Will They Jingle All The Way To A Higher Raise?

“Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way, it’s no fun, to survive, on low low low low pay.” During this holiday season, many fast-food workers are singing a jingle bells cheer while going on strike- demanding for a raise in pay. Average wage for fast-food employees is $9 an hour and minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. Over 100 employees in New York and Detroit gathered outside McDonald’s restaurants chanting for a raise. Walkouts scheduled in over 100 cities and gatherings of public support groups all are showing how much these workers can’t stand their payments. Both Pope Francis and President Obama have shown sympathy towards these workers but no actions have been in place.

Clearly, these employees can’t survive on $9 an hour. Most workers have families and maybe children to care for and pay for and this amount of money will not cut it. So many citizens get fast food a day- there should be plenty of money for the people who make all the “comfort” food we enjoy daily. Not a lot of specialized jobs are available now, and when your only way to make money is by working with fast-food, you should be paid enough to live without poverty. Another reason why minimum wage should be raised, is that it would give more money to employees so they can spend money helping in their community which helps the economy. Overall, fast-food workers payment needs to be raised.

~Georgia

South Africa’s Hero: Nelson Mandela

 

On July 18, 1918, in Transkel, South Africa, a hero was born and his name was Nelson Mandela. For a lot of his childhood, he grew up in a village that had mud huts with grass rooftops and the earth as their floor. Mandela was the first of his family to attend school, and this led him to work towards his law degree in Johannesburg. Mandela then joined the African National Congress. In 1962, Mandela was put on trial for inciting strikes which sentenced him to five years in prison. A few months later, he was accused of sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government. This then sentenced Mandela to life in prison. A glory day then came on February 11, 1990, when he was released from behind bars. Four years later in May, Mandela became the first black president of South Africa and ended his term in June of 1999. On his 80th birthday, he married his 3rd wife named Graca Machel which brightened his world. Starting in September of 2013, Mandela had a lung infection which impacted his life a lot. On December 5, 2013, Mandela died at the age of 95. Mandela will be missed very much so by his people, and will be long remembered for his struggles against injustice.

For 27 years of Nelson Mandela’s life, he was thrown in the jail for trying to overthrow the government. When Mandela was accused, I think it was a mistake. All Mandela was trying to do was make South Africa a better place and get their government back on track. If Mandela was never put in jail, just think of how far their government would be now. It would then govern themselves well and it would be a whole lot farther along now than it was earlier. I also think that when Mandela was accused of trying to overthrow the government, they should have let him explain himself. If they allowed him to do this, they might have realized that what they were doing was wrong. This would have saved many years of Mandela’s life. These are some of the opinions I have about Nelson Mandela’s life story.

~Natalie