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
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
Jun 9, 2014
The last week in May, Michigan legislators passed a “compromise” law to gradually increase the minimum wage to $9.25 by 2018. Lauded by the Democratic Party House minority leader as a tremendous win for Michigan’s working families, nothing could be further from the truth.
It was a cynical ploy by politicians to circumvent the petition drive in which more than 300,000 people had signed in support to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. They did it in response to this petition drive and to the protests by workers to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
The average pay for CEOs crossed $10 million dollars in 2013. In the last four years, CEO pay packages, on average, climbed more than 50 per cent! A chief executive now makes about 257 times the average worker’s salary, up sharply from 181 times in 2009.
This is the system we live in—where millions of people struggle just to get by—from minimum wage workers, who can barely put food on the table, let alone buy a house, rent an apartment or buy a vehicle—to workers like us—living pay check to pay check. And a few others are wallowing in luxury.
It’s a system, like old fruit, that is rotten, and needs to be tossed out.