Working to survive.

                I was at work a while ago, making a delivery to a freight company in Montebello. I spoke with a spanish-speaking worker who was very kind and talkative. I've seen this man before and noticed that he is always there and doing something. He seemed to be a very hard worker and on top of his job. His functions were to load up trucks with merchandise and organize all the pallets they recieved. It seemed to be a very difficult job due to the amount of cargo they had, and the understaffing. I have been delivering to this place for about a year now and never got the oppurtunity to converse with him.
                About two weeks ago, he was on lunch, and he came up to me to say hello. I never really knew much about him other than he was the man who loaded up all the freight. In speaking with him, I was able to find out he was an illegal immigrant and worked for a very low wage. He worked every day of the week, expect Sunday, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. He was based on a salary and he said he made about $80 a day. At first, I really didnt realize how low that was until I did the math. For his 12 hour day, where he works non-stop doing hard labor, he is paid $6.67 an hour. That is more than a dollar below the minumum wage. When I thought about the reality of the situation, it actually hit me pretty hard and put my life in perspective. With those wages, that means annually he makes around $25,000 a year. That is borderline poverty nowadays.
                Not only was the pay hard for me to deal with, but the hours seemed slave-like. He spends about a third of his life at work. Yet he was happy to work and had 72 hours of work available for him to work. I wanted to almost educate him that he would probably be better off working at a Mcdonalds, then slaving at this freight company. Yet, he said he is blessed to have this job amidst a recession.
                 Then, I also spoke with a young woman in her 20's who is seven months pregnant. I asked how her pregnancy was going and she said well. Usually this late in labor you are put on maternity leave, yet she told me she would be working until she is absolutely ready to deliver. I thought about how harsh it was that this woman in labor is working 12 hour days, 6 days a week, and being pregnant. She said she has no choice in the matter and has to be there. While most people are paid on maternity to take care of their labor and make sure everything goes well, she is stuck at work. I never asked about her wages yet I am sure she is not anywhere near well-off.
                Hearing things like this really saddens me and actually engulfs me in anger that my own people are exploited in such a way. All the times I hear how undocumented workers are taking away the jobs and creating problems, drowns me in a pool of sorrow. I ask why do we allow this to happen and why is there nothing being said. I do not understand how people complain about these workers, when they are taking jobs that many American people who consider slave wages and hours. I hear people complain about how they only got $30 dollars tip as a server and how hard their job is, when they know nothing about being really exploited. These people I speak of literally work to survive. They don't work for fun, or to have a nice car, or go places. They work so they can provide for their family and hope that their next generation will have it better than them. It really sucks that these people are stuck in a trap, and have no way of escaping their cage of poverty.
               I really wish one day these people will have it much better and wish I had a means to help. Hopefully, many others wake up to the realities of this situation and not turn a blind eye to the problem.