Rathbone 1

Nalani Rathbone

Professor Benitez

English 101

20 November 2023

Workplaces don’t care enough

Minimum Wage has gone up by 11.1% since it was first created. Many groups in the

working field are disproportionately represented and this has a ripple effect on the overall

community. These groups of people face difficulties in finding a voice to bring the necessary

attention to these labor issues. We are going to take a deeper dive into all the sides of the United

States working fields and evaluate whether or not they genuinely work beneficially. While it

protects workers in the labor force, minimum wage does not serve to benefit for all workers and

it is vital to consider the many drawbacks that the working system has on our economy.

Minimum wage served as a concept that originated in the 19th century to respond to

concerns of exploitation and to aid economic recovery from the Great Depression. It was thought

of has a unity in which “employees can join together in a single action to bring unpaid mimum

wage and overtime claims on a collective basis” (Cascino 1). Cascino shares insight on how it

has changed economically over the decades and the developments made. Even back to when it

was first passed it flagged many issues for groups of workers. Author Anne Macpherson says,

“Intended to prevent a wage differential in the South, universalism resulted in over one hundred

thousand Puerto Rican workers being covered by the law” (Macpherson 2). This shows that the

minimum wage is a universal issue that needs to be looked at again. It is believed minimum
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wage is up to date and positively increasing tax revenue, however, it tampers with the lives of

over 29% of the US working citizens including women.

There may be benefits to stay-at-home women and minorities however, many working

members of these groups are oppressed to their rights of having fair and equal pay that they

deserve. Since the 1920s, the idea of gender reformation in the working field has been looked

over as well as taken into closer consideration. The limits set on how much businesses industries

actually let these groups help is outstanding not in a good-hoping way. One journalist, Russel

talks highly about how women staying at home instead of acquiring a job improves what he calls

"the family wage norms". Sharing this “ideal” structure that both men and women in a family can

both work while maintaining stability. He supports overall success in these norms when he

mentions, "construed to confer either differential benefits or net benefits and sacrifices on

different household members" (Russell). This quote further supports that whether a woman

chooses to work or not does not affect the family dynamic. Showing Russell’s standing point

displays that while he is right about family structures and norms, he does not speak for the

underrepresented majorities in this case. It cannot be stressed enough, women and minorities

should have the right to equal pay as well as given the same protection from discrimination.

In the work place,where many workers spend most of their waking hours, it is evident

that they face many discriminatory actions from coworkers and people above them. The United

States working system fails to bring attention to this matter and because of it, the working

economy has seen a fall in job enlisting. A main part of this is the environments these industries

put their workers in. Cary Funk underwent research and found that “eight in ten Americans view

racial and ethnic diversity” in the workplace non important (Funk). This shows that nobody
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brings awareness to the matter so it has only gotten worse. We have so many values and yet it

seems that how we treat our workers isn’t one of those. According to Pew Research Center,

“Blacks and Hispanics are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and math jobs”

(Funk). Funk’s research suggests that while Blacks and Hispanics face issues in the workplace as

well as being seen, Americans seem to stand to have the most support and representation. Issues

like these are exactly why we need to look at minimum wage again.

Not only are these groups facing discrimination in workplaces, they are followed by other

groups impacted as well. A high percentage of workplace discrimination is based on identity.

Voina shares how people within the LGBTQ+ community change their behavior based on how

they are treated in the workplace. She shares, “This sort of negative attitude towards sexual

minorities takes the shape of workplace discrimination, impacting workers' both physical and

mental health” (Voina). These groups of people no longer tolerate negative feedback on their

attributes and as a result, cause them to treat their supervisors and peers differently as well.

People who are pointed out as different are the ones who face these harsh repercussions. An

article from the Journal of Law says that “workers clearly fear that employers will use genetic

information to lower their insurance and sick leave costs by weeding out individuals who have

traits linked to inherited medical conditions” (Miller). This quote shows that people are changing

how they act in reaction to how they are treated and fear. The workplace should be a place of

comfort and mobility not a place of judgment and why would anybody by choice accept these

discriminatory actions especially when they are not paid fairly. We now live in a modern society

where new identities and changes are a huge factor. Things were much simpler back when the

Minimum Wage was first created and it proved to have many benefits for people.
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Minimum Wage has done a huge amount of help starting in 1938. Jasmine Patterson

shares that it was originally created to support those who were financially struggling and to

improve labor standards. Patterson says, “The original bill set a wage floor, instituted a 44-hour

work week, and protected children from prematurely entering the workforce” (Patterson). Note

that it says “The original”. This little phrase suggests that this is what its intentions initially were

and that the idea of change is not at all of the table. Dated to when it was first introduced,

minimum wage used to be something providing more help than damage to the economy.

However, now the list of cons outweighs the pros when it comes to wages and our labor system.

We have looked over the history of minimum wage, who it effects, as well a look into

what our workplaces really look like. Every author mentioned has covered the things the United

States deals with but not fixes. Showing how vulnerable the workers are to do anything for the

money they need even if it means risking their own rights. Now that we have debunked all of the

issues in the minimum wage and labor it is time that we bring attention to it. These were all the

reasons as to what is wrong with our work fields. Minimum wage and other labor related issues

in this topic set the stage for why critical thinking is important and how its valuable in our

research. As said before, it is vital to consider the drawbacks labor has on our economy and

come to the realization that whoever is effected by it will also more than likely effect you.

Works Cited

Cascino, Christopher. Recent Developments In Collective Action Certification Under The Fair
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Labor Standards Act. Florida Bar Journal. November 1, 2023./pdfviewer/pdfviewe

r?vid=17&sid=ffe55378-2bf1-4b0d-8526-569a73382187%40redis.

Macpherson, Anne S. Birth of the U.S. Colonial Minimum Wage: The Struggle over the Fair

Labor Standards Act in Puerto Rico, 1938-1941.” Journal of American History.

Dec. 2017, EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jax313.

Russel, B. A Fair or a Minimum Wage? Women Workers, the State, and the Origins of Wage

Regulation in Western Canada.

Raymond F. Gregory. The Civil Rights Act and the Battle to End Workplace Discrimination : A

50 Year History. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2014. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=830556&site=ehost

Patterson, Jasmine. A History of Federal Minimum Wage. Economic Policy Institute. August 31,

2023.-is-far-from-equitable/#:~:text=The%20minimum%20wage%20is%20a,from%20pr

ematurely%20entering%20the%20workforce.

Voina, Andreea, Identity-Based Workplace Discrimination in Romania: Experiences of LGBTQ

Community Members." Psihologia Resurselor Umane, vol. 20, no. 1, June 2022,
link.gale.com/apps/doc/A706127999/AONE?u=msjacintocc&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=d
c789db1. Accessed 11 Dec. 2023.
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Miller, Paul Steven. "Genetic discrimination in the workplace." Journal of Law, Medicine &
Ethics, vol. 26, no. 3, fall 1998, p. 189. Gale Academic OneFile,
link.gale.com/apps/dointocc&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=383f7b7e. Accessed 11 Dec. 2023

WORD COUNT: 1437

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Revision Portfolio

Revision Plan

In this revision I will mostly focus on changing up the transitions between the body paragraphs
flow better. I introduce each of the body paragraphs however, there is no flow to keep it all tied
to the initial topic. Specifically paragraph 3 feels run on and prolonging. I want to mostly focus
on these 2 things in the research essay to get a better grasp on what I am trying to talk about. I
need to use the 1 2 3 method. The commentary introducing, the credibility commentary, and the
closing and explaining what the overall message entails. I could work on the vocabulary level in
my essay as well. It seems as some big words were just thrown in there rather than showing
significance to the research. The commentary on quotes could also use some revision. I feel
that if I can explain the quotes more briefly it will keep it interesting and allow for questions that
can be answered later on. Overall, I think that it needs revision strictly in the body paragraphs. I
wouldn’t change the introduction much unless I tweak the content. The main topic I am trying to
get across is wage and labor and I talk about the history more than anything. I need to work on
the bodies so that history kind of gives the background idea but isn’t the whole conversation.

There may be benefits to stay-at-home women however, many working women are

oppressed to their rights of having fair and equal pay that they deserve. Since the 1920s, the idea

of gender reformation in the working field has been looked over as well as taken into closer

consideration. One journalist, Russel talks highly about how women staying at home instead of

acquiring a job improves what he calls "the family wage norms". Sharing this idea that both men

and women in a family can both work while maintaining stability. He supports overall success in

these norms when he mentions, " construed to confer either differential benefits or net benefits

and sacrifices on different household members" (Russell). This quote further supports that

whether a woman chooses to work or not does not affect the family dynamic. On that subject,

women and minorities should have the right to equal pay as well as given the same protection

from discrimination.

This whole paragraph is about only women but I said in my intro that I was going to talk about
women and minorities in the workfield. I only talk about women so already, I would change this
first sentence to talk about the both. I may decide that both have huge significance and have
one paragraph about women and one about minorities to bring across how huge the issue in
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labor is now. My paragraphs are heavily content based but there is no real tie to them all to
bring it back as said before to the overall idea.

The Revision Retrospective

I followed the revision plan I had made overall. I did not go in order of the plan but essentially

revised the areas I deemed to need the most work and fixing up. I also deviated from what had

been originally planned by extending the paragraph about discrimination into another paragraph

about other groups additionally impacted. I wanted to stress that this is a huge idea by talking

about it more to really capture the picture I was aiming for. I added two more quotes additionally

to share that discrimination is such a huge thing in the workplace and while some changes have

been made, strikes have been in order, there really has been no lawful change. I adjusted to some

of the grammatical errors made as well as read over sentences out loud and the ones that didn’t

sound right I either removed all together or redid in it entirety. I also made sure to follow my

plan and add more to the paragraph I wrote about women in the workplace by also including

minorities because it isn’t just women impacted by the workplace and I wanted to make it clear

that where I stand is that everyone is impacted in different ways. My overall goal for this

revision was to make it known that everyone is effected by the workplace by giving attention to

each group individually in each paragraph. I also looked over my introduction and conclusions

as said in the plans because those are the paragraphs that most people give their most attention

to. I followed my plan as said before however, struggled a bit to really capture the essence of the

essay in the first paragraph. While I followed my plan, I don’t think it went accordingly because

looking over the paragraphs I could not find a good flow that I was hoping for. So instead, I went

and worked from the middle to the ends of the paragraphs which I think made the flow a bit
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better but not perfect. I didn’t really see anything extra to add to the introduction afterwards so I

just left that.

Revision Reflection

Overall, through this revision, I have learned a lot about how I write and my general areas of

improvement. I have learned I am good at finding quotes where I need them. I managed to create

a thesis in an efficient timely manner. However, there were many areas where I could have

improved in this revision. I was all over the place when adding revisions and did not necessarily

follow my revision plan in order. I think this is what threw me off most and because of it, I was

not clearly able to efficiently write this whole revision embedded in my paper. Focusing on

revising for this long period have time has also helped me become more patient and focused on

the revision part of a paper. Usually when revising a paper I spend maybe an hour or two

revising but using this whole week to revise a paper has shown me that you have to write a paper

sleep on it then look at it the next day if you want to find things you’ve missed. I compare my

experience in this to a crime investigator. When they go into a room with an unbias opinion, they

search everywhere for evidence. Sometimes they find nothing. They step out of the room, then

step back in a few hours later to what seems new to them and helps them catch things they didn’t

once before. Before this revision, I viewed an essay as more of a chore. Now that I have spent

time specifically on revising a piece of work I acknowledge the trials it goes through before it

becomes a complete essay. Now I appreciate essay writing and the work that goes into it.
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