The Fellowship Tattoos

Article with photos of the LOTR tattoos.
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art51295.asp

A rant worthy topic came to me today in the form of a single sheet of paper. This paper was an email print-out brought to me by my supervisor and was intended to be good news. What was written on this paper, you ask, that has caused me so much annoyance? Well, this:

Due to the new Federal Minimum Wage law (see below), for 2007-08, all student employees will be paid $5.85 per hour with a maximum of 9 hours per week.

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Federal Minimum Wage Increase Becomes Law

President Bush signed into law an increase in the Federal minimum wage on Friday, May 25. This is the first time in a decade that the minimum wage has been raised. The wage increase as added to the most recent Iraq war funding bill. The new law will raise the minimum wage in the $.70 increments over 26 months until it reaches $7.25 per hour. The first increase (up to %5.85) will occur this summer or to be specific, 60 days after the law takes effect. The second increase (up to $6.55) and third increase (up to $7.25) will take place one and two years respectively after the date of the first increase.

Now, at a glance this appears to be good news for the young student worker. Unfortunately, running the actual numbers proves this to be incorrect.

Before this wage law was signed, I was supposed to receive $5.45 an hour, with 10 hours a week available to me. A typical pay period was 22 hours, which meant that I could expect to earn $109 each pay period.

Under the new legislation, however, I doubt I'll be allowed to work more than 20 hours in each pay period, which places my earnings at $117 each pay period.

The truly vexing part of this, however, is that the upper limit of $800 a semester has not changed. The school has not been allotted more funds for student workers from the government, and thusly, I can still only earn up to $800 a semester.

So this new minimum wage law, has in fact, changed nothing for this college student. Of course, as an average middle-class white heterosexual female, I am not the intended benefactor of this new wage.

But that doesn't keep it from being aggravating.