I appreciate that Archie Richards is no longer restrained by “political correctness” when giving his opinions on racism and the minimum wage (Monitor letters, Jan. 28). He feels free to opine that labor performed by poor uneducated black people is worth less.
Now, I could tell how I moved up from a Southern right-to-work-for-too-little-to-live-on state more than 30 years ago looking for better job opportunities or how working full time and still not earning enough to live on causes a worker to regard a job and an employer as less than someone who deserves loyalty or that working for too little to live on could cause a worker to quit the minute a better job opened up with no notice given. I won’t.
Instead, I’ll give an example.
Where I lived prior to New Hampshire had lots of for-profit nursing homes. Most of the staff at these poorly paying nursing homes were minority, high school (or less) educated female workers. Most of those they cared for were white. Was their labor worth less? Is a minority cop or firefighter or EMT worth less?
A job that pays too little to live on isn’t much better than having no job. A poorly paid worker can suffer on their own time without having to work and still suffer.
PAUL STILLWELL
Concord