The Low Wages Of The West

Two years after I first opened it, I re-read Barbara Ehrenreich's chilling 'Nickel and Dimed' last week.

Reading from a British perspective, the differences between the two workforces were stark. Three issues arise and still seem relevent almost 10 years later: housing; healthcare; and unionism. On each issure, low wage workers (or 'unskilled', as they are often referred to) in the United Kingdom seem to me to be better off than there American counterparts.

Though house prices in the UK seem to be at an all-time high and increasing exponentially still, it is still possible to earn the minimum wage and live in 'comfortable' surroundings. For Ehrenreich, the trailer park was home. In some situations, living was only made financially viable by having two 'unskilled' jobs on the go at once.

The health of her co-workers was a big concern for Ehrenreich in the second chapter. The crippling financial situation meant turning up to work unfit to work was the norm for two reasons: first, no one could afford health insurance; second, taking a day off work would mean losing the pay for that day. Healthcare is not so much of a concern for Britons working for the minimum wage, on account of the NHS being free at the point of consumption for all. After reading Ehrenreich's experiences, I feel genuinely proud to be part of the political party which championed the creation of the NHS against Conservative scepticism.

(On a separate but slightly related issue, I also feel genuinely proud that it was Labour who foresaw the need for a minimum wage in the UK. Again, the Conservative party spun lies about damages to small businesses, and again they were proved wrong!)

Whilst dealling with the political side of the issue, I should move on to the third major divide between low wage workers in the United Kingdom and the United States: unionism. Right from its 1901 creation, the Labour party embraced Britain's unions and made them an integral part of the party. More than a century later, they are still an important part of the currernt governing party. Since 1901, Labour has grown to be one of the two big parties in the UK. As a consequence, the unions simply cannot be ignored. They cannot be trodden on. They cannot be crushed. They cannot be manipulated. And the workers who are part of the unions? The workers cannot be ignored. The workers cannot be trodden on. The workers cannot be crushed. The workers cannot be manipulated. The Labour Party motto applies also to union membership: by the strength of our common endeavour, we achieve more than we achieve alone. It is this which scare WalMart. This is the reason WalMart closes unionised stores. Now, WalMart is so big, it is impossible for the workers of a to unionise, because if it comes to it, WalMart can afford to close the store. I would never want to do a low wage job in the United States. Not after reading 'Nickel and Dimed'

Through chapter three of ‘Nickel & Dimed’, Ehrenreich finds her spirit and will-to-work slowly crushed by the monotonous repetition of replacing cart-loads of women’s clothing to the rails of Wal-Mart; all is done for a pitiful wage which ultimately brings Ehrenreich’s experiment to a seemingly premature end. After going through the apps-interview-drug test rigmarole of finding a job, she battles to survive on an hourly wage of $7, whilst, at one point, paying $45.95 a night for temporary accommodation. After hearing about strikes elsewhere in the state, Ehrenreich gets a taste for rebellion and proposes a union, or at least a strike of Wal-mart staff, though this itself was scuppered by Wal-mart’s low wages: “I still think we could have done something … if I could’ve afforded to work at Wal-Mart a little longer.”

Yours, wherever you may be,
Daniel C. Wright.