Starvation Wages

A report on tagesschau.de speaks of subcontractors working for the railways paying starvation wages Hungerlöhne bei Bahn-Subunternhemen? ZDFheute.de is carrying reports that suggest increase social polarisation Soziale Polarisierung nimmt zu. One in seven Germans is threaten by poverty and the ratio would be almost one in four if it were not for welfare benefits (Sozialleistungen).

I was impressed by the quality of the comments posted on the Hungerlöhne article - well worth a look. I also want to mention CAP's campaign for a living wage in Britain. This also has links to theological justifications for similar campaigns in the US. I've tried to find similar on German sites but not been very successful so far. But I did stumble across http://www.suedwind-institut.de/ According to the English part of their site "The work of SÜDWIND is based on the conviction that there is a connection between the prosperity of industrial nations and the poverty that is prevalent across broad sections of society in developing countries." Their work includes poverty reduction, ethical investment and world trade. I think I might be exploring some of this over the next few months.

The way in which we deal with poverty depends very much on the attitudes that people take to the causes of poverty. Here are some reasons given. Which is your view?

Es gibt Menschen in Not, weil ...

1. Es ist ein unvermeidliche Teil des modernen Lebens
2. Ungerechtigkeit in unserer Gesellschaft
3. Faulheit oder Mangel an Willenskraft
4. Sie sind von Pech verfolgt