Letters to the Editor

Letter: Labor shortage blame game

In the newspaper this week, I read that there is a shortage of school cafeteria workers to feed our students (ADN, Wednesday, “Worker shortage means 8 elementary schools are going without hot lunch”). Thus, in some schools, the students get no hot meals.

This is a continuation of an inaccurate and often repeated myth that people do not want to work. But if one looks accurately at the data since 1980, if the minimum wage did rise in step with productivity growth, including benefits, it would be almost $22 per hour. Openings for these school cafeteria workers are $14.21 per hour.

Temporarily throwing them a bonus of a couple of thousand dollars does not solve the permanent problem of low wages. Workers need to pay their bills. Presently, if almost half of workers were presented with a bill for $400, they would have to pay it with their credit cards or sell something.

The real problem is inadequate living wages and the propaganda of employers and corporatists that people do not want to work.

— Michael Hidek

Eagle River

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