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With Labor Day right around the corner, we speak with Annette Bernhardt, one of the authors of a report showing a surge in wage and workplace violations: Confronting the Gloves-Off Economy: America's Broken Labor Standards and How to Fix Them. The report compiled interviews with more than 4000 low-wage workers in New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago. What they described was an astounding number of violations — from unpaid overtime to employers not paying minimum wage — and an overall lack of enforcement.
Bernhardt is the policy co-director for the advocacy group National Employment Law Project. We also hear from Amy Carroll, an attorney at a community center in Brooklyn, New York: Make the Road New York. The group represents thousands of workers who have seen workplace violations firsthand.
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I was struck by your guest's assertion that the current state of affairs is the fault of the last eight years of the previous administration.
Fine. Chimpy Bushitler MacHalliburton took time out from his Smirky Rodeo Ride Through History to personally ensure that wage and workplace violations could go through the roof.
But. Seconds later, she remarked that her survey was the first of its type, and more work would have to be done to see trends.
Quick question: If it's the first survey of its type, how exactly was she able to project backwards through time to lay blame? Or is this another example of Bush Derangement Syndrome?
Finally, if there weren't quite so many illegal immigrants available willing to work for $0.50/hour under any conditions, might there not be quite so much downward pressure on wages, and quite so many workplace violations. Just wondering.