I am employed in the Brooks Memorial Library by the Town of Brattleboro. Although it is not required for my position, I do have a master's degree and 11 years of professional experience. I earn $13 an hour.
It was both stinging and disheartening to read about the Work Today program, which proposes a wage of $15 an hour for program participants.
My comments here are directed not so much at the Work Today program, which has laudable goals (I, too, wish for everyone to be able to rise up) but more so at Brattleboro town officials and voters. The article simply brought a longstanding problem to the surface.
Brooks Memorial Library employees consistently earn below living wages. Perhaps this is because library work has traditionally been seen as “women's work,” or perhaps it is because the town does not value the library and its services; steady annual increases in circulation and usage would indicate otherwise.