Go to uusc.org/asylum
Blake Fall-Conroy, “Minimum Wage Machine,” 2008-2010
This machine allows anyone to work for minimum wage for as long as they like. Turning the crank on the side releases one penny every 4.97 seconds, for a total of $7.25 per hour. This corresponds to minimum wage for a person in New York.
This piece is brilliant on multiple levels, particularly as social commentary. Without a doubt, most people who started operating the machine for fun would quickly grow disheartened and stop when realizing just how little they’re earning by turning this mindless crank. A person would then conceivably realize that this is what nearly two million people in the United States do every day…at much harder jobs than turning a crank. This turns the piece into a simple, yet effective argument for raising the minimum wage.
“Let’s do something different this time! Let’s do something that’s right! Let’s reward work! For people who go to work everyday, in very difficult jobs, sometimes very dirty jobs, sometimes very demeaning jobs, and they work everyday, and they go home poor.”
- Rep. George Miller on why minimum wage workers (including tipped workers) deserve a raise.
Take action at http://www.uusc.org/minwagenow
Discrimination in the restaurant industry is real and striking. Take action at http://www.uusc.org/yesbestseller
Oww!!! Take action now to support restaurant workers’ rights.
Eww! Take action at uusc.org/kitchendoor
A 35-second message that will whet your appetite for social justice! Take action at http://www.uusc.org/kitchendoor
Your Valentine’s Day checklist.
Why food and why now?
We are beginning to understand that when it comes to food, our society is speeding along various tracks, each heading toward a different future.
Some of those futures further degrade people who are already carrying more than their share of social burdens, multiply the suffering of animals that are already living in misery, and further exploit natural resources that are already destabilized.
Other futures build the world we dream about, where rights are respected and creation is honored.
—Rev. John Gibb Millspaugh. Read more at http://www.uusc.org/ethicalbook
You’ll be hearing a lot from the media this weekend about how bad things are in Haiti. We want you to also see this story of hope.
(Source: youtube.com)
