We all work at Downton Abbey now.

[edhopper]

Is service work today worse than being a household servant?

http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2013/12/service-industryworkerslaborinequality.html

"At least one class of American workers is having a much harder time today than a decade ago, than during the Great Depression and than a century ago: servants.

The reason for this, surprisingly enough, is outsourcing. Let me explain.

Prosperous American families have adopted the same approach to wages for servants as big successful companies, hiring freelance outside contractors for all sorts of functions — from child care and handyman chores to gardening and cleaning work — to reduce costs.

Instead of live-in servants, who were common in prosperous U.S. households before World War II, better-off families now outsource the family cook, maid and nanny. It is part of a problem in developed countries around the globe that is getting more attention worldwide than in the U.S.

We are falling backward in America, back to the Gilded Age conditions of a century and more ago when a few fortunate souls grew fabulously rich while a quarter of families had to take in boarders to make ends meet. Only back then, elites gave their servants a better deal."

[MADem]

1. Elites treated servants like shit in the Gilded Age.

I had relatives (siblings of a great-grandparent) who were in service, and believe you me, they worked like dogs...AND they had one of the best employers around...they worked for "kind" people who "didn't overwork" the staff--but it was still 12 to 14 hour days, six days a week! For a pittance! Three hots and a cot, and slavery six days a week. UGH.

That said, we need a raise in the minimum wage. I'd like to see it go up to at least fifteen bucks, but I doubt that will happen. That said, anyone running for reelection who runs on upping the minimum wage is likely to get a lot of support--people are feeling the pinch. This cannot continue.

[TheMastersNemesis]

2. Contract Labor Is New Employment Model For Business