Reply #115: I was talking to a welder at the factory where I made from 5.4 to 6.25 [View All]

[hfojvt]

an hour. He said he made $12 an hour, but he "busted his a$$" for that (it was a piece rate). My thought was that at least he had the option of working a little less and still making $9 an hour. Nobody was forcing him to scramble for $12. There was no way possible for me to work fast enough to even make $7.
I did read about workers in Des Moines who made $60,000 a year, but were forced to work about 3000 hours a year to do so - mandatory overtime. Yes, the money looks good, but not at that cost. If they are doing it voluntarily, that is their own choice, no one is holding a gun to their head.
I have worked in the same factory as a temp where a husband and wife who worked there probably made close to $100,000 when their over-time was added in (without over-time they would be at $75,000). There is far less need for a policy which will benefit their lives than there is for one which will benefit the temps. Even though they work at the same factory, their interests, much less their lifestyles, are not the same. I think policy should help those at the bottom, first and foremost, even if I am no longer there.