, along with the standard tasks that the caddies have to go about, they make some small talk in efforts to make a few extra dollars on their tip.
What is even more odd, is that these career caddies are working alongside the sons of their ultra-rich employers. My father wasn’t a member at the club I worked at, he preferred one in the town over, but I was just the same as every other guy that worked there for the summer. We were very friendly with the caddies, but we feel as though they resented us. They had to work very hard at this job, every single day, and then go work at some other job, while we just came by during peak hours on the weekends.
Examining these people I think would be a very interesting task, seeing, not how poorly they are treated, but how little they are paid, working under people to which money has very little meaning.

Low Wage Life hypertext proposal

My website will look at the narrative of high school students working in fast food. Through this narrative I will look at prioritizing spending, the circular effects of education on wage, and the effect of misunderstanding and mystery in connection with jobs. All of these factors result in a continuing cycle of low wage life, starting from a very early age. These are also things that I have been lucky enough to be educated about, and I personally believe, are at the heart of the transition out of the low wage life (not that I have made that transition.)
Prioritizing spending is a huge part of the chapters we read in The Working Poor. Many are confronted with the following question‘“…we couldn’t afford both the cable bill and the phone bill,’”(Shipler 28), though the conclusion for them was to cut the phone off. “They don’t have milk, but the y do have cable” (Shipler 28). “Willie” and “Sarah” even “used part of their check from the IRS to get tattoos” one year. It’s this kind of spending that we see prevent people from making any headway against monetary roadblocks.
Fast Food Nation looks at teenagers working in fast food specifically, and the effects it has on the rest of their lives. “They stay at their jobs late into the night, neglect their homework, and come to school exhausted”(Schlosser 79). Of Harrison high schools entire class “About half of them eventually graduate” (Schlosser 80).
It is very difficult to get out of a system you don’t understand. One of the most powerful tools that employers have and use is the complexity of employment. The idea that you work and you get paid is almost prehistoric. “Caroline” from The Working Poor runs into this time and time again. We also see this even with the unions “The presidents of two unions on Washington DC...had never heard

Low Wage Life Hypertext Proposal - Allison

Housekeeping

For my low wage life hypertext I would like to research housekeeping. Although “a self - cleaned house was the hallmark of womanly virtue,”(Enrenreich, 91) this is no longer true today. Many people hire cleaners and housekeepers to help with the burden. I think it would be interesting to find the differences between working for a housekeeping company and being an individual cleaning lady who doesn’t work for an agency. My cleaning lady works based on referrals and is able to make much more money that way, but she has to clean the whole house by herself. On the Contrary, in Nickel and Dimed, Enrenreich works for a housekeeping company, The Maids, and has to worry about working within a group, but get paid much less (Enrenreich, 80). Along with comparing housekeeping I also want to research the obstacles that housekeepers have to deal with. For example, language barriers, trust issues between employees and employers, and injuries. Enrenreich had to deal with house owners “leaving tape recorders going while we work” (Enrenreich, 93) because the had a lack of trust in the cleaners. Not only do housekeepers have to deal with emotional obstacles, such as trust, but also physical obstacles such as injuries. Low wage workers are “under a tremendous pressure not to report injuries” (Schlosser, 175). This is because from
an “economic point of view, injured workers are a drag on profits. They are less productive. Getting rid of them makes a good deal of financial sense, especially when new workers are readily available and inexpensive to train” (Schlosser, 175). This was also evident in Ehrenreich’s life as a housekeeper. She was very bothered by her coworkers fear of injuries and disabilities (110). After researching all these aspects of housekeeping I think I will be able to create a knowledgeable hypertext on the low wage life of a cleaning lady.

Living the low wage life

Food is something that every person needs to survive, and one of the common ways that food is obtained is through farming. Farmers play an important role in the economy because they provide the fruits, vegetables, and livestock that America uses at an incredible rate. Farming is a profession that is very essential to the American economy, however is it isn’t paid that way.

In my hypertext I plan to discuss the role that farming plays in the American economy and how it is perceived. Farming also relates to the issue of immigrants coming into America, because often times illegal immigrants get into the farming industry in order to try and earn money. Immigration is an important issue because of the fact that they don’t have to pay taxes, however Shipler states that this might be a disadvantage for them because it means that they don’t qualify for something called the income tax credit. (Shipler, 14) Farming is also important time because often the people that do the farming live on their own farm and can set their own work schedule. This might be seen as beneficial to the worker however it means in many cases that they are solely responsible for selling their product, and they will not have a steady income that they can rely on. Ehrenreich comments on how many American’s are forced to take on multiple jobs and often times farmers are forced to do the same thing. (Ehrenreich 35-40)

Farming is a profession that is taken for granted by many people all over the world. Farming supplies one of the most essential goods to the world. The demand for food will never run dry; however the labor that goes into farming is very tedious and often goes with little pay. The farming industry brings to light some of the major issue that exist today, such as illegal immigration and the need to take on multiple jobs to make ends meet. In my hypertext I intend to explore the role that farmers play in the economy and all of the hardships that they go through in order to survive everyday life.

Living the Low-Wage Life- Anthony Mejia

For my hypertext I will be focusing on the influence of drugs and how they affect the low wage life either by consuming or selling them to others during the struggle of money. People living in the low wage life are always faced with decisions to make, as said in The Working Poor by Shipler, “..every day and every night when I’m trying to fall asleep, there’s this worry hanging.”(Shipler, 25) People at times can not find a way out of what they are living in, having to owe money to companies and money to other people they are trapped in a corner waiting for something to help them get out. This is when drugs come into the mix of low wage people and their new way to just get out of their problems. People begin to use drugs as a getaway in order to escape reality and just be in a place of no worry. As drugs begin to be used, the new addiction transforms everything in peoples mind, they begin to not care and are just hooked on the drugs. They may begin to notice those people selling drugs and how money begins to transform their life’s of being a drug dealer. The low wage life begins to come in affect when there is no more money, people go find a different way to make money which at times may not be legal. Selling drugs on the side begins to help out with some bills and payments and soon becomes better than doing a job for a certain amount of hours. Drugs affect the minds of people and in my hypertext I want to show how they are influenced and why these people go to such measures to make money to survive.

Research Hypertext Proposal

There's this bubble I live in. It's a bubble that shelters me from hardships such as poverty, cold nights, and starvation. I know there are millions of people who don't live in a bubble like I do. Sometimes I want to pop the bubble, just to see what they see, feel what they feel. I'm scared of leaving my bubble, but I feel like if I don't I won't be able to be a better person.

Occasionally, my bubble clears up, and I can see clearly the outside. When I go to big cities, I see what's happening, and it scares me. Every time I go to China, I see these hard working people. They stand outside vending their products, waiting for people to come buy so they could survive and not go to bed hungry.

I propose my research hypertext to be about those people. Those people who stand in the sweltering sun all day pushing a cart to carry people in, those people who sweat profusely as they carry a box of fruits and vegetables, yelling over and over again, “Fresh fruit here!”, those people who scramble for cover as soon as they see a police around, because they don't have a seller's permit, nor the ability to get one. There are so many people in China. It's just a number on a piece of paper, but when you actually go and see, it seems like there's so much more.

With that many people, competition is higher. Jobs are harder to find. People are forced to work ridiculously low wages. Many times when I was visiting China, I would think to myself, “How do they survive on that little?” I would try to calculate how much they were making, and how much they had to use on food and shelter and other things.

The amount would always be unequal. So how do they do it? How do they live, working and knowing they won't getting anywhere? They just have a rocky road. It doesn't lead anywhere, except for eventual death. There's no success. How do they do it?

low wage life: julia mink

For my entire life, my family has had housekeepers clean our house every other week. Until recently, I found out that this group of women was “living the low wage life.” Usually about two or three women came; there boss escorted them in and collected the check from my mother. They usually spoke very little English which made it hard to communicate the day’s work. In The Working Poor, David K. Shipler states that “they” (immigrants) “feed and clothe and comfort the Americans they wish to emulate” (77). Several ethnic groups come to America looking for the “dream.” They think they will have better lives: opportunity, community, and occupation. Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed, applies for a job at the Merry Maids cleaning service. In her interview, the boss tells her that she will make between “$200 and $250 a week for an average of fours’ work” (60). She tells Ehrenreich not to do the math, but she does anyways. She figures out that this is only about “$5 to $6 dollars an hour” for “heavy labor” (60). In California, good-looking teenagers can be paid about $8.25 an hour to “model” (stand in the front of the store and smile) at Hollister Co. or Abercrombie. Compared to cleaning an entire house, this seems to be a pretty easy job. On top of that, it pays more. And on top of that, most employees are not living off of this wage, as most housekeepers are. “Those who lack fluency in English, proper immigration papers, or advanced skills… are imprisoned in an archipelago of scattered zones of cheap labor that promote the country’s interests” (91, Shipler). People of different ethnicity seem to have the hardest time living the low wage life.

My Low-Wage Life Proposal- Briana MacDonald

For this hypertext I want to focus on the low-wage life of hotel housekeepers. In my hypertext I want to explore and explain the daily duties of hotel housekeepers, the affect the low-wage has on the workers, what type of workers it draws in (demographics), the risks involved, and the ethical sides like the debate over tipping, and gender. One concept I plan to look into is an idea that came out of The Working Poor by David Schipler, that many low-wage workers typically are not American, but are an essential part of American (pg. 91). On average, the housekeeping staff at hotels around America are generally immigrants or of a minority group so I plan to explore into the demographics of non-Americans in the system contributing greatly to the hotel chains and tourism. In Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed, Ehrenreich needed two jobs in order to keep out of poverty, so I will look into the concept of the need for housekeepers to hold two jobs as well, due to their low-wages (chapter 2). In Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser explored into the dangers of slaughterhouses and how the dangerousness of the job often left workers injured or unable to work (chapter 8). A similar connection can be made to the hotel housekeeping industry where back injuries and other sorts of injuries happen from the job, so I plan to investigate into the effects of this on their already low-wage life of poverty.

Low Wage Life Proposal - Donnie Green

For my “Low Wage Life” Hypertext I would like to research sweat shop labor. Specifically immigrants working in clothing factory sweatshops – preferably in the US (because that’s most relevant but I may talk about Asia as well just because of how prominent of an issue it is there) making amounts of money that are barely sufficient to cover the expenses of food and rent. On top of that, many of these immigrant workers are sending part of their pay check back to their families in their native countries, leaving themselves with even less money to survive on. These sweatshop laborers are faced with horrendous working conditions and are often doing strenuous manual labor over very long lengths of time with hardly any breaks. This type of work can lead to serious mental problems including stress and depression, physical injuries, and bodily pains. They work 60 hour work weeks in sweatshops for only $1000 a month, sending $200 of that back to their family, and in addition, needing to work a second job just so that they can pay for the most basic necessities while having barely any wiggle room. The conditions of these sweatshops are so terrible that Barbara Ehrenreich compares the poor treatment of Wal-Mart employees being locked into stores, forced to work late into the night for unpaid overtime, and falsifying time records to “sweatshop conditions of the kind we might expect to find in the Third World factories…”(229). There is a sad reality that immigrants that are looking for work simply don’t have any skills or education that would get them any other jobs so they are forced to work in sweatshops doing very demanding labor for wages far below the minimum wage, the less experienced earning as little as $3 an hour (79 Shipler).

low wage life proposal

For my hypertext on my low wage life I wanted to get into the lives of janitorial work as well as children of the working poor and how their situations leave them little choices and causes them to make more bad decisions. In The Working Poor David Shipler talks about immigrants coming to America and being exploited by contractors. “The contractor explains, is put up two and a half months’ of wages as a contracting fee.. Next thing you know you’re owed several thousand dollars and you wonder what happened.” (Shipler 20) This topic of janitorial work also leads into issues with illegal immigrants as Shipler discusses because people are afraid to report any of this because their “frightened that their illegal status may be discovered” (Shipler 20). Often discussed by Shipler, poverty is a cycle and people always say the feel helpless, I couldn’t agree more with this statement. Children are left to make decisions and usually get into illegal activity to get things that their parents are enable to provide and revert to things such as, “selling food stamps, stealing off clothesline, ‘shopping’ by eating quickly off the shelves of supermarkets” (Shipler 28). Even younger children get it just as bad because bad parenting because of numerous reasons or parents not able to afford day care when the go to work lead to children not being taken care of properly. “Kayla, at eighteen months, chewing on a cigarette and putting a Bic lighter in her mouth. She played in the dirty toilet while Cody pulled his chair up to the stove with the burners lit” (Shipler 35).

Hypertext Proposal on Restaurant Wait Staff

For my final hypertext I have chosen to explore the low wage life through the lives of restaurant wait staff. Having been exposed to the restaurant business my entire life and working first hand in restaurants I can share some of my own experiences as well as add insight to other stories including those from currently and previously employed wait staff. I hope to give my readers knowledge of why certain groups or individuals are employed specifically as wait staff, what the classifications or job descriptions that comply with this particular title, and why most people employed as wait staff hold multiple jobs, work the longest hours, do the most hard labor, and still live below the poverty line.

As American’s we are constantly exposed to the ideal that hard work pays off, but this revered virtue is not what it used to be. Hard work alone does not pay off like it might have fifty years ago (45). There are more bills to pay, less high paying jobs, an insufficient minimum wage, and little opportunity for members of the lower and uneducated classes to be hired at jobs paying the amount they need to survive. The majority of wait staff currently employed at restaurants in the United States are immigrant workers. They are not Americans, but they are an essential part of America (91). These “ethnic enclaves” that serve America’s economy come from the subcultures of Koreans, Chinese, Vietnamese, Mexicans, Hondurans, and Ethiopians who have relocated in the United States in hopes for jobs and a better life. Instead, they are stuck at the bottom for many reasons, including; fluency in English, proper immigration papers, education, or other handicaps that have imprisoned them in an “archipelago of scattered zones of cheap labor that promote the country’s interests” (91).

Humble hands may produce luxury but the long hours of hard labor should be compensated but ample pay and benefits (77). The U.S. government defines poverty as 21,000 a year for a family with one adult and three children. That number requires earning $4.29 above the minimum wage an hour, assuming the employee can work forty-hour weeks for all fifty-two weeks in the year (9). This number is impossible for most people employed as wait staff because they are paid minimum wage, if not lower, for their work. Like many Korean restaurants in the L.A. area, restaurants have devised inventive ways of swindling waiters and cooks who are not citizens with proper documentation. Because there jobs are kept behind the scenes these workers often work up to twelve hours a day, six days a week, violating state wage laws (19). California’s minimum of $8.00 an hour applies to waiters so many restaurants “cook the books” by faking time cards showing shorter shifts (19). Restaurants are prime environments for these types of scans and the workers are the ones suffering the most.

In closing, I hope to use information from “Fast Food Nation”,” Nickel and Dimed”, “The Working Poor”, and other works to illustrate that restaurant wait staff are members of the “Forgotten America” and their job requirements, pay, and benefits are not sufficient to live. These people are most commonly immigrants, documented or not, they can not afford to be neglected any longer.

Topic Proposal- Andrew Agcaoili

For my research hypertext, I am going to look into the world of the family labor unit. Many migrant families in the U.S. must make all of the family work to get the basic needs of sustenance. To be more specific, I will mainly focus on the use of child labor in farming operations in light of the recent blueberry picker scandal. My research hypertext will include sections about troubles with the border patrol, or “La Migra”, the need to not only support their family, but also the family they have in their original country, and the constant struggle with finding a way out of poverty.
To help convey my point, I plan to use the techniques and concepts used in the class reading. For example, in Shipler’s book, he talks about the American dream. My site will use his concept of the invisible America. I will show how migrant family labor units are, “the forgotten story of prosperity in America” (Shipler 51). As shown by scandal, the recent blue berry scandal, the USA’s economy is dependent on migrant workers, yet they continue to live in poverty.
Another concept I plan to use in the research hypertext, is the discussion the stress work and lack of work brings to the family unit. For example, in Ehrenreich’s book, she constantly discusses the stresses of being poor, but also brings up the family issues being poor causes. In one chapter, her colleague breaks her ankle and thus cannot work (Ehrenreich 110). The stress of not being able to work and support her family will cause many problems, both financially and mentally. And finally, the concept I plan to use from Schlosser is the concept of employers using the workers until there is nothing left. In migrant farm working, laborers are used to the point where I had no body parts left to give…then they just tossed me into the trash can” (Schlosser 192). Child labor is exploitative and thus used very often. My site will discuss these concepts and hopefully bring light to the problems within the working family unit.

Hypertext 3 Propsal

Bri Cassara

November 4, 2009

Starbucks: The Appeal that Hooks Us

Starbucks is a global phenomenon. Not only is it the sole provider of “luxurious” coffee, it is well known for its generous treatment of Starbuck’s employees. These employees, who are referred to as “partners”, are rewarded by benefits such as health care and stock options. In addition to these large benefits partners are give one free pound of coffee per week, free drinks during shifts, 30% off discount at all Starbucks stores, and a “perks card” that allows discounts at numerous places such as 24 hour-fitness and a variety of restaurants. As a high school student I was beyond grateful to get hired by a company that offered so much to me as a seventeen year old. My starting pay was $.40 over minimum wage and I received a $.84 raise after six months, a habit that continues every six months after that. By July of 2009 I was making $9.45/hour as an eighteen year old. If I had liked, I could’ve participated in company stock options as well as other long-term investments.

Partners my age were working 30 to 35 hour weeks at the same pay, focusing on work while going to school part-time (Schlosser 70, 80). Soon, they are promoted to a shift supervisor and are required to work longer shifts and fulfill additional job tasks and attending school seems even less attractive than before. Cutting back hours could mean losing seniority in scheduling and quitting means giving up health and dental insurance. My 30-year-old store manager was working full-time while taking part-time classes in law and my assistant manager was working full-time while balancing biology classes for her future job as a registered nurse. Both have been taking college courses for years, only able to take a few units per semester. Soon, a job that seemed like an excellent opportunity traps you for being able to achieve your own personal American Dream (Schlosser 13; Shipler 5).

Work Cited

Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation. New York: Harper Perennial, 2005.

Shipler, David K. The Working Poor Invisible in America. New York: Vintage, 2005.

Low Wage Proposal

For my hypertext I have chosen to focus on the low wage lumberjack. Firstly, I want to expand on my experience as a lumberjack. I learned that lumberjacking is both physically and mentally taxing on one’s body and therefore can cause many struggles in other aspects especially given the fact that these people are working for a low wage. Additionally, I would like to expand on the growing trend in our society where people have begun to take this kind of work for granted. Many people, especially in the higher socioeconomic level of society, assume that things such as lumber, textiles, and other common materials will always be around. They do not, however, think of the people involved in making these materials available to the public. Another part of lumberjacking, which I would like to discuss, is what happens when lumberjacks are injured both in a severe and minor way and how that affects their lives. Every aspect of lumberjacking involves physical work, so I would like to assess how they deal with injury financially and if there are any other opportunities for them to make money.

The most persistent concept that I have found in both The Working Poor and Nickel and Dimed is the use of real life examples. I would like to use real life examples in three ways. First, I want to use my own experience as an example and my perception of lumberjacking. Second, I want to find examples of lumberjacks and their perception of their job and whether or not they are struggling with it or are content with it. Lastly, I want to use my father as an example. He is a hand surgeon and is very accustomed to the types of injuries lumberjacks face as well as the fragility of the human body. With these concepts, I think my hypertext will give a very good insight into the life of a person working in the low-wage lumber industry.

Low Wage childcare providers

Caitlin Cutting
CTW 1
November 5th 2009

Low Wage Life Proposal

For this project I am planning to look at low educated childcare providers. I want to investigate and look at different aspects of this job and how it affects ones lifestyle. Do childcare providers ever have to work two jobs or do they even have time to? The work is hard and long hours but does it pay enough to get by (Ehrenreich, 41-49). I want to look at how and if it is possible to move up in this career to accomplish the American dream or if that is something of the past. Does hard work pay off or just keep workers with little education in there place (Shipler 33). I want to find personal stories of people really living this life and see how it works out. Sharing these stories will help to show the importance of this issue (Shipler 46-59). This work might support a single person on there own and maybe even a married couple but what about families with children, is it possible to raise children while being a childcare providers or do you spend all your time raising other peoples children (Shipler, 39-76). I want to run an experiment and see how I would make this work out, find a starting pay, and affordable place to live, and work out all my expenses. Could I make this work? (Ehrenreich 1-6) Does having children of your own make working with children harder or does it give you an advantage? Does being a childcare provider earn you enough to put your own children in childcare (Shipler 39-46). How possible is it really to live taking care of other peoples children. Childcare providers are an essential part of American society, they do so much for everyone ells but are we doing anything for them or just making life harder (Shipler 30).

Work Cited

Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickle and Dimed. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2001.
Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation. New Your: Harper Perennial, 2005.
Shipler, David K. The Working Poor. New York: Vintage Books, 2004.

Topic Proposal

In general, teenagers have been having an extremely difficult time finding jobs in the recent economy. There are many factors that contribute to this, and they have extremely harmful effects on teenagers and their future in getting a job and earning higher salaries. I feel as though teenage waitressing is a major job that involves this problem, and I would like to focus on this for my research hypertext.  When looking for their first job, teenagers are almost always going to get paid low wage. Their inexperience makes them unappealing to many businesses, so they are often times the last people to be hired. Waitressing is a fairly common job that teenagers begin with, which I think has become a serious problem. The hierarchy within a low wage employed restaurant is often times corrupt and the cruelty of managers is an extreme issue (Ehrenreich 22).  Ehrenreich describes how the managers are often times former cooks or employees of the restaurant, and all they care about is making money. This demonstrates the difficulty of getting a better job in the future. Once you start off as a low wage waitress it is hard to move up the ladder and earn higher salaries. Those at the bottom of the chain in a restaurant can move slightly up the chain, but that does not earn them much more money, and it is hard to find a job outside of that restaurant or industry. Another thing that I would like to focus on is the abuse that occurs in a low wage environment. Physical, verbal, and sexual abuse is often times common, especially in a tense and low wage working environment. The depression and frustration of getting paid low wage can make workers angry and violent, which they often times will take out on their co-workers. This most commonly happens to male workers who take it out on the younger females. The anger can also carry into their home life as shown in the story of sexual abuse in The Working Poor (Shipler 58). The disadvantages and dangers of teens working in a low wage waitressing environment are prominent and I feel need to be brought to greater public attention.

Work Cited:

            Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel and Dimed. New York: Henry Holt and Company,             2001.

            Shipler, David K. The Working Poor. New York: Vintage Books, 2004

Low Wage Topic again

Nickel and Dimed. The book basically says everything that needs to be said. After reading this, I decided to use a few quotes to talk about my topic. Such as “changing jobs means a week and possibly more without a paycheck” (116). This statement plagues all these people. They may hate their jobs, but can they possibly afford not to have it? No, they have to stick through it, because money is money, and the need it to survive. They cannot afford to not work. In Scholosser’s Fast Food Nation, they taught what is the most dangerous job, which is incomprehensible to us. These people cannot afford to leave the jobs they have, despite the fact that they are dangerous and possibly life threatening. Such was the case as “‘They used me to the point where I had no body parts left to give…then they just tossed me into the trash can’” (192). Is walking with difficulty, tiring easily, feeling useless, all worth it? Maybe not. But to these people, they don’t have any choice. And also, in Shipler’s The Working Poor, Americans live their lives on a day to day basis, not even knowing about the “forgotten Americas.” “At the bottom its working world, millions live in the shadow of prosperity, in the twilight between poverty and well-being” (3). Are these the people that do so much yet earn so little? The people that we don’t even notice? Is this really the American dream? That there are people who have to work countless hours just to barely scrape by? That there are jobs that are life threatening yet needs to be done? That people give their whole lives to then get left behind when they cant work? That they can not afford to switch jobs on the basis that they will lose money? That is not how life should be.

Proposal

For my research hypertext I am choosing to focus on the horrible, desensitizing conditions and experiences of those individuals working in the fast food industry. Although I personally have not worked in the fast food industry, one of my very good friends has so I plan to use her first-hand experience to portray this occupation from a youth’s standpoint. However, I would also like to do some research on adults depending on this occupation to stay out of debt. Throughout my hypertext I would like to include some of the reasons why men and women are forced into low-wage jobs such as this one including: providing for family, paying for their education or their child’s education, or even just trying to provide for themselves.

Throughout my readings in class thus far I have been inspired by the various conceptual tools used by Barbara Ehrenreich, Eric Schlosser, and David K. Shipler. One of the tools I found most effective throughout Ehrenreich’s “Nickel and Dimed” is the fact that she actually set out to live a low-wage life in order to truly report on what she experiences and witnesses throughout her experience. Although I do not plan on actually living out a low wage job in order to accomplish this hypertext I do think I can draw upon her ethos to make my own work more effective. One of her most striking quotes that truly gives a first-hand account of the desensitization of workers is, “From the first day on, I find that of all the things that I have left behind, such as home and identity, what I miss most is competence” (Ehrenreich 17). I also plan to gather data from a variety of fast food chains as well as regions throughout the United States in order to gather similarities and differences among the spectrum of the fast food industry.

Throughout Schlosser’s “Fast Food Nation”, he uses vivid imagery such as, “they grab the meat with their hooks and attack it fiercely with their knives. As they hack away, using all their strength-grunting, the place suddenly feels different, primordial”, to convey to readers the grotesque, perhaps inhumane, nature of working in the slaughterhouse. (Schlosser 170). While my hypertext does not focus on working in the slaughterhouse, I plan to use vivid imagery throughout my hypertext to enrich the content. I could also broaden my research to include not only working for the fast food industry but also visiting the slaughterhouse and the desensitizing effects that come with witnessing ruthless slaughter. I also plan to play off of Shipler’s idea of the “American myth vs. the American dream” presented throughout the work in order to analyze the reasons why so many individuals feel the need to work in the fast food industry in order to build from the bottom up. My goal throughout this hypertext is to effectively present the realities of working in the fast food industry and convey true testimonials of the trials and tribulations of the fast food worker.

300 Word Proposal

For my research hypertext, I am going to focus on young men and women working as waiters and waitresses in restaurants. This job may not seem so difficult to the average customer, however there are many aspects of that job that the customer cannot see from their table. These young waiters and waitresses are working for different reasons, some including: having to support their families, having to support themselves, having to pay for their education, or even working towards living alone in their own life. All of these reasons force young workers to spend many hours working low-wage restaurant jobs which consequently can hurt their ability to accomplish most of the list above. Working long hours is taxing, especially for the little amount of money they receive. Management is also not there to hold their hands through the process, they are there to make more money so to get you to work longer hours for small amounts of money (Ehrenreich 25). Most of these young workers have dreams of moving up and getting promotions and eventually ending up in a high paying, successful, and important job. This dream, however, slips farther and farther away as they work longer and longer hours for little pay, hurting their education and chances for a brighter future. Theses dreams of moving up seem to become unattainable for many low wage workers (Shipler 45). I want to talk about the life-long consequences young workers have after spending long hours working low wages. High school and college years are very important years for kids to develop and succeed for their future, and low wage jobs greatly take away from their ability to do this. I want to talk about these effects low wage restaurant jobs have on high school and college waiters and waitresses for my hypertext.

Low Wage Topic Proposal

Mirella Villalpando
Project Proposal

Farm Workers in California
I am choosing to research and present the information of the low wage life of migrant farm workers in California. I am specifying California because its economy relies heavily on its produce industry and because of its large population of immigrants. In presenting the low-wage life of migrant farm workers in California, I will first define a migrant worker as well as the job of a farm worker, being sure to include the typical pay and ethnicities of the workers by presenting concrete examples of a migrant worker, their personal background story, and the average pay (Schlosser 67). This will serve as a means for the reader to feel a personal connection with the migrant workers I am choosing to write about as well as have some background into the industry of produce. I will next showcase the dangers of the occupation, presenting the dangers in an informative matter (Schlosser ch.8). Thirdly, I will present the figures of the income made by the migrant farm workers and relate it to their lifestyle, explaining how their wages directly affect their quality of life (Shipler 42). Finally, I will identify the benefits of hiring migrant farm workers for the produce industry (ex. Can pay low wages, can go against some legal measures), and explore why migrants have become the driving workforce (ex. Are not skilled, can be easily trained) (Schlosser 70-71). In the end, I hope to provide the reader with an informed perspective on the life of a migrant worker, a sense of the flawed practices in the produce industry, and a new appreciation for produce consumed.

proposal

For my project, I want to focus on youth working in retail. The youth may chose to work for extra spending money, like I did, or for necessities. In the latter case, they need their jobs for simple requirements like food or shelter. In both cases though, they must struggle through a difficult job earning low wages.
There are certain conceptual tools I have learned from Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, and The Working Poor by David Shipler that I plan on using while writing my next hypertext. From Schlosser’s book, I learned the importance of descriptive words. He would describe the slaughterhouse (Chapter 8) and how the workers must stand in “a river of blood” (page 171) so that the reader felt as if they were there. Ehrenreich’s main conceptual tool is that she actually walked in the shoes of the working poor, she didn’t just interview them. She also frequently changed the locations and jobs (Key West in Chapter 1 and Maine for Chapter 2) which gave her a mixture of experiences; this makes her experiment more diversified. Shipler’s novel gives definition of an idea than explains the many sides of it. For example, on page 5 he discusses the American Myth including the standard as well as the blame it holds. Shipler also uses stylistically conceptual tools such as beginning every chapter with a bold statement. He hooks the reader into every paragraph with pithy sentences such as “luxury is produced by humble hands” (page 77). All of the novels use personal stories intermixed with the authors’ own feelings as well as names and detailed descriptions of each personal story that connects the reader to the worker. I hope to collect stories from various young people who have worked in the retail business and compare them with my own experience.

My Low Wage Life - Sarana Chen

I was not born into a rich family. My parents are from the huge portion of the middle class in the U.S, though we're probably at the higher end. We don't have a lot of extra money, but we've never really had to worry about there not being enough to pay for basic necessities.

Even so, I've never had an allowance, and I've seen how hard my parents work, so I've never asked them for one in my entire life. But I'm still a teenage girl. I like going out with my gal pals to watch movies and go shopping occasionally. So since the beginning of high school, I had a job as a babysitter. Pay was pretty good, so I didn't have a problem at all about not having enough “spending” money.

Now I'm in college, and Santa Clara University is a private school with high tuition fees. If I haven't gotten the SCU grant, I doubt I would have chosen to come to SCU, because my parents would not have been able to afford it. I don't live on campus because that would make money even tighter, and my little brother will go to college in a few years too.

I got a low wage job on campus to help pay for books and take care of my own “spending” money. Working in the library gets me minimum wage, so just the book fees would take up a huge chunk of each paycheck. Even though I have a low wage job, I still don't have to go day by day worrying about whether or not I could afford to live in a room or get enough to eat the next day.

I want to find out more about low wage workers. Since I'm proud of my ethnicity, I want to focus on low wage workers in China. I've visited China a few times, and I've seen the poverty stricken men and women and children on the streets. They tow around their illegal merchandise, and scramble in different directions when they see a police car drive by. They sit in groups at each tourist attraction, jumping up when they see a tour bus, trying to sell you their goods. Fruit, vegetables, umbrellas, hats, t-shirts. The list goes on.

I want to find out more about how they can find the hope to live on every day, when they have so little.

Research Hypertext Proposal

I am going to focus my research hypertext on factory workers. My family owns a glue factory in Massachusetts over the years pretty much every Lynch has gotten a summer job at the factory. It was kind of tradition. Every Lynch got to work in the blistering heat in an industrial park, moving drums of solvents and rubber around on with a forklift, operating heavy machinery, the works. It wasn’t quite tradition however, to the other people working at the plant. This was their full-time job, all year round. No AC in the summers, no heat during the New England winter. Though the workers weren’t part of union, they were paid union wages which is much higher than the minimum wage. What I would like to focus on is the low wage life led by factory workers, either union or non union factory workers. I would like to research how the hierarchies of factories work and what opportunities a factory laborer has of advancing in the workplace depending on their qualifications. I found it interesting when both Ehrenreich and Shipler talked about the psychological effects and considerations of living the low wage life. Shipler notices a small, most likely unintentional benefit of having digitized food stamps- the fact that it is less degrading when at checkout lines (Shipler, 40). Ehrenreich mentioned the one thing she missed the most about her old life was “competence”. Having no skills and no future left Ehrenreich feeling hopeless and no real “notion of procedure”(Ehrenreich, 17).If possible I would like to see if there is any researching the emotional and psychological aspects of long term labor in factories. I especially liked the concession Ehrenreich made about her project. That she was not embarking on a “death defying undercover adventure”. In fact, she says, “millions of American’s do it every day.” I would really like to emphasize this too in my project (Ehrenreich, 6). There is no way for me to truly understand what being a factory worker is like.

Works Cited

Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickle and Dimed. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2001. Print.

Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation. New York: Harper Perennial, 2005. Print.

Shipler, David K. The Working Poor. New York: Vintage Books, 2004. Print.

300 Word Research Hypertext Proposal

Joshua Ronen
11/3/09
Writing in the New Media
Marc Bousquet
3:40 PM- T/TR
Research Hypertext Proposal

The one topic that struck me the most of the ones that I could choose from with reference to the class website was the manufacturing of college apparel and how unfairly workers are treated in their respective working establishments while making those clothes. (http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3139). The article, “College Campaign Against Sweatshop Apparel Claims Victory” states “Students working to end abuses of workers’ rights in the factories that make their school apparel won a victory in California last Friday [5/2/06] after months of escalating protest. The University of California system announced it will join eighteen other schools nationwide in implementing a "designated supplier" program. Students had waged sit-ins at multiple state schools – actions they credit with helping to win force university officials’ hand.” Moves have already been made to conquer this widespread issue. Sure, all the college apparel may look so appetizing with the intricate designs, logos, and statements, but do you really know how these clothes were made? What about the people who made them? Did they enjoy coming to work every morning? Did they have an easy life in the workplace. The answer started out as “no,” but significant strides were made to fix what needed to be fixed. Even today there are sweatshops in the USA that manufacture college apparel and treat their employees unfairly. Although we have progressed in time, problems in the work place still linger. Sweatshop labor in college apparel is a rampant issue in the United States. But, these college apparel manufacturers need to make their money. They think with their wallets and not their minds. There are thousands upon thousands of universities all across this country and every company needs to make its monthly quota. But, if it doesn’t, its the employees the suffer the consequences (something that is clearly unjust and should not happen under any circumstances whatsoever).

(333 words)

300 Word Topic Invention

Marie Galetto
11/4/09
Research Hypertext Topic Invention

I am going to focus my research hypertext on young women working in the child care industry. These workers have extremely demanding jobs and are paid very little for their efforts. Taking care of the children takes a lot of patience and energy. The efforts of these people are never fully appreciated for all the work they do. In many instances these important jobs pay so little that these people need to get a second job. Their jobs have significant effects on their personal life, especially those women who have their own children at home. Since taking care of children is these women’s job they may be less motivated to partake in these nurturing activities after their shifts have ended and this has devastating effects on their own children. Ehrenreich shows how the personal effects of emotionally draining low-wage jobs impact the people more than the exact dollar amounts that these people are earning (Ehrenreich 25-26). A lot of these women do not have degrees and so can not become teachers so they are forced to work in child care instead. They do not have the opportunity to move up in their field because they do not have the prerequisites or the time or money to get the degrees needed. This proves that, no matter how hard they work in their profession they have no chance of upward mobility as also shown in Shipler’s book (Shipler 45). Shipler also shows the irony of the situations that many of these people live in (Shipler 39). The woman who works at the child care center can not afford to send her children there. I also want to talk about the children who are sent to these child care facilities. Most of them are children of low-wage workers who may work more than one job so most of their nurturing comes from these paid workers.

Low-Wage Life-Project Proposal for Hypertext 3

Bonnie C. Given

Professor Bousquet

Critical Thinking and Writing-Writing with New Media

November 4, 2009

For my third project, I would like to investigate the job of housekeepers and their struggle with a difficult low wage job in society. I have a fairly strong connection with this topic since my family has employed housekeepers for about eight years. Although I have come to see our housekeepers as wholesome, hard-working people, the limits of their work make it very difficult to move up in society. The concept of American Myth and Anti-American myth applies well to the lives of housekeepers who can’t move up from rags to riches, despite their desire to do so (Shipler 33). Ehrenreich uses the tool of describing low-wage jobs as difficult, but requiring little brain activity (73). A housekeeper’s work may be strenuous, but it is looked down upon because a maid doesn’t need an education, or a great amount of intelligence, to complete her day-to-day work. Also, she describes the workers as being worthless and controllable in nearly every context (84). A housekeeper is totally controlled by their employer because they are required to follow the rules of how the owner wants their house cleaned. Low-wage jobs are viewed as the worst of the worst (Schlosser 177). A low-wage worker can only move up. In a positive light, a housekeeper can receive more job opportunities and hope for better wages. However, people like Caroline may never experience this upward movement (61). Since most housekeepers are usually Mexicans, a huge problem in their occupation is trying to break down the racial barriers that place them even lower on the social scale (Ehrenreich 79). Shipler also touches on the topic of whether a low-wage worker should be able to experience to enjoy some of the luxuries of American life, even if they can’t afford it (33). A housekeeper may not consider his or herself as a full “American” if they don’t use some of their income for these indulgences. In general, it is debate of where the line can be drawn and when a member of low-income can make sacrifices to be a full member of their society. These three resources display the life of low-wage workers in several ways. Housekeepers represent a small population of these workers but deal with these issues daily, usually for most of their lives.

Works Cited

Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickle and Dimed. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2001. Print.

Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation. New York: Harper Perennial, 2005. Print.

Shipler, David K. The Working Poor. New York: Vintage Books, 2004. Print.

300 Words

Through personal experience, I have worked for minimum wage at a clothing store.  I went through the interview process and experienced the non-personal style of an interview where there are “no right or wrong answers” as Enrenreich notes in Nickle and Dimed (58).  I felt as though my true skills were not properly being assessed and I had the notion as if the manager already knew who he wanted to hire.  As long as interviewees possessed “soft skills” (Shipler 7) which include the ability to positively interact with people, stifle personal anger and follow orders.  Many of my fellow employees were working because they had to while conversely I was working as a means not to be bored over the summer.  Some of my friends and co-workers (primarily African-American individuals) would use their paychecks to help their family pay rent or pay for their education.  This may be relatable to Shipler’s reference to the “American Anti-Myth” which connects racial discrimination to the economy and the fact that some kids who have impoverished parents are employed and work in locations that are not leading them anywhere but exploit their labor (6).  As soon as I began working at the clothing store I felt a certain pressure to keep up with the standards of the store even I felt demoralized in doing so.  Schlosser comments on the pressure to maintain a fast work rate in order to generate a larger capital and in some instances higher authorities in the work place implement favors as incentive to generate more money.  At the clothing store employees would be granted gift cards if they sold the most body products on a particular day.  My experiences working as a minimum wage retailer provided me with insight to a particular lifestyle and way of living I would not have been exposed to if I had not been surrounded by the diverse nature of my fellow employees an the certain policies particular to clothing stores in today’s society.     

Low-Wage Proposal - Michael Adair

Michael Adair

Prof. Bousquet

English Writing in New Media

Research Paper Proposal

10/4/2009

Working Two Low-Wage Jobs

I would like to write my research paper on those individuals that work two low-wage jobs in order to support themselves or their family. I feel as though I have a strong personal connection to this topic due to the fact that not only did I work for 4 years in a low-wage position alongside of several co-workers (some of whom I became close to) who were working two jobs, but also because over the summer I sometimes was working two jobs at the same time. Albeit I had very different motives for working two jobs, but the experience was one I will never forget. Barbara Ehrenreich (Ehrenreich, 41-49) speaks first hand about having two jobs at the same time. She spoke of the difficulty on the worker for working two jobs, and her first hand experience made her argument that much stronger, because she had actually lived it. However, she quickly quit the jobs right after this because it was so hard to deal with. She was doing all of this because she was exploring whether or not it was possible to live off one low-wage job (Ehrenreich, 1), which she found she needed to get another job to help support herself. Now imagine this: a single mother working two jobs in order to support her children and provide a better life for them so that they will not have to work low-wage jobs for the rest of their life. Shipler expresses this problem through examples of Christie and Caroline (Shipler, 39-76). Also, I’d like to explore the effects upon the children of never having their mother/father at home because they are constantly working to provide a better life for their children. Shipler also discusses the poor financial decisions that people have, rich and poor, and the idea that financial planning should be taught in schools (Shipler, 22) which would be an interesting idea to explore. Overall, I think my topic is worthwhile of researching, and I already have some solid ideas/examples from the three books we have read so far.

Living the Low Wage Life

Fortunately for myself and for my family, I have not had to experience the hardship of low wage employment. I am almost embarrassed to admit that I have never had a real job, but thankful at the same time to know that my household is one that does not require youth employment to keep itself afloat. Both of my parents earn a stable living, providing the family with the upper middle class lifestyle to which we have all become accustomed. I am aware that I sound like a spoiled child without much financial hardship, and am ashamed of it, but that does not mean that I have not had my fair share of encounters with members of the low-wage lifestyle.

My mother has worked for Kaiser Permanente, the health corporation, as a Cytogeneticist for almost 25 years now. Ever since childhood, I have visited her at her laboratory, given tours of the main hospital to relatives as if I ran the place, and overall have spent a good deal of time on the Kaiser property as a youth. My father had been in and out of the hospital for several years, so I can attest to having a pretty good understanding of the workings of the medical machines we fondly call hospitals. Aside from the extremely wealthy doctors walking the corridors, the nurses and the clerical staff gracing the information desks, is the janitorial staff and clean-up crew that serve the sanitation and cleanliness aspect of hospital life.

These workers have, as you can imagine, an extremely filthy job to perform. Cleaning up after patients who have gotten physically sick, keeping rooms of violently ill and suffering patients in perfect condition, all the while staying undercover and extremely unnoticeable are a few of their basic tasks. They are much like housekeepers in a hotel, but taken to an extreme.

As imaginable, these workers are not paid what they should be compensated for the grimy work they carry out and the conditions they themselves are put through while performing such tasks - honestly I do not think even being paid a million dollars would encourage me to muster up the strength and stomach to do what these people have to do every day. And with the economic recession, it is saddening to think of the incredible amount of jobs that were lost and for those who were lucky enough to remain employed, the decreases in wage that must have happened.

Nobody seems to really notice these people, though, despite the vital role that they play in the daily routine of the hospital – keeping the place clean, presentable, and up-and-running, more or less. This topic is something I am interested in pursuing, because unlike low-wage working fast food employees or coffee shop baristas, these workers provide a service that we as patients and visiting members actually need for our own basic health and wellbeing. Their physical labor and performance of tasks that most would consider revolting keep us healthy and keep our minds at peace that our loved ones are in an environment that will aid their recovery, rather than encourage increased sickness due to poor recuperation conditions.

Growing up in the highest per-capita income town in America, born into a very well off family, I have experienced just about nothing even remotely close to a low wage life. Being poor is something that terrifies me, seeing as I have lived my life with so much having been given to me.
During high school I was required to do very involved forms of community service. In my catholic middle school I did some community service, but that entailed things that were just simply helping out in my community, in which there was no one who was even remotely underprivileged. In high school I worked at a community centre in an urban area a few towns over from mine. I worked with children who had grown up in a world completely different from mine. They had no concept of the levels of security and material goods that I had grown up with.
This was an experience that really opened my eyes up. I had been living in a little stepford wives-esque little gated community that completely sheltered me from people that didn’t have all the benefits of an affluent background.
The closest that I ever got to living a “low wage” life would be recently during the recession. My dad works for a bank, and his job, like many other bankers, was in danger of being cut. As a precaution my family decided that we were going to be taking severe cutbacks on luxury items, in order to save money. This reduced wage lifestyle for me was a real change. Things that I took for granted like high speed internet, 1000+ channels of cable, and my car were all taken away. While I was completely understanding of the situation, it still was shocking to me how much those things had meant to me. How people lived without those “basic necessities” was beyond me, but in time I came to realise that they were just silly extras.
Fortunately I never had had to worry about losing anything more than these silly extras, but some people do have to worry very much about these things every day. While I have trouble dealing with the fact that I no longer was able to watch episodes of Dexter and The Tudors, every week due to my financial situation, there are people that have to deal with the fact that instead of paying for dinner, they are going to have to pay for healthcare.
I worked my first full time job as a caddie. This was at a very posh country club in my town that served as a weekend getaway for the rich who couldn’t make the trip to Nantucket or Cape Cod. While there I worked alongside with other junior high, high school and college students, but also, and more importantly, people that worked this job for a living.
This was an environment that had people who were working for their wellbeing, under people who make obscene amounts of money. It was a very odd and somewhat confusing situation to me. I never knew that people like them existed, and working alongside with them was very interesting and eye opening. This is something that I want to explore; people that work for the extremely rich, yet make a very small wage.