Letter to the Editor of Canadian Dimension

Publisher:  PAYDAY, Toronto, Canada
Year Published:  1978
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX785

PAYDAY is a group of people struggling to get recognition in our society for work now unrecognized by the capitalist system, They believe housework, looking for a job, and raising children are, in themselves, wage-deserving enterprises.

Abstract: 
PAYDAY is a group of people struggling to get recognition in our society for work now unrecognized by the capitalist system, They believe housework, looking for a job, and raising children, are, in themselves, wage - deserving enterprises. This Letter to the editors of Canadian Dimension in Winnipeg from PAYDAY attacks the notion that the unemployed are "socially unproductive" in our present economy. It points out how unemployment has a direct bearing on the way wealth produced by the working class is returned (or not returned ) to workers. From a capitalist point of view, unemployment helps keep wages down and thus increases profits for the ruling class, The present economic crisis has been produced in part by the erosion of this mechanism of unemployment as men and women have demanded the right to "wages outside the factory, "e.g. welfare, unemployment insurance, etc,
In addition, the writers point out that looking for a job is, in itself, hard work. The gains achieved by workers who have struggled for benefits for being "available" are now being attacked by a government bent on cutting back on the power achieved by workers who have won the right to a return for this effort.