The City of Big Shoulders Today

Our article for today, The Crisis of Wage Theft by Kim Bobo, dealt with America's unfortunate wage gap and its deplorable implications for the affected workers. According to Bobo, "billions of dollars are being illegally stolen from millions of each and every year." As I discerned from the article, some basic examples of wage theft in America are: violations of minimum wage laws, employers not paying for overtime work and/or forcing workers to work of the clock, mis-classifying workers as independent contractors, thus avoiding minimum wage and overtime laws, and worst-of-all just not paying workers. The vast majority of these dollars are being stolen from immigrants, both illegal and non-legal, who either can't verbalize the issues or don't know where to seek appropriate compensation.

In addition to the article, we read excerpts from her book on people's personal encounters with wage theft. The worst story I read featured a clothing "sweat shop," and the gruesome stories of its work enviroment. For instance, the owners did not provide toilet paper for their employee's because the worker's would steel it for their homes. Even more deplorable, the owner then went on to say that the "employees prefered to bring their own...and that none of the workers wanted health insurance." Furthermore, these workers were denied minimum wage and adequate work conditions.

I like to consider myself a fairly green person. I shop weekly at the farmers market, buy green and sustainable products whenever possible, eat as organicly as possible, and am looking at raising chickens when I return to Minnesota, so Chicago's Department of the Environment's Chicago Center for Green Technology was right up my alley. Indeed, the wild gardens and modular green homes were very interesting. I found the most resourceful green product in the building to be the canola oil powered elevator.

However, according to the brochure for the center and its volunteer the main goal for the center was education; this was one aspect of the center that I felt fell short. My first supporting point for this opinion was the location of the center. The CGT (Center for Green Technology) was located several miles outside of the downtown area and was the one of the only things in the area, making it unlikley that the center would cross an average pedestrians path. While it was only a short walk from the nearest bus stop, the area was not pedestrian friendly. The one sidewalked was not maintained well and was found on the opposite side of the street, which was not easily crossable, than the center. In addition, the resource room was filled mainly with home-building products, more than educational exhibits. As a result, for someone less interested in green technology than me, I do not think the center would provide as much information and enjoyment.