Posted by on July 23, 2014
The issue of income disparity among workers and the unequal distribution of wealth in general in our country is highlighted in the news these days. Bill Nemitz of the Portland Press Herald recently wrote an encouraging piece about Maine shoe store chain Lamey Wellehan, where the average hourly wage of its 100 employees is $15, exclusive of other benefits provided. Owner Jim Wellehan has a video on Facebook in which he calls for greater fairness in America’s corporate culture, and stresses the need to pay people enough to “live comfortably and send their children to school”. Nemitz also quotes figures from an AFL-CIO 2013 survey that indicates the CEOs of 350 of the S&P 500 companies earn 774 times the earnings of a minimum wage worker: that would be $5,611.50 an hour for the CEO!
