Thank you Rep. Bob Saucier
To the editor:
Yes, I agree, many Mainers are known for their work ethics and they definitely are not paid a reasonable wage! Anyone who disagrees must be completely void of any common sense. There are special committees formed in an attempt to figure out why so many leave northern Maine. It isn’t an unknown mystery as some would have us believe; it’s unfair wages.
Many people who live in Aroostook County are asked to live in poverty; these same people are also asked to work very hard and despite the unfair treatment, most are enormous assets to their employers. What are the benefits given by these employers? Not much! Some County jobs don’t even pay time and a half after 40 hours, after 50 hours, or even after 80 hours a week! Those who consider Maine’s minimum wage sufficient are nothing short of reprehensible.
Anyone who is willing to get up each morning and diligently take part in assisting a business to flourish, regardless of which business it is, deserves to be paid a wage in which the bare necessities can be purchased. Do you really think a person can survive on $250 a week? This is what the minimum wage places in your pocket after taxes. Basically, employers are telling their employees that they are not very valuable and so the struggle continues.
No matter how hard an employee works, there is little or no acknowledgement for their efforts; therefore the environment breeds hardship and division between employers and their employees and nothing is resolved. The oppression continues to softly speak, but there are not compassionate attentive ears to hear, therefore the basics of humanity are persistently denied.
Linda Palmer
Presque Isle
