"Nickel and Dimed"

Paper Summary:

The paper looks at Barabara Ehrenreich's book "Nickel and Dimed" that portrays the experience of American workers who receive the minimum hourly wage and minimal benefits. The paper describes how Ehrenreich undergoes an experiment being a low-wage worker at three different chain stores including Wal-Mart. The paper relates how Wal-Mart attempts to influence the employees' opinions against unions and shows how these big corporations are in the position of power. The paper asserts that if the national chains will be forced to fully compensate employees for their hard work and improve their job conditions, then income, health and living conditions will enhance as well.

From the Paper:

"We live in a market oriented system which is determined by the demand of the consumers and the supply of the providers of goods and services. Barabara Ehrenreich's book Nickel and Dimed is about the working poor who have to make a living under the minimum wage or slightly above it. In addition, many of them suffer under horrible working conditions, because the more national chain stores-- the suppliers-- open their doors in the United States, the higher is the competition among those suppliers and the higher the pressure to make profit. The vendors do not only have to lower their prices in order to attract customers to their stores, but also need to lower wages to minimize their costs, maximize their revenue and stay alive on the market. It is the ordinary worker who suffers, who gets his wages cut to the legal minimum and benefits minimized. But it is not only money that is taken away from the workers; also their rights diminish as with rising unemployment the rising demand of low-wage jobs gives the national chains the opportunity to be able to choose from many workers who have to accept their working conditions and rules defined in the contracts."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Barrios, Barclay. Elements. Hayden-McNeil: MI, 2009.
• Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel and Dimed. Holt: NY, 2008.
• Organize. "The Union Advantage in Pay and Benefits". UAW.org. 21 September 2008. 21 September 2008. <http://www.uaw.org/organize/advantage.cfm>.
• Rice, Sabriya. "Poverty and poor health are intertwined, experts say". CNN.com. 4 September 2006. 30 September 2008. <http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/08/29/poverty.health/index.html>.
• U.S. Census. "Household Income Rises, Poverty Rate Unchanged, Number of Uninsured Down". U.S Census. 29 August 2008. 21 September 2008. <http://www.census.gov/ PressRelease/www/releases/archives/income_wealth/ 012528.html>.

More papers on "Nickel and Dimed":

• Book Review # 120940 : "Nickel and Dimed": The Poor in America"
• Book Review # 114675 : "Nickel and Dimed"
• Book Review # 111247 : "Barbara Ehrenreich's "Nickel and Dimed"
• Book Review # 98251 : "Nickel and Dimed"

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