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From: robinson@ubc-cs.UUCP (Jim Robinson)
Newsgroups: net.women,can.politics
Subject: Re: opportunities, women
Message-ID: <1168@ubc-cs.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 17-Jul-85 17:40:19 EDT
Article-I.D.: ubc-cs.1168
Posted: Wed Jul 17 17:40:19 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 18-Jul-85 02:14:48 EDT
References: <893@mnetor.UUCP> <5642@utzoo.UUCP> <896@mnetor.UUCP> <5788@utzoo.UUCP> <2204@watcgl.UUCP>
Reply-To: robinson@ubc-cs.UUCP (Jim Robinson)
Organization: UBC Department of Computer Science, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Lines: 40
Summary: 

In article <2204@watcgl.UUCP> jchapman@watcgl.UUCP (john chapman) writes:
>> I would also note that true justice in this area probably means *cutting*
>> wages in some professions that are not overly "valuable" in some sense,
>> but have strong unions (or other forms of clout) that force wages up.
>> Are garbagemen really worth more than McDonald's counter hands?  Probably
>> not, and the appropriate salary is probably closer to the McDonald's level
>> than the (unionized) garbagemen level.
>> -- 
>> 				Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
>> 				{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry
>
> You seriously think it is just as important to serve burgers as to
> keep the environment (to generalize) clean?  You sure we're living on
> the same planet?  It's really hard to take this seriously but here goes.
> Consequences of no garbage collection: disease, pests, noxious odours
> etc. .  Consequences of no McDonalds type operations: depends on what
> you want to imagine; people eat better food? people stop wasting money
> on overpriced junk?
>
> 
> John Chapman

I think John Chapman is missing an important point. Namely, that
it doesn't take any incredible amount of skill, intelligence, drive,
or whatever to either flip burgers or pickup the garbage. I would
imagine that any person off the street could be completely instructed
in the intricacies of burger flipping or garbage collection in a matter
of a few hours. So, as long as there is an adequate supply of garbage
collectors why should they be paid more than a burger flipper? Their
work requires approximately the same amount of intelligence, training,
responsibility, etc. One can even argue that the working conditions for
the garbage collector are better than the burger flippers, since the
former doesn't have a supervisor breathing down his neck every minute
of the day, and he gets to work outside as opposed to remaining in a 
cramped kitchen the whole day. Thus, in my mind, the only 
consideration in determining the garbage collector's wages is that 
the pay should be enough to provide for an adequate supply of such people. 

J.B. Robinson