Exam 3: Income Inequality

Eduardo M. Galvan

South Texas College

ORGL-3332 VF1 Business Ethics II

 Exam 3: Income Inequality

It is very clear that the quality of life we are currently presented with, is not the one

promised by the United States of America. Being that every individual is seeking to live the

American dream, it is difficult when presented with such low wages, this only shows the

exploitation done by industries and capitalists in order to raise their own profits for maximum

gain. The working class continue to overwork while getting underpaid, in the automotive

industry this is a very prominent form of exploitation. It is argued that the wage given to

employees in this industry is due to the fact that no degree is required, yet the hard work and

rigor that it takes to work on a vehicle is very demanding and exhausting. This type of job takes

very precise skill, patience, and automotive knowledge.

Recent developments in this industry have made it easier to exploit current employees,

for example, there are many current vehicles being made outside of the United States, this only

gives less working opportunities for automotive employees located in United States soil. With

this in mind, companies offer minimum wage for difficult work, knowing that these individuals

are in need of placement and leaving them with no choice but to accept low wages. This exploits

the working class of individuals since it helps the capitalist in the automotive industry make the

most profit.

This exploitation has placed stress on workers since now they must work longer than

average hours in order to make a sustainable living for themselves and their families. In many

situations, I speak from personal experience, extra hours are not permitted, this is done in order

to prevent an employee from being able to receive any type of company benefits. Not only are

employees exploited by being given wages below what is required to have a sustainable living,

but they are exploited by not receiving benefits, having hours manipulated in order to prevent
this. In today’s day and age healthcare is expensive, if this benefit was given by any organization

regardless of the amount of hours required to obtain them, even living witch such a low wage,

the benefit of healthcare would lessen the stress of any worker.

Clearly the income gap has become even greater in the automotive industry with

shareholders and stakeholders. The production and maintenance of a vehicle has become more

expensive for the stakeholder, yet paying more money for service in the automotive industry

only gives better profit to the shareholders. With wages staying low and service prices going up,

it makes sense that the gap between the shareholder and stakeholder has widened financially.

To many employees in the automotive industry, they realize that they are being exploited

in this regard, yet with the competitive nature of finding work in this industry, they understand

that there is not much that can be done to get the much deserved change. Like any other

individual, upon having a low wage and neglected benefits based on hours, it is easy to clearly

see the exploitation. In this situation, any company would attempt anything in their power to

protect themselves, or to make the employees realize why it is that these wages are low and the

benefits are neglected. For example, the biggest excuse given to employees is that the covid 19

impact has greatly reduced the manufacturing of vehicles and therefore the industry has less

money flowing through it. As stated in the journal article An Analysis on the Crisis of “Chips

shortage” in Automobile Industry, Xiling Wu wrote, “It is well-known that mobile phones and

computers cannot be produced without chips. However, the “chips shortage” trends appeared in

the second half of 2020 actually started in the automobile industry, which gradually attacked

other industries.” Without these chips being produced, there are not enough new vehicles being

made, making it difficult for the automotive industry to have a high number of employees when

they are not needed, but instead being paid for labor that is not happening.
 This excuse is being used in order to justify the exploitation of the employees, it is not the

workers fault that the state of the world is in shambles, instead it is the responsibility of the

capitalist to take care of the workers in order for them to have enough money to live a

comfortable life.

There are many things that can be done in this regard in order to make sure that every

right is protected from all employees affected by the exploitation of not just the automotive

industry, but every type of organization. Being part of the automotive industry, I understand that

at times it can become difficult for a company to pay an individual what they deserve in order for

them to not dwell close to the poverty line. Yet, with the flow of income, there is still enough

room for any industry to pay any employee a wage that makes them have a livable life outside

the poverty line. One of the features I would change would be to raise the minimum hourly rate

from $9 to 13.50, this would ensure that the employee would take at least $560 from each

weekly paycheck. Another change would be to slowly increment raises every 6 months, the

economy does not wait for anyone, by slowly increasing a workers salary it would give the

organization enough time to strategize how this can be done. In time, with this change, the

income inequality gap will be slowly closing.

Being that there are many corporations in the automotive industry, if they all began to

change these issues with the income gap, then every other corporation would follow. Employees

would begin to see these changes and they would surely enjoy a life with a livable wage without

corporate exploitation. The everyday worker would have a better reason to use his/her labor

power to enhance the value of the organization that they are working for, only making the

industry profit more from the employees added value to the job at stake.
 References

Inequality in America. CQ Researcher by CQ Press. (n.d.). Retrieved October 7, 2022, from

https://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2020041700

Wu, X., Zhang, C., & Du, W. (2021). An analysis on the crisis of “chips shortage” in automobile
industry ——based on the double influence of covid-19 and trade friction. Journal of
Physics: Conference Series, 1971(1), 012100. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-
6596/1971/1/012100

YouTube. (2020, July 29). Great minds - part 4 - marx and the problem of alienation and
ideology. YouTube. Retrieved October 7, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=zDY5vuMW90s

[Author removed at request of original publisher]. (2016, March 25). 12.3 problems in work and
the economy. Social Problems. Retrieved October 7, 2022, from
https://open.lib.umn.edu/socialproblems/chapter/12-3-problems-in-work-and-the-economy/