There Was Not A Needy Person Among Them
The Call For A Living Wage

Profiles from Not Making It: North Carolina Voices On Jobs & Unemployment, published by the N.C. Alliance For Economic Justice, 2005. 

Stephanie Newkirk, Kelly , North Carolina :

After her plant shut down in 2000, Ms. Newkirk keeps a very part-time job at the Post Office….She also drives a school bus, works as a substitute teacher, and does what she can to earn enough. Still, she has no benefits and bills wait to be paid. “I am my children’s only provider, so I work all I can. I can’t go to the doctor to deal with things in a preventive way, so they get worse. I worry what would happen if I got sick,” she says. “It’s stressful living paycheck to paycheck.”

Crystal Johnson, Elizabethtown , North Carolina

She was hired at a rest home as a certified nursing assistant. She had one whole floor to cover by herself. And, the employer did not tell her when she was hired that she would also have to do housekeeping and laundry. All of this physical workload was for $6.15/hour, with no benefits. She and her children had no health care, although she cared for others’ health. When she spoke out at work about this, she was reprimanded.

Damon Thomas, Winston-Salem , North Carolina

After serving time in prison, he was released a year ago and immediately sought employment. He now works at Wal-Mart for $7.80/hour to get health and dental benefits he can thereby provide for his son.  He says that many who end their prison terms face a giant barrier when looking for work, since many companies, especially temp services, bar ex-felons.  “Rent is $345, car insurance is $155, child support is over $100. I’m scraping the barrel at $7.80/hour.”