“This is not the right time” is a phrase I have heard over and over again from those who I think really mean to say, “Never is the right time. I will never support this legislation.”
Usually, “this is not the right time” refers to legislation that will put money into the pockets of working Americans and gives benefits to children in poverty. When Delaware legislators have used it recently, it has been in reference to the minimum-wage increase and the tax-bracket increase, both bills that will make our tax laws fairer or directly compensate working people.
I happen to have spent my entire working career in two of the lowest wage industries in this country — waitressing and child care. Notably, neither of these jobs are poverty-level positions in most other countries.
When I worked as a waitress 38 years ago, I earned $1.81/hour. Today, the wage is $2.23. How anyone can say that a 42-cent increase in an hourly wage over almost 40 years is justifiable is absolutely beyond me. And when people say things have changed for waitstaff and that I am out of touch with modern waitstaff, I defy them to prove that to me. One thing I know especially is that opening your mouth and complaining about your job gets you exactly what it got you 40 years ago — fired.
I am lucky enough to now be the director of a child care center, and I am no longer a minimum-wage employee. I actually thought when I began this career that, in time, child care workers would gain the respect they deserve and become compensated as such. That has not happened, and I fear that I will retire without seeing child care workers making a livable wage. Everyone talks about quality, but compensation is far from ensuring a workforce that can live decently and that doesn’t have to continually justify what they do each day.
I am committed to ensuring that my people make a livable wage. I honestly don’t know how one can run a business and say that their staff — in whatever industry — doesn’t deserve the same.
Connie Merlet
Newark
