A reader writes:
Short and sweet. I am the entire news department for a small weekly newspaper in the Northeast. Been here a year and a half, and by all accounts am a strong asset to the company. I make $11 an hour. Haven’t gotten a raise in 13 months. I get 38 hours a week, max. After taxes and my health insurance contribution, which is $22, I take home about $300 a week.
Last Thursday, my boss announced that they weren’t going to shoulder their part of health insurance anymore. My $22 a week becomes $66 a week, effective immediately. My take-home goes down to $260ish. You do the percentages. I can’t live on that. Hell, I can’t live on $300, but I do enough on the side to get by. So now, do I look for a new gig in a better paying field (hard but not impossible to find)? If I leave, not to be too arrogant but there’s a good chance the struggling paper goes down. Conscience. I asked them to throw me another buck an hour, at least I can live with that. We’ll see.
The Dish 