The recent article titled “Protesting for cost-of-living raise” talks about members of the Washington Federation of State Employees union protesting in Red Square to send a message that they need a pay increase. I understand that the cost of living has been increasing, yet their wages are not. It makes sense that they want their incomes to increase. I would too, but where would the money come from to fund these increases? Money would have to be taken from somewhere else to allow for the increase in pay and I worry what the source would be. I also do not see this protest as being efficient. It was on Western’s campus where students do not really have a say what these workers get paid. I believe it is important to their cause to get more people, but I do not think that was the best way to go about it. I am interested to hear if the message had any effect and how many Western students actually paid attention to what was happening. These workers need that extra money just to live, which is very important. Many people in the United States are in the same boat and I believe some kind of larger change is necessary in order for the wealth to be properly distributed so that everyone in this country can at least live, meaning they get what they need to take care of themselves and their family.
