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Barbara Ehrenreich Author and Activist Dies at age 81 [1]

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Date: 2022-09-06

Activist and author, Barbara Ehrenreich died at age 81. In this period of labor union resurgence in America, her death reminded me of her best-selling book "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America” I read some time ago. I also saw a stage adaptation of her book at the Brava Theater here in San Francisco.

In “Nickel and Dimed", Ehrenreich writes about the time she worked undercover at a Minnesota Wal-Mart in ladies clothing, picking up dropped clothing and taking clothing from the dressing rooms and putting them back on the racks. The job was extremely low-paying and she was unable to afford much of anything besides her rent. On her wages, she could not buy any kitchen items and was unable to cook anything on her own, living instead on fast food that she could find nearby. She found her work at Wal-Mart repetitive and monotonous, and began to believe that the employees are working far too hard for the wages they are given. The main way that wages are kept low is by reinforcing the low self-esteem inherent in each job. This included random drug tests, being yelled at by bosses, being accused of rule infractions, and being treated in many ways that she felt were more like a child than a woman in her 50s should be treated. She discovered that no job is truly "unskilled," that even the lowliest occupations require exhausting mental and muscular effort. She also learned that one job is not enough; you need at least two if you are to live indoors.

Today, after years of declining influence, workers are now using their leverage to unionize companies large and small to improve wages, benefits, and working conditions to provide sufficient wages to live on.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/9/6/2121084/-Barbara-Ehrenreich-Author-and-Activist-Dies-at-age-81

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