Thread by @VABVOX

Spent part of this week talking to undocumented women about how they're getting stiffed on wages and thinking about how much of my early working life was spent fighting men taking advantage of me because I was young and pretty and desperate and people thought I was stupid.
🧵/1

There is so much abuse in the work force and employers in sweat shops and produce places and restaurants all know how to scam workers who have no recourse. It's so awful, but the GOP thinks "socialism" is the problem, not corporatism. Employees have so little recourse.
🧵/2

So many movements were supposed to help us. What happened to #TimesUp? What happened to the #FightFor15? What happened to Biden saying 2yrs ago he would raise the minimum wage? It's still at $7.25 where it's been since 2009 when Pelosi raised it. What happened to Bernie?
🧵/3

I keep thinking somehow things will get better, but look at who our Labor Secretary is. How you gonna have an anti-union Labor Secretary? I wanted Ai-Jen Poo,head of the Domestic Workers Alliance & MacArthur fellow. I want people to be better and to help us. Both can happen.
🧵/4

People are fighting for their literal lives and so many people on our side of the aisle are tweeting out "💙 if you love Biden" like he's a homeless domestic worker single mom instead of a millionaire and POTUS. Snap out of it. Yes, he's a nice guy but he works for us.
🧵/5

I'm tired of working hard and being poor. I was tired of The Wife, who taught from grad school to a few months before her death, being poor. I'm tired of my bestie, a life-long life-saving social worker I've known since I was 19 being poor. And The Wife's bestie, also.
🧵/6

Why are 16% of Americans--28% of my city--living in poverty while the owner of this site + the owner of FB/IG are billionaires who don't pay taxes? Yet today House GOP--mostly millionaires--voted on socialism? Seriously? What kind of bait&switch on working folks is that?
🧵/7

We're at a flashpoint and we aren't even talking about it. The GOP talks about the working class, but they have no idea. Dems talk about how great the economy is like there are no more poor people. I keep pitching stories about poverty and get heavy sighs. It's not sexy.
🧵/8

People got upset for 5mins about the Iowa SNAP restrictions, but when I pitched a story from the vantage point of someone on SNAP, no takers. Why can't we listen to people living this life? Why are so many working poor people also poor, also on SNAP? Explain THAT.
🧵/9

What not-poor people need to know is that it's nearly impossible to get out of poverty once you're in it. Citing stats means nothing to people who are on the other side of those stats. So joking about the cost of things when you can afford them just says you don't get it.
🧵/10