Minimum Wage

I am a 19-year-old Moorpark College student who has worked at a local pizza outlet for almost 1 1/2 years. I am always on time, get along with all of my superiors and fellow employees. Yet through all my hard work, I only make $4.40 per hour.

This is not a complaint toward just my work alone. It is a complaint toward American corporations and federal law combined. My employers take full advantage of what they pay me. Just the other day I worked a grueling eight-hour shift until 2 a.m. I figure that after taxes I probably made about $30.

There must be some kind of change done with the minimum wage law; $4.25 per hour is too low for anybody to work for. Companies like the one I work for spend millions of dollars on advertising and promotional gimmicks each week. Yet the same people tell me that they can’t afford to pay me even $5 per hour.

If I could leave my job for something else I would, but under the current economic situation, work is very hard to find.

CLAYTON WARREN

Camarillo