[36] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Re: LIVING WAGE SIT-IN AT HARVARD (fwd)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Brandy L Evans)
Thu Apr 19 16:04:16 2001
Message-Id: <200104192004.QAA02280@biohazard-cafe.mit.edu>
To: "Sourav K. Mandal" <Sourav.Mandal@ikaran.com>
cc: mit-talk@MIT.EDU, objectivism@MIT.EDU, liane@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Thu, 19 Apr 2001 15:36:20 EDT."
<200104191936.PAA10757@dichotomy.dyn.dhs.org>
Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 16:04:05 -0400
From: Brandy L Evans <liane@MIT.EDU>
Well hell, Sourav, why do we have a minimum wage??
I mean shit, if I don't think my workers are worth more than $2 an
hour, why can't I pay them that little? And if bob down the road
decides to pay his $1.50, I should pay mine $1.
Now wait... Let's think about this again... turn it around so that the
WORKERS are the ones selling their services to their
employers... Which would mean that these janitors should be trying to
get as much as they can from Harvard. And if they're not getting as
much as the janitors down the street at MIT are getting, well, they
have a few options:
1) Lobby hard (including possibly, say, a protest) for more
competitive wages
2) Strike to DEMAND more competitive wages
3) Just quit and go work at MIT
Now looking at this from harvard's poing of view, they need
janitors. That's just a fact. And in two out of these scenarios, they
lose their janitors. So for harvard, what is happening now (scenario
#1) is really the BEST of the three outcomes if we accept as a given
that Harvard is not paying a competitive price for these
services. There, you happy? We've taken away all the human issues,
it's not a matter of these janitors feeding their families - it's a
matter of Harvard needing to be competitive so that they don't lose
their janitorial staff.
>I value people _because_ I value profits. Profits don't emerge from
>thin air -- they are born of ingenuity, blood, tears, and sweat. The
This has to be the most frightening statement I've heard so far. You
value people because you value profits. Wow. I just don't think I have
anything to say to that. I think we should all just let that statement
sink in for a moment. I'm hoping that you didn't mean it to sound as
completely final, total, and all-encompassing as it does. If your
little sister is no longer profiting you in any way, you no longer
value her as a human being?
<totally off-topic>
And hello - REDUCE my caloric intake to 2300? Do you have some kind of
superhuman metabolism? How much do you fucking EAT in a day that
reducing it to 2300 would be such an incredible sacrifice??!!!?
</totally off-topic>
-Brandy
Who is on a 1200 calorie a day diet at the moment and because of this
is very grumpy and touchy about the subject of food.
