the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Jul 16, 2012
The mayor of Pennsylvania’s sixth largest city cut the pay of all city workers to $7.25 an hour–the minimum wage–and sent paychecks out to the workers’ houses at that reduced rate. Brave or crazy? Maybe both!
Of course, the mayor had a dozen reasons: structural deficits, unpaid bills, banks unwilling to lend money; city council refusing to make payment on debts; resignations.... None of these has anything to do with the workers’ rate of pay.
He ignored everybody; the unions, a court injunction, and the workers and did what he wanted to do: “MAKE THE WORKERS PAY!”
He did what he wanted–the workers can do the same. He expects the city to run? The workers can make HIM run. He would look good picking up the garbage himself while working overtime driving a bus. And of course, there is NO OVERTIME COMPENSATION! Let him and the Scranton bosses take THAT to the bank!