Essay On Working Class In America

📌Category: Economics
📌Words: 647
📌Pages: 3
📌Published: 19 June 2022

Within America, the working class, the backbone of our societal operation, is receiving an average income that is the lowest it has been in a staggering seven decades. Immigrants who are waged within such industries have it the worst. Lacking the qualifications to be considered “applicable” for many employment opportunities, they are stuck on the night shift, doing the dirty work of monstrous corporations. The conditions are borderline illegal.     

In the wake of dawn, Tiffany Sisneros, a cleaner on the graveyard shift, worked long, debasing hours of employment. An immigrant woman making less than $202 dollars a week to support her family, Tiffany, or Martha as she would later be registered, would traverse through gut-wretching cow flesh and bones each and every night. Martha was employed by a sanitation company, working for Packers. Her job was simple: sterilize conveyor belts and equipment, which are responsible for the abhorrently inhumane death of six-thousand cows every day. As Martha concluded her wipe-down of one of the major conveyors, the machine was powered back on. Just afterwards, she spotted a piece of fat lingering on the underside of the side rail. Pieces of fat accumulate and are easily capable of putting the entire machine out of production, causing a great loss in profit. Martha reached under the belt to remove the obstruction. Doing so, she lost her balance and was placed at the mercy of the machine. Following a ghastly cry, her arm was caught in the machine’s roller. Thereafter, the pain was eased as the maintenance employees rushed to dismantle the conveyor belt. All that was left of her arm were bones sticking out in disarray. Once rushed to the hospital, the very next morning, she was greeted with a rude awakening by Packers and was left without a job.

Moving to the U.S. expecting to be treated as human, and live the “American dream'' is far from the reality for many. These people struggle to go on, riddled with deteriorating mental health and work conditions. Many, being the people you know, trudge through this harsh reality. America preys upon the working class. They are exploited and underpaid, forced into dire conditions—working multiple jobs, many paid below minimum wage, and being provided with the necessities and training they require would be a blessing. Third-party harassment, as well as  assault from employers are growing increasingly standard.

I am going to take the time to thoroughly discuss this matter, as well as its sheer impact on this portion of the population. We must figure out how employers and corporations bend the rules to restrict their workers from receiving benefits and pay. What assault and harassment occur in the workplace every day? What has been done about it?

America has been established as one of the only first-world countries that do not have laws guaranteeing paid maternity leave, nor paid sick days. While this may not be as much of an issue for those who are self-employed or work in an industry that requires minimal physical labour, this is considered a daily stressor for those waged in the working class. The working class, while many times the people who are invisible, and do the dirty, undesirable work for us, can also be the people we see every day. Clerks, waiters, janitors, retail workers, etc. are all a part of the working class. In a survey conducted in 2017, 45% of the Hispanic working-class responded to being “extremely worried” about their financial situation. This makes perfect sense, as over 24% of the American population is being paid less than $8.70 an hour. For those with families and other expenses, living paycheck to paycheck is entirely unavoidable. Many, such as sanitation workers, are employed in the 5th deadliest job in the U.S. One of the main causes of this mistreatment stems from the power that these companies have over their employees. Despite never being informed or reprimanded against the dangers of wiping a machine that was powered on, Martha was fired the next morning, only her medical bills paid for. Due to being employed by a sanitation company that worked for Packers, Martha was not obligated to receive any benefits or compensation for such a work accident. 

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