Bounty Not Trickling Down
Letter to the Editor
Published: November 24, 2007
Re “Surge in Wages on Wall Street in First Quarter Helps Borough” (news article, Nov. 20):
Don’t be fooled. Surges in Wall Street wages don’t ease the affordability challenge for millions of New Yorkers. The first quarter of 2007 won’t be “remembered wistfully for years” by working New Yorkers who feel the pinch of rising gas prices, rents and groceries much more than Wall Street’s bankers and brokers.
For thousands of hard-working men and women who clean and guard the brokerage houses and investment banks, and thousands more who keep New York City running, wages have not kept up with inflation. Wall Street’s “bounty” might pull up the average wage for all Manhattan workers on paper - but not in their paychecks.
The gap between wealthy and working New Yorkers is widening, making New York unaffordable to too many. As the strikes by stagehands, taxi drivers and writers show, workers from all walks of life are standing up to say enough is enough.
Michael P. Fishman
President, Local 32BJ
Service Employees International Union
New York, Nov. 20, 2007