Re:My visit to American Apparel
by redrobot5050 on Friday January 09, 2009 @01:17PM
(#426902)
Unless that wage also includes health care, loans you transportation (in this case, Bikes, but its better than nothing), and lets you attend English classes, which could translate to a valuable job skill.
(I'm not saying that migrants/immigrants can't survive in our culture without English, but being able to speak English well might allow them to find careers they otherwise couldn't.)
Also, keep in mind that workers get paid for any ideas they come up with that save the company money or create a new product. They'll also get paid if they're used a model. So there are side-opportunities.
In the end, it boils down to treatment. Sure, its not a great, glamorous job -- making clothing -- but they're treated well compared to their contemporaries in the industry. At the end of the day, a 50K job coding is a 50K job coding, but I think we'd all rather work at the place that has free back massages and a ball pit.
Would I go back to that job? Hell no. Hauling literally tons of crates around a factory floor each day, climbing inside freezing semi trailers in the dead of the Canadian winter... all for that kind of pay? No thanks.
But that doesn't mean the pay is necessarily bad for someone who, unlike my fortunate self, has no choice in his jobs.
I do agree though - in the context of NY or LA, $15 is not a survivable wage. It's the kind of wage that keeps you alive, but also keeps you trapped in your dead-end job forever.