The Liberal Bias: Snowacolypseggedon, Right to Work State, and the Minimum Wage Fight

Hello fellow Bobcats, Socialists, and other Fundamental-Changers-of-the-United-States-as-we-know-it. I’m sure the title of this week’s edition probably feels like a bit of stretch, so I just want you to bear with me.

Ever since the State of the Union speech in January, there has been some chatter about the future of the minimum wage all over the country. I’m really excited to be in Maryland because it seems that whether the Fed raises it or not, Maryland will probably be a $10.10 an hour state in the next couple of years. This news has some people up in arms over the potential costs. These arguments are not without their merit of course, but most of the ones that I hear usually seem to act as if they’ll be the only ones that will have to raise their wages, and no one will have the extra income to buy more of their services.

So, what does this have to do with the weather? Well, I’m sure some of you noticed that the weather in the Frostburg area has been a bit, let’s call it “Wintery.” While a lot of us have been bundled up inside or sledding in parking lots on those snowy days, I think it’s important to point out that not everyone had that same luxury.

I’m not talking about the civil servants who were plowing our roads and maintaining the order while the storm was coming down. I’m not referring to those guys because many of those jobs have living wages and unions that made that happen. No, the one’s I’m talking about are the minimum wagers who were going in because their business either wouldn’t close or couldn’t close.

You see, when we get a bad storm like this, places like grocery stores will be open because they sell essential items that we need to survive. The problem is that if you were already scheduled to work that day, then you’re still expected to go in. Telling your boss that you can’t come in can still be considered as “calling-off” and could reflect negatively on the employee. To add to that, these people are working for wages that most likely won’t get them above the poverty level.

In a nutshell, they could be asked to risk life and limb to come in to work just so they can barely make rent and pay the bills.

I’m not saying that people at super markets that couldn’t make it into work during the storm were getting fired en masse. Frankly, any boss that would do that would be heartless and possibly a Cylon (I’ve been watching Battlestar Galactica). What I don’t like is that we are in a right to work state, and because of that they have the option.

In a right to work state there is no protection against being fired for frivolous reasons, and as far as I know there is no workman’s compensation for getting injured on your way to work.

This needs to change. We need laws in place that protects workers so that places that can’t close in a state of emergency require higher pay during those times. We need to offer protections to workers that might get injured on the way there. Perhaps most importantly, we need a law in place that prevents certain businesses that can choose to open in the worst conditions, but are not essential, to remain closed.

That last one might be a bit outrageous to some, but I have some personal experience with that. I used to work at a thrift store years ago. One day I had to open and we had a snow storm that wasn’t as bad as this newest one, but not by much. A message came down from the out of town office saying that we were not going to close and I could be fired for refusing to open up. I drove through unplowed roads and nearly got in a few car accidents. Two hours after I had opened the store, with no customers, I received a call from the higher-up who demanded that we open, tell me to call because she had driven down to our area (I suspect to chew out any manager of the chain for trying to close) and told us that conditions were too dangerous, and to close up and go home. This happened almost three times while I worked there.

I sold second-hand clothing and worked for $6.50 an hour.

Questions, Comments, Suggestions can be sent to the author at csullery0@frostburg.edu