Low-Income Workers

Paper Summary:

This paper takes a look at the issue of low-income workers, said to be - victims of growing prosperity in the USA. The paper reviews Barbara Ehrenreich's book 'Nickel and Dimed' which discusses this subject. According to the paper, Ehrenreich's makes a convincing case against America's self-proclaimed democratic status when it calls the country a "dictatorship" where low-wage workers "dwell in a place that is neither free nor in any way democratic".

From the Paper:

"In response to severe workplace abuses witnessed by immigrants at the turn of the 20th century prompted the federal government to take some serious steps. This included the passing of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA). This and other applicable regulations were meant to ensure healthy working conditions and better wages for workers. However over the years, several violations of the provisions of FLSA have surfaced including the violations connected with record keeping. Section 11a of the legislation requires employers to maintain a record of wages, hours and other conditions at the workplace or factories. These records serve as an important tool for checking if any violations of FLSA took place and to ensure that FLSA is properly followed. However the reasons violations of record keeping are rampant is because of a lack of monetary penalties in case of violation. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Sar A. Levitan & Richard S. Belous, More Than Subsistence: Minimum Wages For The Working Poor 41 (1979 Johns Hopkins Press).
• Marc Linder, Farm Workers and the Fair Labor Standards Act: Racial Discrimination in the New Deal, 65 Texas L. Rev. 1335, 1371-1380 (1987) FLSA.
• Su, Julie. 1997. "El Monte Thai Garment Workers: Slave Sweatshops." In Ross, ed., No Sweat, pp. 143-50
• International Labor Organization (ILO) 2000. Labour Practices in the Footwear, Leather, Textiles and Clothing Industries. Geneva: International Labor Organization.
• The Department of Labor's Enforcement of the Fair Labor Standards Act (GAO/HRD-85-77, Sept. 30, 1985).

More papers on Low-Income Workers:

• Article Review # 128752 : "Article Review: Homeless vs. Low-Income Children"
• Essay # 85984 : "Low Income Families "
• Analytical Essay # 46726 : "Barbara Ehrenreich's "Nickel and Dimed"

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