The Walker Agenda Is Still Working! Part CXCIX

I, like most progressives, am getting awfully tired of the mantra that we need to develop the workforce.  The problem isn't with the workers.  The problem lies in the fact that companies think that people will work for substandard wages and will tolerate being maltreated.

Case in point comes from this story where some truck drivers said that they weren't going to take what they were giving just because he was working for a living:

According to the complaint filed in federal court:

Marshfield-based Roehl requires new drivers to undergo a multiweek, over-the-road training program in which they transport cargo with an experienced company driver.

Student drivers are paid a flat $300 a week regardless of the number of hours they worked. The trainer typically was paid per mile, not a flat salary.

Student drivers were told to report their time as “on duty” or “off duty,” designations the Department of Transportation uses to regulate the number of hours a trucker can drive and then must rest.

John Morales III of Monticello, Ind., the lead plaintiff in the suit, enrolled in the program in April. He regularly logged nine or 10 on-duty hours a day, and up to 70 on-duty hours per week.

At $300 per week, Morales was paid far below the $7.25 federal minimum wage.

The wages come to only $4.29 an hour. That is a far cry from being considered a livable wage.

Not many people could afford to work for that kind of pay. And who knows what other ways they were screwing their employees over.

And in case the gentle reader was wondering, of course Roehl Transport is a big time supporter of Scott Walker and other Teapublicans.

We need to get a governor in office that understands that we need to stimulate the economy by getting money flowing and not cached away in some rich executives' bank accounts.