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New York Must Increase the Minimum Wage Essay

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Living in Bushwick commuting to school four days a week to Coney Island, and going to work four days a week at Rite Aid in Sunnyside, Queens, is more overwhelming than what it sounds. Working overnight from Monday to Friday, earning minimum wage and being taxed on top of that isn’t enough due to prices of gas, food, and necessities sky-rocketing. The job pays $7.25 per hour but I make a $0.75 differential for working the night shift. It’s difficult to be a student and work when you only have yourself as a form of financial support. There are days I don’t sleep and hours before I get a meal, because I get trapped by my living expenses, its long before I am able to splurge on luxuries and wants. Nevertheless, it has become challenging to …show more content…

In between the early 1900’s and late 1930’s laws regarding organized labor and laws protecting businesses were passed or declined. Different industries had different minimum wage requirements and some didn’t follow at all. When Franklin D. Roosevelt became president, one of the first things he did was sign a New Deal. The New Deal consisted of new proposed ideas and laws; many in particular pertained to labor. This was due to the happening of the Great Depression. The New Deal helped ban child labor, raise the minimum wage, and regulated the appropriate amount of hours a person should work.

While my job isn’t the best; it’s better than nothing. Working in the past eight months at Rite Aid, I’ve seen employees come and go at least once a month. My job title is “Sales Associate”. This merely doesn’t describe all my responsibilities. They range from receiving new merchandise on Mondays and Thursdays, which what we call ‘truck night’ to mopping the floor of pharmacy before I am able to call it a night. We are understaffed and consequently, I am overloaded with duties and by the time the morning comes, I am exhausted to the point where I am unable to concentrate in school. During the eight months, the majority of the Monday and Thursday nights, it has been the Night Time Assistant Manager and I. this is basically two people single

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