Re: [UC] striking at strikes ....

[Marni Sweet]

I encourage all of you who are thinking about union or non and minimum vs. living wages, particularly as they relate to Wal-Mart, to read Nickle and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. ----- Original Message ----- From: Ben Rhoades To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 2004 2:43 PM Subject: Re: [UC] striking at strikes .... At 02:32 PM 12/7/2004, Clinton, J. Scott wrote: I'd like to think that too, but do you shop at Wal-Mart?  A lot of people are starting to make a distinction between "minimum wage" and "living wage".    Personally, I believe that my earnings impart a responsibility upon me to use those monies wisely...a concept that Christians refer to as "stewardship".  Because of my conviction, I don't shop at Wal-Mart (though I do buy things from Home Despot...mostly out of frustration and lack of selection at my local hardware stores) and I don't feel that my biggest requirement in purchasing things is that the price be as low as possible.  I am willing to pay more for a quality product.  I believe that it benefits me as well as society for people to be able to earn a living that allows them to live above the poverty line. Well, the Wal-mart example is a good one however, I do look at it sort of different, and maybe I'm living in the 50s.  I see most of the people working at as a job, not as a career.  I don't think of Wal-mart as a career place other than maybe some management.  I shop there with that mindset and think that many of the problems are people believing that their job at Wal-mart should be something to support their family.  However, I also I agree that you get what you pay for in terms of quality and I will often pay more to get something I think will last longer.  regarding the union and the turnpike, I would have to agree that the case is completely unlike wal-mart.  I remember reading about a study that someone did for a turnpike (might have been MA) for how to cut costs.  The reccomendation was to eliminate fares because the cost of collecting them was greater than the fares collected.  This is not the case on the PA turnpike, but when EZ pass was launched, an agreement was reached that the EZ pass would not eliminate any tolltaker jobs.  The turnpike is a political entity, and eliminating patronage jobs is not the goal of any politician that I know of. Yeah, it's interesting that doing things that would have a positive affect on the greater good but bad for patronage turns out with patronage winning... Like most things, unions bring negatives along with their positives. Of course, this is true of almost anything. -Ben ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see .