Letters: Differing views on 'whiny' workers
Applicants line up at a job fair in 2009. New York States WARN act which gives workers notice of a layoff has been in effect for five years. Credit: AP
The headline on Ruben Navarrette Jr.'s column asked, "When did U.S. workers get so whiny?" [Opinion, Sept. 8]
It happened when their wages didn't keep up with the cost of living, when working a 40-hour week left you below the poverty line, when CEOs began making 331 times the average worker, as their companies made record profits and hid them in the Caymans.
So that's why the working poor -- when did that phrase become part of our vocabulary? -- are whining.
But even graduates with advanced degrees are hard-pressed to get that first job that requires experience, or lots of hours of unpaid internships. Most start out with ridiculous amounts of debt because the cost of higher education is outrageous. What's more, many good-paying jobs with any sort of security -- something we used to have in the United States -- are no longer out there.
Yes, some people are doing well in this economy, but the majority is suffering. Paid vacations should be a right. They contribute to the quality of our family lives and make workers more productive.
The ultimate irony is that the U.S. workforce has been very productive. Its members just aren't the ones reaping the benefits of that productivity.
Suzanne Stone, Centerport
Congrats to Ruben Navarrette Jr. for his article on whiny workers.
What happened to a day's work for a day's pay? Too many think they're entitled. Others who have jobs but aren't making enough money do nothing but complain and make demands.
How about learning a trade or getting better educated so that you're an asset and qualify for a high-paying job?
Connie Kamen, Sound Beach
Ruben Navarrette Jr.'s piece is one of the most tone deaf I've read recently. At $13.25 an hour, someone working 40 hours a week would take home about $475 after taxes and withholdings for a whopping $25,000 a year!
That's plenty of money to raise a family on, save for retirement and provide for educating children. Plus, that worker might even qualify for food stamps, so it sounds like living in the lap of luxury.
The problem isn't "whiny" workers, but an upside-down economic system that so clearly favors the wealthy. Yes, the dreaded class warfare argument. Well, class warfare has been waged for a thousand years or so, and we the majority lost a long time ago -- and this comes from someone who owns a business and employs 10 people.
Michael D. Angiulo, Syosset
