Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Simon Ducatel writes about the unfairness of attacking people living in poverty rather than looking for ways to improve their circumstances:

(I)n the real world, it is unfortunately not unheard of for some employers to financially or otherwise exploit workers, albeit legally mind you, by offering substandard living wages or clawing back benefits despite accumulating record profits.

And I would like to think anyone who cares the slightest about his or her fellow human being would be concerned by this kind of exploitive behaviour.

Ever since slavery was abolished, child labour was ended, labour rights were created and 40-hour workweeks introduced, titans of industry shrieked furiously every single step of the way, predictably declaring all of the above would destroy the economy. Yet last I checked, multinational behemoths are doing better than ever before.
...

So many people seem to get all upset over the dastardly proposition to ensure anyone earning the minimum wage doesn’t live in abject poverty. Yet they have no objection to the obscene accumulations of mass, unprecedented wealth that pools up in offshore havens.

They’ll blame the poor for failing to pull up their bootstraps and work hard enough — despite the fact many people who struggle to make ends meet work multiple jobs — while making every excuse possible for the 0.01 per cent, who have not enjoyed such a bountifully flowing gravy train since the gilded age of robber barons.

There’s apparently no problem with average wages stagnating or barely growing over the past few decades while top-paid CEOs see their compensations skyrocket

- Nick Purdon offers a glimpse at the stories of a few people struggling to get by on minimum wage. And Sara Mojtehedzadeh reports on the growing protests against Tim Hortons after its stores used a long-overdue minimum wage increase as an excuse to slash their already-meager benefits.

- Meanwhile, Kathryn May takes note of PSAC's push for paid domestic violence leave to ensure workers aren't trapped in abusive situations. And Haroon Siddique points out how unrealistic work demands clash with the needs of parents.

- Jennifer Wells discusses how the collapse of Carillion offers a reminder of the dangers of privatization and corporate outsourcing. And Heather Stewart and Anushka Asthana report on Jeremy Corbyn's plans to put public services back in public hands in the UK.

- Finally, Lana Payne sets out just a few of the reasons why people are starting to take to the streets through the World Women's March and similar action.